by Steve Houghton, Lay Preacher
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our  hearts be pleasing to you our Lord and Redeemer. 
This morning’s gospel is hard to hear for our Capitalist  Society and those of us who live in it. In fact, in a number  of bible studies I have been a part of it has been  described as harsh, unrealistic and even un-Christ-like  because Jesus would never have spoken with such  condemnation about anyone. For that reason many of us  dodge this gospel as much as we can.  
Growing up, my family considered themselves to be  middle class. My parents bought their own home, bought  new cars every few years and put me and my five siblings  through college or an equivalent education. In order to do  this my father worked two jobs and my mother worked  nights. I don’t think we were rich by any stretch of the  imagination but compared to much of the rest of the  world we were. In fact, compared to many in our  community we were. The cost of being in the middle class  was a loss of time for us to be a family.  
My Dad worked in middle management and also worked  at the nearby race track selling bets on the horses at night  and on the weekend. As a result he was tired most the time and often not available for family activities. I was  sometimes upset that he didn’t take the time to play catch  with me or teach me the finer points of basketball ball that  he wanted me to excel at as he had in his youth. I believe  he was even more upset about it than I was because he  spent a good deal of his later years apologizing for what  he hadn’t done when we were growing up.  
My Mom’s job meant that Dad was babysitting for the six  of us when he could have been resting or doing  something with one of us kids individually, like play catch.  It also meant that Mom was feeling under pressure to  keep the house orderly, clean, cook the meals and meet  the mark as a fifty’s mother and housewife. 
So as I grew up the mark was set for what success was  and what was expected of me.  
As a young adult graduating from high school I had a bag  of expectations. Those included how I was to treat my  fellow human beings, how I was to treat women, what role  my religion played in my actions in the world, how and  when I was representing my family in my actions. There  was a lot of stuff my parents gave me to help me become  a respectable member of society so I picked up that bag  and moved forward. (pick up bag) 
I went to college and got a whole new set of expectations  and obligations to shoulder. Things like thinking for yourself and doing the research in order to make the right  decisions. Things like being eligible for military duty when  an unpopular and possibly unjust war was going on and  should I serve or should I find a way out. (Pick up backpack) 
I met Charlie and found a new set of expectations and  obligations as a husband and partner. What did I need to  do to put a roof over our heads and keep us fed while we  both went to school. (Pick up backpack) 
Then our first child arrived and new expectations and  obligation came with being a father and guide. Since  unemployment was high the best option at the time was  to join the military and with that came the obligations of  being a noncommissioned officer and leading men in  successfully completing our mission. (Pickup bag) 
When we left the military I needed to find a job that would  allow us to have the things my parents had attained so I  found a good job and began to build a new division in that  job. As you would expect, that included a whole new set  of expectations and obligations. (Pick up backpack) 
So right now I don’t think I can get through the door never  mind the eye of a needle and there were and are a lot  more bags that I picked up getting to where I am right  now. And what does all of this have to do with the rich  young man? 
This story or a variation of it appear in all three of the  synoptic gospels. This morning’s reading is from Mark.  Mathew has the story at chapter 19(:16-26). Luke (18:  18-29) has the story with a young ruler who has great  wealth. Also notice this is not a parable, it is an  encounter with a person who has met with Jesus as  Jesus is teaching. There is not a lot to analyze or figure  out, the facts are pretty clear.  
In the beginning Jesus asks why the young man called  him “good” when only God is good. I had always found  that part of the story confusing but as I was focusing on  this to prepare for this sermon I realized Jesus was telling  the young man that Jesus could not cause a change of  heart, only God can do that. And after all Jesus was  going to call the young man to make a change of heart. 
And something that slipped by me in the past was the  phrase “Jesus loved him”. If you think about that a  minute it tempers the harshness of the comment about  how hard it is for a rich man to get into the Kingdom. 
So now let me start to put all these seeming  disassociated things together and explain my thoughts on  camels, eyes, and getting into the kingdom of God. 
The rich young man was a good man and was living up to  the expectations of the Jewish faith as he knew it. He  
was doing it all the right way. He sensed, probably from  Jesus’ teaching, that there was something more, another  step he had to take to truly be a follower of Jesus. He  asks Jesus that very question and Jesus tries to let him  off the hook by asking what his faith asks him to do,  which I think Jesus already knew he was doing. 
The rich young man was determined to meet the mark for  what Jesus was asking of his followers and so he pressed  on and because of that Jesus saw his determination and  “loved” him. In that love Jesus was not going to let him  off the hook but rather to give him the direction that the  young man sought. Jesus said sell all that you have and  give the proceeds to the poor and the rich young man  went away sad because he had many possessions. Note  that we don’t know what happened to the rich young  man. Maybe he did sell all his possessions. Maybe he  didn’t. Jesus’ focus shifts to address all those who have  many possessions and makes a broad observation that it  is extremely difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom  of God. 
Why would you think it would be so difficult for a rich man  to enter the kingdom? One reason might be that there is  no time to work on entering the kingdom when you are  striving to earn or maintain riches. Believe it or not even  rich people have to work really hard to hold onto their  wealth. It takes hours of work, late meetings, cross country trips and time away from home and family in  order to hold your own in our Capitalist Society. 
Once you attain some of the riches you sought you find a  new dilemma in trying to hold on to it. There are the  physical dangers of theft, loss caused by nature, market  crashes and other monetary disasters. All of these  threaten wealth and possessions. There are the social  dangers of going to the wrong clubs or attending the  wrong churches or supporting the wrong causes or voting  for the wrong party. All of these threaten your ability to  continue to make more money or cause you to lose it to  someone better aligned with perceived right thought. 
One of the greatest lessons our neighbors in need has  taught me is that there is great freedom in not possessing  anything. There is nothing to lose. You can take any  position you want and no one can or will threaten you.  Someone may think to take a swing at you but chances  are they could get hurt as well and if you have nothing  what does it matter what you say or what cause you  support or who you cheer on. Of course that all assumes  no one will listen to you. The greatest freedom is time,  time to spend however you decide is right. These days  very small voices are moving huge issues forward in the  areas of equity, justice and fairness. We have evidence of  this in our own congregation. 

The Kingdom of God was and is not a place somewhere  out there or in another dimension as far as I know. It is  right here, right now. Jesus many times over, said the  Kingdom is here. How present it is depends on how  much effort we put in to make it present. If we are caught  up in chasing or maintaining wealth we won’t have time to  try to make it present. So it is really difficult to impossible  for a rich man to help illuminate or develop or spread the  Kingdom. Also Jesus asks us to feed the hungry, dress  the naked, shelter the homeless, care for the injured; all of  which requires financial means. It is caring about and for  the woman or man who is on welfare and doesn’t appear  to do anything at all to help themselves. It means taking  the time to put ourselves in the shoes of those we  sometimes see as other and realizing the hurdles they  have before them. 
Jesus is not saying that rich people are bad or that they  are lost forever. He is saying that many of them may have  to experience a change of heart in order to follow his lead.  And he is saying that a change of heart is not easy and it  is best done with God’s help. 
I like to think that the rich young man went home and  after a lot of prayer began to feed the hungry and give  drink to the thirsty and clothe the naked because of  Jesus’ teaching and while he may have not sold all his  possessions he became a benefactor to those in his  community. And maybe that too is why Jesus loved him. 

How are you and I going to respond to Jesus call and  admonition? Like the rich young man I think we should  give it some thought. 
Amen 

​

By Steve Houghton

​Purpose: Reflect on how God gives extraordinary purpose to ordinary people.

In the name of the One God, who is Lover, Beloved, and Love Overflowing. Amen (Br. Aiden Owen, OHC)

Good Morning!

When I was much younger I was in awe of, some might say venerated, the saints. That was likely because I attended parochial school and it was expected of me. As I have become older I am bold enough, some would say brash enough, to consider the human side of the saints and wonder what the heck was God doing with that gal or guy. That wonder is particularly keen concerning St. James the Greater.

Our James was the Greater, in all probability, because he was taller than James the Lesser. We can consider some other possibilities as we go along. For the moment I think it should be enough to know that many historians consider James’ height as the reason for his title of Greater.

We are blessed with quite a number of passages in scripture that reference James and some of his actions. This morning we heard two of them. In the Gospel we hear of his mother trying to get him honor at Jesus side. The second one was in the Epistle and records the very end of his ministry. 

You might recall that In the Synoptic Gospels, James and his brother John were the third and fourth apostles to join Jesus as he taught along the Sea of Galilee. All four were fishermen. It might be helpful to know a little about fishing in the area of the Sea Galilee at the time of Jesus and his apostles.

Fishing was and is hard work. The actual fishing took place at night when the fish wouldn’t see the nets and swim away to avoid them. The boats were about 23 feet long and seven feet wide, capable of carrying around a thousand pounds of fish or 11 to 13 people. It held a crew of five, four to row the boat and throw the nets and one to steer, watch for storms and supervise the casting and retrieval of the nets. By the way, the fact that they sailed at night and had to have someone on the lookout for storms might add a little flavor to some of the other bible stories with which we are familiar. Back to the topic. The throwing of the nets and hauling back the catch to the boat and then lifting it into the boat was really only a part of the job. Most of the day for the fishermen was spent mending the flax or linen nets; drilling holes in stones and attaching them to the nets as weights; drying the nets; and storing them for the next night’s sail. There doesn’t seem to have been a lot of down time. (1)

The most successful fishing ventures were undertaken by families that had good strong sons. The more family members in the crew the less money had to be paid out to day laborers to serve as rowers and net tenders. There were also licenses to be paid for, tolls to be paid and the ever present taxes. So you can see that Zebedee, James and John’s father, had three fifths of the crew as part of his family; a definite financial advantage. There was also a partnership with Simon (Peter) and Andrew and their boat, as referenced in Luke (5:10). It is likely that they had a rather profitable venture going in their joint fishing partnership. (2)

So at first glance, reading only Mathew (4: 18-22) and Mark (1: 16-20), you might scratch your head a bit when you read that Jesus just came strolling along the shore, saw the four fishermen, and said they should drop their nets and follow him . . . and they did. In the Gospel of John (1: 35-40), he states that Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptist and heard John the Baptist say of 
Jesus, “Behold the Lamb of God”. We might be able to guess from this that Peter, James and John were familiar with John the Baptist’s message through Andrew. In fact we read in John that Andrew carried that message to Peter. And if you read Luke’s account (5: 1-11) you realize that Jesus has just performed the miracle of telling Peter to cast his nets, in the daytime, after a nighttime of catching nothing and retrieving so many fish they almost sink the two boats and split the net, it begins to make a little more sense.

My guess is that Zebedee was too stunned at the catch to protest losing near his entire livelihood to this itinerant preacher. I wonder what his reaction was the next day. For that matter, I wonder what James was thinking when he woke up the next morning traipsing after this miracle worker. 

I am left wondering what sort of men these four fishermen and James in particular, were and why Jesus invited them to follow him. To be honest, if I were trying to get a movement going and needed people to help build and grow that movement, I would be a bit concerned about relying on someone who would abandon his work so easily and abandon his father who needed his help to succeed. 

Of course if I were looking for people who could work tirelessly for long hours and in the face of a disappointing night on the water, someone who would keep going when all seemed lost, these might be the very people Jesus was looking for.

Whatever the reason he was invited along, James found himself in the inner circle of the twelve closest to Jesus. Along with Peter and John, James was invited in to the healing of Jairus’s daughter. Again along with Peter and John, he was present at the Transfiguration. Then in the Garden at Gethsemane, Peter James and John were with Jesus as he prayed before being arrested. 

Both Mark (10: 35-40) and Matthew (20: 20-23) recount a story where James and John ask to sit beside Jesus when he comes to power. Pretty bold! Even if they were in the inner circle of the inner circle, you have to think well of yourself to make that kind of request. Do you think you could ever make that request? 

Just to top that request we have James and John, in the Gospel of Luke (9: 51-56), asking Jesus if he wants them “to command fire to come down from heaven and consume” a village of Samaritans because “they did not receive Him, because his face was set on Jerusalem.” Of course the lesson in this section of scripture is about the relationship between the Jews and the Samaritans and about Jesus’ concern for loving all and having malice against none. This does, however, give us insight into the character of James and John. They are not timid about their support of Jesus and his teachings. They are, perhaps, a little over zealous given the fact that they want to bring down fire from heaven on villagers who don’t want to listen to their cultural enemies. And Jesus corrects them on that point. I have to wonder, though, if Jesus didn’t smile a little to himself witnessing how headstrong these two were about his mission.

I believe we all have met people in our lives who act like James did. They passionately believe in their cause and they will not be swayed. When I was protesting the war in Vietnam and protesting for Civil Rights in the late 60’s and early 70’s I knew a number of people like James. I found myself caught between wishing they would tone it down and wishing I had the courage to speak as boldly as they did. Can you picture a person in your life who stands out like that? Might it even be you? When I finally got my voice in the protest movement it certainly was me. I remember standing in the middle of the gymnasium at North Adams State College at the beginning of the Student Strike and throwing my books down and declaring I would not pick them up until we were out of Vietnam.

You see God never has had anyone but us to carry his message to the world. When Jesus walked in Israel he used fishermen and tax collectors and rebels and all sorts of humans. That was one of the things that the Sisters of St. Joseph in my high school taught me about saints that has stuck with me as a truth. We all have the potential to do God’s work. Heck we have a hymn to that effect here in the Episcopal Church. We often give it lip service. We don’t always believe it. If the church continues or fails; if Jesus’ teachings continue or fail; that is on us. We adopt saints names for our churches to remind us of that fact. Those saints serve as a reminder that we are capable of doing God’s work and with his grace we will do it.

In the end, James was beheaded in 44 CE by Herod Agrippa because he would not stop declaring Jesus’ life changing message at the top of his lungs. I do believe that St. James, that brash young fisherman speaks to a strength of voice from which we can gain inspiration. When you hear his name spoken in reference to this church or in any conversation, ask yourself, what has God planned for my talents today?

Amen

1 James Campbell, D Min “Biblical Fishing101 Reeling in the First Fishers of Faith” Loyolapress.com
2 Ibid James Campbell