Goodness Gracious

This Sunday I am back in the pulpit, covering for a parish without a priest. This is the reading I have been given to preach on: Mark 10:17-31

The rich man ran up to Jesus, knelt at his feet and addressed him as ‘Good’, but what does ‘good’ mean?

The Oxford English Dictionary gives us many suggestions; to be of ‘good breeding’ suggests aristocracy, ‘good food’ would be something which is untainted and fit to eat, ‘good soil’ would be fertile ground; to refer to a person as ‘good’ would be an indefinite commendation. Good can mean Kind, benevolent, gentle, gracious, friendly, favourable; of a child it often means ‘well-behaved’ i.e., quiet and obedient, not giving trouble.

With reference to God, it suggests moral perfection.

The rich man runs up to Jesus, kneels at his feet and addresses him as a morally perfect teacher. The fact that the rich man runs is telling in itself. Men of status and perfection did not run, that was what slaves and servants and other underlings did, nor would they kneel in subservience; but this man does. In all his actions he recognises Jesus as ‘good’ and he addresses him as such.

Jesus himself, Jesus who can see into the hearts of others, questions the man regarding this form of address. Jesus does not deny that he is good, but he pushes the man, hoping to lead him into a deeper understanding of who he is. Although the man sees the good in Jesus, and has such huge respect for him, he isn’t, yet, able to make the next step.

The man does not respond when Jesus asks him why ‘Good’, or even when Jesus declares, reminds him, that only God should be addressed as Good. The man is not able to make a commitment, to say out loud what he knows deep down, that dangerous knowledge, that Jesus is God, that he is the Messiah. There is a deep yearning within him, but he is not able to act upon it. The man leaves this encounter turning his back on Jesus, walking away in grief.

In contrast, Peter speaks on behalf of the disciples. ‘What about us?’ If the rich man wasn’t good enough for heaven, what chance did they have? Peter and the others have every chance, for they have turned their backs on everything to follow Jesus. Impetuous, maybe, but their response to recognising the good in Jesus was to throw their lot in with him.

Most of us, I think, would fall somewhere between the rich man and the disciples. Financially we may be well off, but certainly not wealthy enough to fund trips to outer space. Spiritually we have recognised the good in Jesus, we declare in the creed that Jesus is God, but how much of our selves have we given to him? Would we run for Jesus? Would we kneel at his feet? In church we might, on a Sunday, but in public? Midweek?

Do we truly live our lives valuing everything as belonging to Jesus? Are there things in our lives which get in the way of following him? Are we nominal Christians who tick the right box on the census form, or do we live the whole of our lives in a goodly way? Not just ticking off the commandments before going to bed each night, ‘Phew, haven’t murdered anyone again today!’ but being aware of the trappings of life that weigh us down and become a barrier to fully living our lives as God intended.

Here’s the test. If Jesus were to physically be present here today, would you run to him? Would you kneel at his feet? Would you offer anything and everything to him? What do you hold tight hoping that Jesus will never ask it of you? What is the one thing that Jesus could ask of you that would make you turn away grieving?

We all have something, perhaps many things. If we truly want to follow Jesus into the Kingdom of Heaven, we need to spend some time letting go.