The look of love

  14th October 2021

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Here’s the reading that we had at today’s communion service, from Mark’s Gospel…

As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’

Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: “You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honour your father and mother.”’

He said to him, ‘Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.’ Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, ‘You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’

When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

I listened to that reading on Sunday and the words which struck me especially were ‘Jesus, looking at him, loved him’. It was partly because the person reading, a lovely retired priest called John, entered deeply into the passage as he read it, and read it with great meaning – and when he read those words, his voice broke a little as he said ‘loved’. He really felt the depth of that love.

I don’t think there’s any other encounter in the gospels which is described in this way. Jesus acts out of love and compassion with everyone he meets, but here Luke is pointing to something particular.

Jesus sees the longing that this man has to learn from him, and to find ‘eternal life’ – life in all its fulness. And he responds with his own longing. It might sound like what he says to the man is a harsh demand – go and sell everything you own. But, seeing the way the man’s heart is being opened to God, he longs for his heart to be so fully opened he can receive all that God has for him.

I sang a song last night which included these lines:

Come leave what you cling to, lay down what you clutch, and find, with hands empty, that hearts can hold much.

Jesus sees that this man is still clinging to a lot, and that is stopping him really receive – he is only prepared to go so far.

This passage might lead into theoretical questions about whether Christians are all called to sell everything, and whether it is wrong to be a rich Christian. But maybe the more fruitful way to approach it is to allow ourselves to be in the place of the rich man.

What is it that we cling to? What stops us fully receiving what God has for us? What are we being called to let go of?

For myself, I recognise the occasional pull towards new, shiny things that will apparently transform my life. Thinking about those things – researching them – buying them – all of that can take my attention away from the gifts that are offered to me every day in my life now – the gift of each moment, the gift of the people I meet, the gift of the beautiful world around me, the gift of the love and grace of God.

Or sometimes I might find myself fantasising about where I might find the perfect house to retire to – and even going on Right Move – although actually I don’t need to think about that for years yet. Researching an unreal possibility in a way which blocks me fully engaging with life now, or being open to the future God has for me.

We will all have our own temptations. What this passage offers is a challenge which does not come out of duty, or a dry puritanism, but out of love, and the desire of Jesus to give us more than we can possibly imagine. Jo shared these words at Tuesday’s Morning Prayer:

Spirit of Freedom, take from us the cluttering of things, the temptation to dominate by the power of money, the craving for comfort.

Lead us through the narrow gate of constriction, that we may let go of possessions, and come to a place of simplicity and spaciousness, of glad conviviality and freedom.