Scripture: Mark 10:17-31; Job 23:1-9; Job 23:16-17 Series: After Pentecost
Pairing the rich man’s encounter in Mark 10 with Job’s bitter complaint, Wilson argues that we instinctively sanitize Jesus’ hard call by hunting for loopholes, like the Renaissance patron who painted a needle-sized camel to escape the warning to the rich. Such loophole-seeking is the ‘old person’ before grace, still relying on self and clinging to the pre-grace life rather than letting go; it is Wesley’s almost Christian who does everything right but lacks love in the heart. Turning to Job, he insists faith is not a peachy attitude or a storm-free life that pays out rewards; even when God feels absent, God is still there, and nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ, so we should stop seeking loopholes out of love and instead let go of destruction and despair to seek that love.
Illustrations: tiny-camel-needle-painting, medici-fugger-banking-wealth, patrons-in-biblical-scenes, speeding-ticket-intention, walton-microscopic-camel-lab, wesley-almost-christian
October 13
Eye of the Camel
Job 23:1-9, 16-17
Mark 10:17-31
Then Job answered: “Today also my complaint is bitter; his hand is heavy despite my groaning. Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his dwelling! I would lay my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments. I would learn what he would answer me and understand what he would say to me. Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power? No, but he would give heed to me. There the upright could reason with him, and I should be acquitted forever by my judge. “If I go forward, he is not there; or backward, I cannot perceive him; on the left he hides, and I cannot behold him; I turn to the right, but I cannot see him. God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me. If only I could vanish in darkness, and thick darkness would cover my face! - Job 23:1-9, 16-17
As he 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. Honor 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. Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” They were greatly astounded and said to one another, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.”
Peter began to say to him, “Look, we have left everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for my sake and for the sake of the good news who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.” - 10:17-31
The late middle ages and the early renaissance were a wonderful period for art. There was this burst of creativity and technique that allowed for a radical renewal of artistic traditions, as well as the creation of new traditions.
There’s also this expansion of wealth and banking families, like the the Medicis in Florence or the Fuggers in Frankfurt are starting to accumulate these huge amounts of wealth. It really was unimaginable for anyone before that time, unless you were a king. And suddenly these nonroyal people are able to have this huge wealth and purchase titles and even thrones.
One of my favorite details of this period is that rich people would pay painters to paint these biblical scenes. And they would ask the painters to paint them, the rich benefactors, in the biblical scenes. So it would be something like the baptism of Jesus and the rich guy is in the background and his family, or it’d be the circumcision of Jesus. And the rich guy’s son is the face of the baby. All these interesting details. You can always learn a lot about a society by how they depict scenes from the Bible.
One of my favorite details from the renaissance is this painting where they have a needle in the corner of a giant canvas. It’s a normal needle. And inside the needle is drawn a camel. A normally proportioned camel, though the size is a little off. The camel about the size of a camel emoji.
Not so subtly, the rich man who sponsored this painting is making a commentary on this passage from the Gospel of Mark. Jesus says that it is harder for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven. And the rich dude is like, “I hear you, Jesus. I will make a really small camel. No, that doesn’t work? What about a really, really, really, really, really, really small camel? One that can go through the eye of the needle. Therefore, I, as a rich dude, can enter heaven.”
This detail is a great example about how all of us, in our own ways, try to sanitize the call of Jesus. It’s human nature to do this, to see something as good and then try and distort it so we don’t have to change.
In our life and in our faith journey, we may come to this moment where, through grace, we realize that following Jesus is good and doing the things that Jesus says are good. We like the idea of Jesus. We like the love of Jesus. And then we come face to face with the words of Jesus, words that aren’t about other people. Words that are about us and our own heart.
What if Jesus meant what he said?
A man comes up to Jesus. He doesn’t have a name in Mark. He comes up and says, “good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus says, have you followed the commandments? And he gives an example of a few of the commandments. Have you followed the law?
The problem of laws, whether religious laws or civil laws, secular laws, whether state laws or federal laws or community laws, the problem with the law is the words on the page. Intention only goes so far. If I get pulled over for speeding, for going 45 in a 30, it doesn’t matter if I did not mean to do it. The officer is not concerned with my intention. In part, because he cannot judge my intention. He can judge my speed. Sure, there are some laws where intention matters, but stick with me. If there were a law that said that no rich people could enter a club unless a camel went through the eye of a needle, it would be a very restrictive law. If you make a certain amount of money, you cannot enter unless you can bring a camel through this gravity. Right? That’s the explicit thing.
And then there’s somebody who has a microscopic camel that goes through a really large needle. Like, if the Walton family paid for a lab at A&M and they have been breeding camels for forty years and they finally get one small enough to go through a needle. Would that pass the test that Jesus gives?
Would Saint Peter say, Welcome. You made it through. You found the catch.
These are called loopholes. Loopholes are an ambiguity or inadequacy in the law that can be exploited. Loopholes are an unavoidable part of reality. The more we try to legislate out loopholes, the more loopholes people find. You close 1, another new one opens up. The thing about a loophole is that it is a way to exploit the law in order to not have to follow said law. A loophole is a way to exploit instruction, to exploit a command so that you don’t have to follow it. This is where Jesus is tricky because he challenges directly the idea of using loopholes with our daily life, using loopholes of the Bible in order to get out of following the words of God. I mean, this is what Paul means in 2 Corinthians when he says that the letter kills, but the spirit gives life. When we are hyper focused on the letter to the point of finding loopholes, we’re missing out on the spirit of what God is calling us to do and who God is calling us to be.
Because, the truth is, we shouldn’t want to be the kind of people that exploit loopholes. This is the old person. This is the person before grace, before faith, who is not relying on Jesus, who is still relying on themselves. Who is relying on themselves in order to find a way to keep hold of some aspect of their prior life, their life before grace, the life where they weren’t saved, where they didn’t know that they were loved, where they didn’t know they were forgiven. They want to hold on to the aspects of that life into the new one. And Jesus is saying, you gotta let it go. You gotta stop looking for the deal. You gotta stop looking for the catch. Let go of the desire to win every contract. Following what Jesus says is good. The way. Following the way is good, But it is not the end because we can still follow the way and distort it for our own ends and our own means and purposes and not for God, not for love, not for caring.
This is what John Wesley would call the almost Christian. The almost Christian does all the right things. They they’re always at church. They tithe. They serve. They give to their neighbor. They volunteer. They do all the things. But they don’t have the love of Jesus shed abroad in their heart. Thus, they’re almost a Christian and not an altogether Christian.
We can’t see the heart of others. It’s impossible. We can’t X-ray someone’s heart and see the love they have. We can’t know why someone does something. What we can do is look inward at our own heart. Where is your heart? Another way to say this is, like, where is your desire? The heart is often a a metaphor for desire, for will, for longing. And the truth of the faith of Jesus Christ is that you don’t have to desire destruction. You don’t have to desire acts of destruction. You don’t have to desire to exploit others. You don’t have to desire to alienate others. This is not who you are. God has freed you from that. Life is found in this freedom that God has opened up through the blood of Jesus Christ. Opened up to you and to many that you are free.
The book of Job offers an extended meditation on suffering, and, thus, it is one of the more realistic books of the Bible. I asked Steve not to introduce Job so that the words could be shocking.
In the beginning of the book, Job has it all together. He has wealth, family, friends. And the accuser says that Job has faith because he’s got all these good things. Job is accused of believing because of what God has given him. God says, no. Job believes fully. All the other stuff is just fruit. It’s bonus. It’s extra.
Then the trials of Job take place, and the suffering takes place. Job is complaining here in chapter 23, complaining bitterly, feeling isolated and alone that he can’t find God.
Job is not unfaithful here. In the midst of the struggle, in the midst of admitting the struggle, Job is not unfaithful here. Faith is not about having a peachy keen attitude at all times. If we go to church, believe in God in order to get stuff from God, we are going to be disappointed. It is not going to work out. This is reality. The rain falls, as Jesus says, on the just as well as the unjust. The rain falls on the righteous as well as the unrighteous. Just because you believe doesn’t mean the storms will not come. The storms will come for everyone. Some people experience more storms than others, and it seems unfair. Our faith is not in a storm free life, but that the storms do not define us. That even when God feels far away. As Job said, if I go forward, he is not there. Or backward, I cannot perceive him. On the left, he hides, and I cannot behold him. I turn to the right, but I cannot see him.
It is a feeling Job has. It is a feeling most of us have had. But this feeling of Job is not the end of his story nor is it the end of our story.
And yet God is there.
And yet, God is there.
God is there for you. God is there for us. His love is there for you. Amazing love. How can it be that you, my God, would die for me? So don’t try and find a loophole to get out of love. Even when the darkness is thick, it is not the end of the story. The darkness cannot separate you from the love of God in Jesus Christ, nor can struggle or tribulation nor sword, nor flesh, nor things above, nor things below. Nothing can separate you from the love of God and Jesus Christ. You are claimed by God. You are loved by God. So seek that love. Let go of destruction. Let go of despair. Seek God’s love, and you will find it.
In the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit. Amen.