Proving your abilities. That’s a big thing. I remember being a kid and wanting to “do it myself” and I’ve heard that same phrase come out of many kids’ mouths. But really, who am I kidding? I still relish the feeling of anticipation and flood of personal satisfaction when I accomplish something on my own or by the sweat of my brow or with my own two hands or whatever other idiom that you want to use. We moved into an old farm house that hadn’t been lived in for three years. The roof was leaking and there was a place next to the bricked up fireplace where you could see sunshine through the wall. There was a small hole in the floor, and when the dog ran through the living room stuff shook. There were about fourteen buildings that had become or were becoming unusable and acres of land gone fallow. I tore down buildings with a saw, hammer and pry bar, including a very, very large chicken house. Over time I mowed and cut. Dug, cleaned, carried, hauled and hammered. Wired, insulated, cut out the living room and kitchen floors and walls. Insulated, reinforced, supported, replaced. Pam and I had a vision and not a lot of funds so it was a do-it-yourself or as they say “or die trying”. I guess that was one time where I truly felt that failure was not an option. I wanted to do it myself. Now I did have family and friend help along the way, it wasn’t all solo, but the thing is, I won’t lie, it felt really good to try something, work really hard, be terrified but confident along the way and be able to step back and see a success wrought by your hands. That also goes for the job I was working as a woodworker. The signs of success were tangible. I got to hear organ pipes play on a chest that I had built from lumber that started out rough cut. I confess I felt a deep sense of pride in what I did. I will also say that there is a lot of truth in that whole “pride goeth before a fall” thing because along with successes came some spectacular failures, spotlights on ignorance and “growing opportunities”. I had put in a sink that was discounted and it kept leaking. I was trying to fix it because we were leaving to come to Florida for vacation. But before I noticed the reason it was discounted and the reason for the leak, a manufacturer’s faulty mold, my frustration, poorly thought out tool choice, and did I mention frustration, I ended up delaying our leave early plans because I was in the ER getting stitches in my finger. I am still paying for it because whenever I am getting worked up or angry from working on something when my son’s around I have to hear him say, “Don’t cut your finger off dad.” He enjoys that a little too much. It’s like when the Stoic Epictetus told his students that they should remind themselves that they are mortal, curbing their pleasure, as do “those who stand behind men in their triumphs and remind them that they are mortal”. My son is my own personal walking Ash Wednesday. Or when I dismantled a two story barn who’s back wall had fallen away. Piece by piece came away until I realized how unequipped I was to deal with a roof that was too rickety to be on that was two stories off the ground. So it stood at the bottom of our yard mocking me and proving to me that, despite my successes and the things I could do, there would always be those things I would miss, fail at, be ignorant, screw up or injure myself doing. It’s like the character, Rosanne Rosanna Danna, created by Gilda Radner would always say, “There’s always something”. Now for this next part, I am not claiming divine intervention or a miracle, but maybe something that happened that rises to the level of a pretty good parable. After seeing the roof of that barn stand there, and having to acknowledge that it was beyond me. You know I said it was do it yourself or die trying? Well I discovered I was not anywhere close to being willing to really risk my life on a huge structure. So it stood there. There’s always something. Not too long after my defeat and surrender, it snowed. We got up in the morning to look at the accumulation and it was beautiful on the field out of the front windows. Then we went around to look at the backyard and the barn was gone! It collapsed inward into a nice ground level pile. It was a pile of snow covered thankfulness. A huge problem solved. A big dangerous structure, gone. The thing I had miscalculated, the something, the trip up, the thing that loomed bigger than myself or my abilities got me but was gone, done. What a weird feeling on a beautiful white winter day. What must I do to inherit eternal life? The young man asked. From the structure and the language used, this young man is looking for the checklist for his do-it-yourself project. Mine might have asked if I had stopped water intrusion, cleared away trash and brush, razed and recycled problem buildings, reinforced the floor and wired in more than one outlet in the kitchen. He was asking for a much more important checklist. So Jesus names the obvious, the commandments. We think of 10 but technically there are 613. He’s done them. I know he’s proud. Each time I checked off a successful improvement I took an internal victory lap, so I imagine he’s feeling pretty successful in his endeavor. But here is Jesus’ point. There is always something. A big dangerous barn or acting out of ignorance or anger or frustration or pride. We all sin and fall short of the glory of God. There’s always something. If we go by works or by our own hand and allow our pride to dictate that it all be a do-it-yourself project in which we get to stand up and take the glory and point to ourselves and how we pulled ourselves into heaven by our proverbial bootstraps, we are responsible for the whole enchilada. If there is always something, what about that one thing that makes us turn away grieving? In the do-it-yourself game failure is on you, a miss is as good as a mile, a failure is a failure, broken is broken. I can’t tell you out there in this world how many times I have heard people “theologize” and consign this rich young guy to hell. That’s very disappointing as it creates a narrative that is diametrically opposed to what Jesus is saying here. This reading interaction contains some very good news. First of all, I just have to say that the man went away grieving because he had a lot of stuff. It doesn’t cover whether he complied or not, BUT! Here’s the good news straight from Jesus. Whether he did or not is irrelevant. Jesus acknowledges how hard it is to do-it-yourself or earn your way in. Kind of pointing out that there is always something. So hard, like Really Hard, you know, impossible hard. As we find out in the second lesson, Jesus truly understands our difficulties because he has experienced them. I have been frustrated through my life at hearing the good news just sort of blown by in this gospel. Jesus’ next words are far too often read as some sort of aside when they are the absolute point of what Jesus is trying to teach us. Despite the soul crushing revelation of the impossibility of do-it-yourself salvation, Jesus says, “ but nothing is impossible for God.” This is not an aside! We receive salvation and eternal life through God’s grace not by the work of our hands. God has mercy on the barn fiascos of our lives. His mercy, forgiveness and grace covers them like that blanket of snow. I look out to see my failure and it’s brought low and covered. My eyes had a hard time registering the missing barn. When I came to understand what had happened, I was so excited and thankful for that problem to be gone. This is the place in our life and faith journey that Jesus wants us to be, thankful for God’s grace and the gift of forgiveness and our relationship with God being made right. The advice for going forward is found right there in the second lesson, “Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Let’s let the thankfulness for God’s grace propel us to keep the commandments, acknowledge our sins, see our faults, ask forgiveness from God and one another, care for the poor and oppressed, bind up the broken hearted, proclaim liberty to the captive, and love our neighbor as ourselves. May the winds of the Holy Spirit drive us outward into the world to share the message of God’s grace, the gospel, the good news with a world that desperately needs it, with the words of our mouths, the sweat of our brow, and the works of our hands.
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