Text: Mark 10:17-27
Theme: The Impossible Made Possible
Date: October 13, 2015 (Pentecost 21A)
In the Name of Jesus, whose life, death and resurrection from the dead make all things possible, Dear Christian Friends,
In the late 1960’s and early 1970’s CBS aired an action spy thriller TV series called Mission Impossible staring among others Leonard
Nimoy, Lesley Ann Warren, and Peter Graves. You may recall that most episodes begin with the team’s leader Dan Briggs, played by
Peter Graves, getting a mission assignment from a tape recorder along with an envelope of photos and information that would explain
the scope of the team’s mission. The tape would almost always begin with the words "Good morning Mr. Briggs," and then would go
on to explain a mission of classified information that would seem to be against all odds of completing it successfully. The tape would
then end with the words "This tape will self-destruct in five seconds.” Finally, smoke would rise from the tape and the instructions
would be forever destroyed. This same action spy thriller TV series also inspired a popular film series from 1996 – 2015 under the
same name Mission Impossible starring among others Tom Cruise. Again, the premise to successfully complete what seemed to be an
impossible mission.
Mission Impossible! While it may be a popular TV and film series that has little to do with reality, it is a very real description of how
impossible it is for a person to get to heaven without Jesus. Sadly, many people today believe that getting to heaven depends on us
doing good things: helping the poor, giving money to the needy, or by living a good life in our community. In fact, sometimes even we
as believers can slip into the thinking that being good and trying to live a Christian life actually contributes to us getting ourselves to
heaven. Yet today Jesus teaches us again that when anyone tries to get to heaven without faith in Jesus as their only Savior, it is and
always will be mission impossible. On the basis of God’s Word today our sermon theme is “The Impossible Made Possible” May
God’s Holy Spirit bless us today with the knowledge that 1) It is impossible for us to get ourselves to heaven, but 2) What is
impossible for us is possible for God.
1. It is impossible for us to get ourselves to heaven
Do you remember learning the childhood nursery rhyme about Little Jack Horner? “Little Jack Horner sat in a corner, eating his
Christmas pie. He stuck in his thumb and pulled out a plum and said, ‘What a good boy am I.’” Most people in the world sincerely
believe that‘s true. If you have good things in life, it’s because God is rewarding you for good behavior. Likewise, if you want to get to
heaven, it also depends on your good behavior.
Such was thinking of the man who came to Jesus. He approaches Jesus with respect and humility. He comes and bows down to the
ground as he asks this important question: GOOD TEACHER,WHAT MUST I DO TO INHERIT ETERNAL LIFE? This man was a
very wealthy. The Gospel writer Luke tells us that he was a ruler and one who was well respected in society. He had led an outwardly
exemplary life from the time of his youth. He had protected human life, preserved the sanctity marriage, protected his neighbor’s
property, and upheld the reputation of others. Yet in spite of all these good things, he was uneasy inside. He wasn’t sure if he had done
enough good to get to heaven. He still had the feeling in his heart that there was something left undone by him. He didn’t know the
answer to the question, “How good is good enough?” So he asked Jesus WHAT MUST I DO TO INHERIT ETERNAL LIFE?
On the outside we see this man as a respected member of society, a contributor to his community, a humble man. We see a man we
would like to have as our neighbor. But what did Jesus see in this man? Jesus saw a wretched soul who was speeding down the
highway to hell. Jesus saw an ugly, helpless, despicable man. Jesus saw a man, not who had kept the law of God since his youth, but
who had been breaking every one of God’s commands since his youth. Jesus saw a man that was not humble but proud; so proud that
that he claimed to have kept all of God’s Ten Commandments. Jesus said to him: WHY DO YOU CALL ME GOOD? NO ONE IS
GOOD-—EXCEPT GOD ALONE. YOU KNOW THE COMMANDMENTS: DO NOT MURDER, DO NOT COMMIT
ADULTERY, DO NOT STEAL, DO NOT GIVE FALSE TESTIMONY, DO NOT DEFRAUD, HONOR YOUR FATHER AND
MOTHER “TEACHER,” HE DECLARED, “ALL THESE I HAVE KEPT SINCE I WAS A BOY!”
This man thought he was good! Jesus, on the other hand, knew differently. Jesus wanted this man to realize that his concept of
goodness does not even begin to match God’s concept of goodness. God’s standard for goodness is perfection. There’s no passage
in the Bible anywhere that says good people go to heaven. Instead the Bible says, “Be perfect because I the Lord your God am
perfect.” Elsewhere in the Bible God says that all our righteous acts, all those things we think and count on as being good in the eyes
of God are like filthy rags. We live in a world that constantly applauds people for the good they do or at least how hard they try. But
Jesus wants us to know that our most loving acts of kindness to our husband or wife this past week, our mom and dad, our neighbor or
co-worker, even though they may have been helpful, were far from the perfect love God demands. It is impossible for sinners to do
anything with pure love in their hearts. And it is equally impossible for sinners by themselves to get to heaven.
At this point it would have been easy for Jesus to give up on this man and claim that his case was hopeless and impossible. But that
wasn’t the attitude our Savior took. Just when you thought there was no hope for this man we hear these words of our Savior’s
compassion: JESUS LOOKED AT HIM AND LOVED HIM. Friends, don’t let this passage go in one ear and out the other. Jesus
loved him! Jesus could have considered his situation impossible, He could have called him a liar and a fool to think that he was good
enough to get to in heaven. The man was a fool but Jesus loved him. So what does he do? Jesus points out to the young man how
impossible it is for him or anyone to earn eternal life. “ONE THING YOU LACK,” HE SAID. “GO, SELL EVERYTHING YOU
HAVE AND GIVE TO THE POOR, AND YOU WILL HAVE TREASURE IN HEAVEN. THEN COME, FOLLOW ME.” AT THIS
THE MAN’S FACE FELL. HE WENT AWAY SAD, BECAUSE HE HAD GREAT WEALTH. The young man became sad. Why?
Because he finally looked into his heart and not at his outward actions. Sure, if Jesus told him to give generously to the poor, he would
have done it because it would have meant that he could still keep much of his wealth. But Jesus knew this man’s heart and so as the
master teacher Jesus told him to sell everything he had and give to the poor. These words of Jesus are not necessarily meant to
prescribe how he wants his people to use their wealth as much as they are words meant to touch the heart of this man. This man wanted
to be good, but not that good. Jesus’ words led him to realize that he wasn’t as good as he once thought he was. Jesus’ words led him to
look at his heart and not his actions and his heart convicted him of sin; the sin of loving his wealth more than God.
This was a loving action on the part of Jesus because by preaching the message of the Law to this man he realized how
impossible it is for sinners to get to heaven by themselves. But what is impossible for us is possible for God.
2.What is impossible for us is possible for God.
When the disciples witnessed Jesus’ words to the rich man the Bible says that they were amazed and said to each other: WHO THEN
CAN BE SAVED? JESUS LOOKED AT THEM AND SAID, “WITH MAN THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE, BUT NOT WITH GOD; ALL
THINGS ARE POSSIBLE WITH GOD.” Jesus impressed upon his disciples how impossible it is for sinners to save themselves by
using the illustration of a camel and an eye of a needle. The impossibility of a camel fitting through the eye of a needle is compared to
the impossibility of sinners getting to heaven by themselves. While Jesus condemns the sin of greed in this man’s life, he equally
condemns all sins in our lives. Anything, anyone we love more for than we love God reminds us of how impossible it is for us to get to
heaven by ourselves and so we like to disciples are led to ask: WHO THEN CAN BE SAVED?
What is impossible for us is possible for God. A virgin gives birth to a Son; Over; 5,000 people are fed with a small picnic lunch; A
man who has been dead and in the grave for four days lives again. Impossible things? Not with God. But of all the miracles that reveal
the possibilities of God’s power, none of them compare to God’s amazing power of forgiving sin. Once during Jesus’ earthly ministry
a man who was paralyzed was brought before him to be healed. Jesus had compassion on the paralyzed man and healed him but Jesus’
words spoken to the man emphasized his real greatness. Jesus said, “Take heart your sins are forgiven.” Now that’s amazing! That
makes the impossible possible.
God accomplished the impossible by sending his only Son Jesus into the world. The Bible says, “When time had fully come God sent
his Son born of a women, born under law to redeem those under law” (Gal. 4:4) . Jesus lived a perfect life under the same Ten
Commandments that we find impossible to obey. Jesus was tempted in every way as we are to sin, yet he never did; not in thought, not
in word and not in deed. He loved his Father in heaven perfectly and he loved others perfectly. The Bible says Jesus “was without sin”
(Heb. 4:15). But Jesus wasn’t done yet. Jesus, perfect in every way, was willing to stand condemned before his Father in heaven for all
the ways and times that we have been imperfect in God’s eyes. The Bible puts it this way, “God made Jesus who had no sin to be sin
for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). Jesus was willing to trade places with sinners. Jesus
was willing to die in the place of sinners. Jesus was willing to be condemned to hell for sinners. Jesus did all this to make full and
complete payment for the sins of all people; for the sins of the rich man in our text, for the sins of husband and wives, for the sins of
children, for the sins of neighbors and co-workers and for the sins of fellow-members of Faith Congregation.
Jesus did the impossible. Jesus took imperfect people and made them perfectly forgiven before God in heaven. We are not told if that
rich man ever returned to Jesus with a repentant heart, if he ever believed in Jesus as his Savior or if he will greet us in heaven one day.
But what we do know is the answer to the question that rich man asked, “What must I do to be saved?” The Jailer at Philippi had the
same question and the Apostle Paul answered it with these words, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved” (Acts
16:31). Jesus makes it crystal clear that faith in Jesus is the only thing that saves sinners from hell. Our possessions will never get us to
heaven. Our possessions, however, are used to glorify our God for doing the impossible, for doing the only thing possible to save
sinners, for sending Jesus to pay for sin with his holy blood.
My Dear Christian Friends, may it be our prayer that God the Holy Spirit would daily lead us to see how impossible it is for us to save
ourselves. How impossible it is for us to use our possessions to get us to heaven. May God’s Spirit lead us to thankfully use our
possessions to glorify and praise our God for doing the impossible. May God’s Spirit daily also lead us to believe that what was
impossible for us was possible for God only through his Son Jesus Christ. To God alone be the glory. Amen.