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Mark 10:17-22

Why Do You Call Me Good?

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Mark 10:17-22

Why Do You Call Me Good?

By The Dr. Philip W. McLarty

If you’ve study the gospels, you know that Jesus was not one to stay cloistered away in a synagogue.  He went out to where the people were, spoke their language and related to their everyday lives.  He walked among the common folk and spoke of the Kingdom of God in common, ordinary terms.  For example, he said the kingdom was like a farmer sowing seed, a woman sweeping the house, a shepherd looking for a lost sheep.

It’s this Jesus-for-the-common-man that I’ve been trying to get across in this sermon series on the Questions Jesus Asked.  I like to think of Jesus as someone we can relate to, someone who asks simple questions and expects straight answers.

Take the question for today: “Why do you call me good?”  How would you answer that?  Why do you call Jesus good?  Not that he wasn’t good.  Scripture says, “For him who knew no sin.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)  Good doesn’t get any better than that.  My point is we have to be careful – to focus too much on Jesus’ goodness is to put him on a pedestal out of reach.

I’ll never forget what a woman told me one day.  She was near death and I was trying to reassure her that we’d remember her and her good works long after she was gone.  She looked at me and said, “Don’t make an icon out of me.  I want to be remembered for who I was, not for how others would’ve liked for me to be.”

Something like this is what I hear in the scripture lesson for today.  A rich young ruler approached Jesus and knelt before him and asked, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” (Mark 10:17) And Jesus said, “Why do you call me good?”

To be fair, we don’t know whether the rich young ruler meant his form of address as flattery or as a term of respect.  What we do know is that the effect was to put the spotlight on Jesus.  Jesus would have none this.  He said what any pious Jew would say: “No one is good except one—God.”  Then he went on to answer the question by putting the onus on the rich young ruler: “You know the commandments…”   Then, knowing the young man’s heart, he told him to let go of his attachment to this world:

“Go, sell whatever you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me, taking up the cross.” (Mark 10:21)

Here’s how I see this relating to us today: We pick and choose our heroes, and sometimes that includes Jesus.  We idolize them so much that they become our surrogates, so that we live out our lives vicariously through them.  We may not be savvy, but they are.  We may not know the answers, but they do.  While we’re plain and simple, they are sophisticated and debonair.  So, we sit back and watch like spectators as our heroes think and act and speak for us.

Hero worship begins in the earliest stages of childhood, as children look up to their parents.  Well, why not?  To a very young child, parents are about as close to God as you can get.  They’re big and strong and able to reach high places.  They speak with authority, and they always seem to know what to do and what to say.  Best of all, they’re always there when you need them, though sometimes you have to cry to get their attention.  At least in a healthy family, children idolize their parents.  In their eyes, they can do no wrong.

Hero worship starts with our parents, but it doesn’t end there.  As we get older, we pick and choose our heroes from a wide range of possibilities.  Growing up in the 50s, I cut my teeth on shoot-em-up westerns and World War II movies at the Saturday afternoon matinees at the Sanger Theater.  The stars of the silver screen came across bigger than life – rugged men like John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, Roy Rogers and Gene Autry; beautiful women like Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn and Vivien Leigh.

My hero was Audie Murphy.  He was not only a movie star, but a real-life, bona fide combat soldier, the most decorated hero of World War II.  I saved my hard-earned money to buy camouflage clothing and military paraphernalia at the army surplus store and tried to look and act just like him.  Who were some of your childhood heroes?

By the time I got to be a teenager, the Dallas Cowboys were hot stuff.  My best friend, Dan Jones, wanted to be just like Bob Lilly.  Richard McDowell saw himself as “Number 55,” Lee Roy Jordan.  I took a different route.  I discovered a love for classical music and came to admire great composers like Beethoven, Bach, Haydn and Mozart.  One of my favorites was Tchaikovsky.  I had a recording of March Slav, and I played it so much I nearly wore out the grooves.  I just couldn’t get enough of it, or the 1812 Overture, for that matter.

In seminary, I wanted to walk in the footsteps of the great giants of the faith like Augustine, who battled the heretics over the doctrine of grace; and Martin Luther, who took on the entire Roman Catholic Church over the selling of indulgences.  My ideal preacher was Harry Emerson Fosdick, pastor of the Riverside Church in New York City.  My favorite theologian was Paul Tillich.  I still go back and read some of his sermons from The New Being.

We’ve all had our heroes: Movie stars like Charlton Heston and Betty Davis; athletes like Babe Ruth and Jackie Robinson; political figures like Washington and Jefferson, literary icons like Shakespeare and Chaucer; social reformers like Susan B. Anthony and Martin Luther King; folk legends like Mark Twain and Will Rogers.

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As far as I can tell, having heroes is part of being human, and there’s nothing necessarily wrong with it, as long as we keep it in perspective.  We all need role models to look up to.

It’s just that there are two major problems.  One, our heroes inevitably turn out to have feet of clay.  While their public image may seem to be ideal, their personal life is often a different story.

I think that’s why we get so mad when our idols fall from their pedestals: Teachers aren’t supposed to be charged with sexual misconduct; athletes aren’t supposed to use drugs; elected officials aren’t supposed to lie or cheat on their spouses.

When our heroes fail us, we feel betrayed.  They’re not supposed to be fallible like us.  That’s not part of the deal.  So, what happens when they fall?  We get mad and pick someone else to take their place, and the cycle starts all over again – as we saw in the recent scandal in the Governor’s office of New York: Exit Eliot Spitzer, enter David Paterson.

More importantly, though, the problem with hero worship is that by focusing attention on our heroes we shift the attention away from ourselves.  Instead of using our own gifts and graces, meager as they may be, to transform the world around us into the kingdom of God, we fawn over what our heroes are doing and saying.

I don’t mean this in a partisan way, it’s just that I’m struck by the huge crowds flocking to see and hear Sen. Barack Obama.  Did you catch the report of his recent rally in Germany?  It’s amazing how, in a matter of only a few months, he’s become bigger than life, not only in this country, but abroad.  What concerns me is how we look to him – or to Sen. McCain or Ron Paul, for that matter – to give us vision and hope, rather than take responsibility for our own future and destiny.

That’s what I hear screaming at us in the gospel lesson for today: Why do you call me good?  In addressing Jesus as “Good Teacher,” the rich young ruler obviously seems to be looking to Jesus as his hero, not the Lord and Savior of his life.

But let’s not dwell on him.  What about us?  How do we see Jesus?  He certainly stands out above the others.  He spoke with authority.  He demonstrated exceptional wisdom.  He displayed supernatural powers.  He befriended both rich and poor, yet condemned neither.  He felt our pain, yet knew no sin.  In every way, he was the incarnation of righteousness, the paragon of virtue.

Is Jesus your hero or the Lord of your life?  Don’t answer too quickly.  As a hero, you can put Jesus on a pedestal and not have to worry about him getting in the way.  You can celebrate his mighty deeds and politely ignore the cries of the needy.  You can form a Jesus fan club and call it the church and put his picture in prominent places without ever getting your hands dirty.

Like the rich young ruler, it’s a lot easier to pay deference to Jesus than it is to take up our cross and devote our lives to serving the common good.

And so, is Jesus the Lord of your life, or is he your hero?  How can you know for sure?  What’s the difference?  I can think of four important distinctions.

• First, a hero draws attention to himself; the Lord focuses his attention on God.  In the gospels you’ll find that Jesus never once sought to call attention to himself, but to serve as a signpost pointing the way to God.  He said,

“If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on, you know him, and have seen him.”  (John 14:7)

As Christians, we do not worship Jesus, but the God who revealed himself in the person of Jesus. There’s a difference. To follow Jesus is to praise God from whom all blessings flow.

• Second, a hero is unapproachable; the Lord is ever-present among us.  Most dignitaries are shielded by their agents and protected from the public by body guards.  If you’re a fan, the best you can hope for is a smile and a handshake, a quick snapshot or an autograph.  Jesus, on the other hand, walks among us.  He reveals himself in the faces of strangers.  He promises to be present wherever two or three are gathered in his name.  In the Fourth Gospel, John writes,

” In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… (and) the Word became flesh, and lived among us.”  (John 1:1, 14)

Translators point out the phrase, “(he) lived among us,” literally means, “he pitched his tent next to ours.”  He leased the house next door.  He sits on the same pew.  He eats at your table in the restaurant.  He’s that near.

• Third, a hero accentuates our weakness; the Lord inspires our potential.  One of the reasons I don’t play golf anymore is that I used to watch professional golf on TV.  When I’d see Tiger Woods or Justin Leonard hit a 300-yard drive down the middle of the fairway, then spot a ball on the green three feet from the pin, I figured, “What’s the use?” I could never do that.  But when I look at the life of Jesus and listen to his teachings, I’m encouraged to believe I could befriend a stranger in his name, feed a hungry mouth, comfort one who is sick or dying.  I find confidence to think that, in Paul’s words, “I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13) And, in fact, Jesus said,

“…he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also; and he will do greater works than these, because I am going to my Father.”  (John 14:12)

• Finally, a hero enjoys the spotlight for a moment; the Lord reigns forever.  Whatever happened to such seemingly immortal figures as Dwight L. Moody, John D. Rockefeller, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Carrie Nation or Dag Hammarskjöld?  They brightened the sky like a shooting star only to fade as quickly into the night.  No, heroes come and heroes go, but “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.”  His kingdom is from everlasting to everlasting.

Here’s what I hope you’ll take home with you today: Jesus died for the forgiveness of our sins and he rose from the grave that we might have the promise of eternal life.  He is the Lord of all creation and the Savior of all who call upon his name.  He invites us not to flatter him with flowery words or sentimental gestures but to live as instruments of God’s grace and messengers of God’s love, sharing the Good News with all we meet in word and deed.

Let us pray: God, give us the courage to stand on our own two feet and do our part to usher in your kingdom here, in this time and place.  Give us the determination not to expect or allow others to do for us what we can do for ourselves.  And give us confidence to know that, while we look for signs of greatness in others, true greatness comes from within, as your Spirit equips us to Christ-like and faithful.  In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Copyright 2008, Philip W. McLarty. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (WEB), a public domain (no copyright) modern English translation of the Holy Bible.