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Approaching God with Empty Hands
Mark 10:17–31
October 15, 2006
University Christian Church, Seattle, WA
Rev. Sandy Messick

There is a story told of a monkey who found a small glass jar near a tree. In the jar was a tasty morsel of food. So the monkey quickly reached into the jar and closed his fist tightly over the treat. But when he tried to take his hand out of the jar, with his fist still tightly closed, he found that his hand was too big to fit through the jar opening. The only way he could remove his hand was to let go of the food. And this he refused to do. Perhaps he’s still out there somewhere. You’ll recognize him of course, he’s the one with the jar at the end of his arm where his hand should be, and his hand still inside the jar holding the food he will never eat.

One of the principles of Feng Shui, is reducing clutter. Clutter, they believe, takes up energy, spiritual energy as well as physical space. And letting go of the clutter, releases the energy. It makes room for new energy, and new opportunities, and new possibilities that are even yet on the way.

Now we don’t know much about this rich man. Matthew says he was young. And Luke tells us he was a ruler. But what they all agree on was that he was rich.
Anyway, he ran up to Jesus and threw himself at Jesus’ feet, and looking up with adoring eyes, he said, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
To which Jesus replied, almost absentmindedly it seems to me, “Well, you know what the Bible says. Don’t kill, don’t cheat on your partner, don’t steal, be nice to mom and dad…”
The rich man replies without hesitation, “Yeah, I already did all that.”
And then it’s as if Jesus looks at him anew, really sees him for the first time, and loves him. Jesus says, “You lack one thing. Sell all you have, give the money to the poor, and follow me.”
And with that, the rich man turned away. He went away sad, and was never heard from again. His pockets were full. His hands were full. But his heart was empty.

One commentary called this a healing story that didn’t happen. The man was in need of healing, but he couldn’t accept the healing that Jesus offered. The only thing he lacked, was that he didn’t lack anything. There was no room in his life for the life that Jesus was offering, it was too full of the clutter of his riches.
Our hands are full too aren’t they? (pick up stuffed animals) Our arms are full to overflowing with

Our fears for the future
Our baggage from our past
Our pride
Our egos
Our addictions, be it drugs, or alcohol, or sex, or food, or gambling, or many others
Our memories that keep us tied to the past
Our regrets over things done or left undone
Our grudges we hold long after the event has passed
And yes, even our wealth, our treasures, the things we hold most close.

Jesus says: If you want to follow me, you’ll have to let go. Put it down, come to me with open hands, with room to experience something new.

But Jesus that’s so hard. To put these things down, to let them go, to trust God? It leaves us vulnerable, defenceless, without protection. Besides, it’s up to us isn’t it? We have to protect ourselves, take care of ourselves, guard our own future. We need our things…they keep us safe.
So we have a choice: we can hold on to our stuff, and go away sad, like the rich man.
Or we can dare to believe that in letting go we’re making room for something even better

The Disciples were quick to proclaim: We did that! We left everything to follow you. Didn’t we Jesus? Didn’t we? And Jesus promised them, and promised us: “Whoever lets go for my sake, and the sake of the gospel, won’t lose. Even if you lose your life, it will be saved. For the last shall be first, and those who are weakest, the strongest of all.
So here’s another story: Once upon a time there was a millionaire in his palace who spent his days counting his gold. Next door to the palace was a poor cobbler who spent his days singing as he repaired people’s shoes. The singing irritated the rich man. So one day, he decided to give some gold coins to the cobbler. At first, the cobbler was overjoyed. Never before had he seen so much money. He took the coins and hid them. But then he would get worried about them and go back to check on them, making sure they were still well hidden. Then he would worry that someone had seen him checking on the coins, so he would move them to another hiding place. During all this, he forgot to sing. He was too busy protecting the coins to find room for song. When he realized that he’d stopped singing because of the coins he took them back to the rich man. “Here,” he cried as he tossed them at the rich man’s feet, “take back your coins and give me back my songs.”

May God help us to let go of the things that keep us from singing, and teach us instead to sing a new song. Amen.