Sermon for Sunday 14 Oct 2012 28th Sunday of Ordinary Time

1. St. Barnabas 1 - 2
Jim Workman 10/15/12
05:49:33
14 Oct 2012
First Lesson: Proverbs3:13-18553 OT/ 720LP
13
Happy are those who find wisdom,
and those who get understanding,
14
for her income is better than silver,
and her revenue better than gold.
15
She is more precious than jewels,
and nothing you desire can compare with her.
16
Long life is in her right hand;
in her left hand are riches and honor.
17
Her ways are ways of pleasantness,
and all her paths are peace.
18
She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her;
those who hold her fast are called happy.

2. St. Barnabas 2 - 2
Jim Workman 10/15/12
05:49:33
14 Oct 2012
Second Lesson: Mark 10:17-3143NT/ 56 LP
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?” 18Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me
good? No one is good but God alone. 19You 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.‟” 20He said
to him, “Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.” 21Jesus,
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.” 22When he heard this,
he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many
possessions.
23
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!” 24And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But
Jesus said to them again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the
kingdom of God! 25It 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.” 26They were greatly astounded and said to one another,
“Then who can be saved?” 27Jesus looked at them and said, “For
mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are
possible.”
28
Peter began to say to him, “Look, we have left everything and
followed you.” 29Jesus 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, 30who 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. 31But
many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”
—The Word of the Lord . .

3. St. Barnabas 1 - 7
Jim Workman 10/15/12
05:49:33
14 Oct 2012
The Opportunity of Life
Have you ever been offered the “opportunity of your life?” Has
anyone ever approached you and said, “Jim—I have a deal for you but you
have to act fast because this is the opportunity of a lifetime. You‟re never
gonna get another chance like this—don‟t let this pass you by—you‟ll be
sorry—I promise.” Have you ever felt that kind of pressure? Maybe
someone offered you an investment opportunity. Maybe something like a
“pyramid scheme” where you are the first person to invest money—then
you recruit others to invest—and as your investment base builds you make
more and more money. This is of course illegal—but when someone puts
the pressure on for you to “act fast because this is the opportunity of your
life” it can be hard to resist. No one wants to look back on his or her life and
say, “Man my life could have been so much better if I had just taken that
„opportunity of a lifetime.‟” Nobody wants to carry around the regret of not
having been smart enough—or brave enough to take the risk that would
reap great reward.
My dad shared with me one such regret. I told you last week that my
dad made an investment for me when I was a kid that paid off recently.
That was no real surprise to me because he‟s always watching the stock
market and he‟s a pretty savvy investor. —After all, he‟s been doing it along

4. St. Barnabas 2 - 7
Jim Workman 10/15/12
05:49:33
14 Oct 2012
time. Well, he told me a story about a chance he had to invest in an
opportunity—an opportunity of a lifetime—that he wished he had taken
advantage of. It was late 1970 early 1971 when he returned from Vietnam
and my dad had decided to go back to school to get his MBA on the “GI
Bill” which he earned for his time in the service. Well, while in school at the
college of Georgia, he was approached by a man that offered him that
“opportunity of his life.” The man‟s sales pitch was that he had invented a
new way to cook a chicken sandwich. It was a revolutionary idea. He could
cook the sandwich quickly—at little cost—and he could sell them fast and
cheap. He explained that he had opened his first store in 1967—in a
suburb of Atlantaand that his sandwicheshad become quite popular over
the past four or five years. He went on to explain that he was ready to
franchise out his brand—which he would call “Chic-fil-A” and my dad had
the opportunity to get in on the ground floor. Unfortunately my dad told S.
Truett Cathy, “Thanks—but no thanks.” He has told me ever since that he
regrets having missed that opportunity of a lifetime as Chic-fil-A has
become the leading fast food restaurant chain in the country—bringing
more than 2.7 million dollars a year.
Opportunities such as these sometimes do come along only once in
our lives. Often when we miss an opportunity—such as investing in the first

5. St. Barnabas 3 - 7
Jim Workman 10/15/12
05:49:33
14 Oct 2012
few Chic-fil-A restaurants—we regret that we didn‟t listen to that person the
revolutionary idea—an idea that could have changed our lives forever—that
could have given us the chance to be successful. But with eachopportunity
thereis risk. No one wants to be that person who risks it all on the
“opportunity of a lifetime” just to find out that they‟ve lost it all. No one
wants to look foolish—no one wants to lose everything they have because
they gambled on the opportunity that had looked so promising—yet failed.
I wonder if that was running through the mind of the man in our
gospel lesson this morning. Mark tells us a story about a man who
approached Jesus with such enthusiasm—a man with a burning question
on his heart. It seems that this man knew that he was facing the opportunity
of his life and it seems that he has already invested so much in this
opportunity. The gospel lesson tells us that the man approaching Jesus
had a question concerning “eternal life.” He was a devout man. He had
kept all of the commandments he learned as a child. He listened to his
Sunday School teachers. He memorized the Ten Commandments and the
Apostle‟s Creed. This man had lived out the principles of these teachings
with great devotion—paying attention to every detail. The man who had
done these things finds himself kneeling before Jesus—the radical Jewish
Rabbai—to check on the investment of his life. “Good Teacher, what must I

6. St. Barnabas 4 - 7
Jim Workman 10/15/12
05:49:33
14 Oct 2012
do to inherit eternal life?”—the man asks—and Jesus replies, “You know
what to do.” Then the man—probably for just a moment—felt pretty good
that the investment he‟s made will pay off—the devotion this man has had
to his religion will get him the opportunity to live forever with God. But just
to be sure he says, “Yep—I‟ve done everything the bible has told me to
do—ever since I was a boy.” And he probably felt pretty good that he had
made a lifetime investment in the opportunity of his life—a chance at
eternal life.
But then comes Jesus response concerning this man‟s pious
investment. “Sell all you have and give it to the poor—if you want eternal
like—if you want to see a pay out on all you‟ve risked for the opportunity to
receive eternal life—then give up your worldly possessions for treasure in
heaven—then come with me—and follow me.”—To walk the roads of holy
lands with Jesus—now that‟s an opportunity of a lifetime! Now, looking
back, we know what miracles this man would have seen. Wecan theorize
that—as Jesus popularity spread throughout the land—this man felt regret
that he didn‟t follow Jesus as Jesus was leaving town that day. And—we
often get—well judgmental when we read this story don‟t we? When you
and come across this passage as we read our bibles we think to
ourselves—man I would have sold it all to follow Jesus. It‟s easy to imagine

7. St. Barnabas 5 - 7
Jim Workman 10/15/12
05:49:33
14 Oct 2012
that scene where Jesus was singling out this wealthy man to make an
example of him. Do we consider this man greedy?
As I was studying this passage this week I paid particular attention to
one word that stuck out to me on my initial reading of the text. And that
word is “loved.” When Jesus answered the rich man and commanded him
to sell everything he had and give it to the poor—the bible says, “And
Jesus, looking at him—loved him.” The word for love is one that can only
be used in the context of God‟s love for humanity. The greek word
agapaow—is a word that describes the kind of love that God shows
humanity because it is a sacrificial love—the kind of sacrifice and care that
only God can understand and only God can demonstrate. You see—Jesus
wasn‟t being judgmental—he wasn‟t judging the rich man for being rich or
for living out his faith in word and deed—as long as he didn‟t have to use
his wealth. Jesus was loving him and saying “I agapaow you. If you want
the opportunity of your life—it‟s going to take an investment where it hurts.
So, we don‟t know how this story ends. Did the rich man sell
everything to get the full experience of agapaowlove?—We don‟t know.
What we do know is that Mark tells us is that Jesus continued to teach
about the kind of investment it will take for disciples to see a return on the
opportunity of their lives. Jesus teaches them, “I love you—I agapaow

8. St. Barnabas 6 - 7
Jim Workman 10/15/12
05:49:33
14 Oct 2012
you—you will see the benefit of your risk in this opportunity of your life—
but—it will cost you everything—everything. What I find fascinating here
about Jesus instructions to the rich man is that Jesus notes that the man
has done every single thing his religion and faith told him he should do.
“You‟ve done it all!” Jesus says, “But—you haven‟t done it all—have you?”
Jesus notes that the rich man has kept all the commandments—that rich
man had given everything to God that God had required—since he was a
boy! Yet—he hadn‟t done everything. We might think at first glance that
Jesus is saying—wealth is evil—especially if you‟re greedy. But consider
this—everything that the rich man had done since before meeting Jesus on
the road—he had done for God. What I mean is—he had kept all of God‟s
commandments. And now Jesus is saying—sell all you have—not for me—
but for your fellow man. Feed the hungry—Jesus commanded the rich man.
So, what about you this morning?Do you come to church believing
you‟ve done it all? Do you believe that—of all those who have invested in
the opportunity of a lifetime—you should see the best return? Maybe we‟re
really missing it? Maybe when we think we‟ve done all that‟s required of us
by God—we‟re leaving out the most important commandment—take care of
your fellow man. Jesus is giving us the chance to relook at what we‟ve
invested because—we‟re never done giving. Do you want enteral life? Do

9. St. Barnabas 7 - 7
Jim Workman 10/15/12
05:49:33
14 Oct 2012
you want to get in on this opportunity of a lifetime? Then the giving never
stops. Let us pray . . ..