With God It's Possible

The depth of brokenness in the human soul can't be overcome with anything less than God Himself!

"It's impossible; tell the sun to leave the sky; it's just impossible. It's impossible, ask a baby not to cry, it's just impossible..." OK, that's my best Perry Como. Wait, you don't know who Perry Como is? What are you, some kind of alien?

Seriously, I love the old crooner singers like Sinatra, Como, Dean Martin, and on and on. But the words of the song "It's impossible," more and more as our technology grows it seems that the word "impossible" is becoming obsolete! That is until we get to the more cosmic matters of the human soul. We humans are amazing tool builders, technicians, and discoverers until we get to the human heart. And it seems this remains an "undiscovered country" for most of us.

That’s why, no matter our achievements in technology, AI, and machines always end up being too weak actually to solve the very human problem of the human soul. When they fail, we are devastated because we are always asking the wrong questions!

Look at our lesson today in Matthew 19:16-26:

At that time, a young man came up to Jesus, kneeling and saying, "Good Teacher, what good deed must I do, to have eternal life?" And he said to him, "Why do you call me good? One there is who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments." He said to him, "Which?" And Jesus said, "You shall not kill, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother, and You shall love your neighbor as yourself." The young man said to him, "All these I have observed; what do I still lack?" Jesus said to him, "If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful; for he had great possessions.

And Jesus said to his disciples, "Truly, I say to you, it will be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." When the disciples heard this they were greatly astonished, saying, "Who then can be saved?" But Jesus looked at them and said to them, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

The disciples of our Lord weren't so very different from us. They also thought that human achievement was a sure sign that God was "on our side." We, humans, have an uncanny ability to assume that comfort equals success or that physical discoveries exhaust human potential. And we are always wrong. Always. And we prove this over and over again. Take, for instance, our previous century. The 20th century was marked by scientific and technological achievements unparalleled in human history, yet it was also the most violent in human history.

And that brings us to our rich, young man in our passage. He was even a faithful religious observer. But he had an illness that tied him to this seen world alone. He was rich! Well, at least he was rich with stuff. Turns out that's not very rich at all. But his possessions were enough to weigh him down and enslave him to the point he couldn't say goodbye to them and follow Jesus.

Then the Lord comments that it's impossible for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God! Whoa! Wait a minute there Jesus, are you suggesting that rich people can't be saved? Well, of course not. But, His statement made the disciples ask the same question. You see, they thought that material riches were a sign of God's blessings, and they certainly CAN BE, but only if the ones who possess them aren't possessed BY them! I can hold anything I can walk away from as a blessing rather than a "reward" for being a "good" boy.

Then, of course, Jesus adds the element that changes everything. He agrees with the disciples that this is impossible for us humans. Our stuff so easily enslaves us, and what we own ends up owning us. But this is not impossible with God. I've known too many wealthy people who held their riches as a blessing to be shared and even given away not to see the power of God's love in breaking the slavery of stuff in people's lives. Of course, I've also seen so-called "poor" people so protective of the few things they do have that they were as big a slave to their stuff as any self-important rich man. It ain't the riches or the lack of riches that's the problem; that makes it impossible. It's the condition of the heart that enslaves.

St. Macarius of Egypt was a disciple of the Founder of Monasticism, St. Anthony the Great. He lived in the 4th century, and although very young, he excelled in a serious life of disciplined prayer. So much so that he was called “the child elder.” He left us 50 homilies that you can still read today. His reputation was such that he was considered a protector of the whole world. Wow! What made him so effective? He was committed to loving others so much that he =refused to see the faults of others and loved them as Christ loved them. One day, he came home to his humble monastic dwelling to find a thief loading his few possessions onto a camel. St. Macarius was so free from his possessions that he started helping the thief load the camel! When the thief was finished loading, the camel refused to move. Macarius went back into his hut and got a small how. He told the thief that the camel wanted this as well, so he put the hoe with the rest of his belongings and told the camel to move. The camel obeyed, but soon, the camel laid back down and refused to move until all of the saint’s possessions were returned to him! St. Macarius loved others more than he loved things, and that changed him completely!

Today, are you willing to be freed from the impossible task of being owned by your stuff? It's only a focus on the vast immeasurable Person of God that can finally break the chains of what enslaves you to a world meant to pass away and strong enough to pull you out of the downward gravity of a too-small life! It's not impossible to live a Normal Orthodox Life!