How do I find eternal life? (Mark: 1, 2, 10) by Kim Thoday

Western Christianity, particularly evangelical Protestantism, has been profoundly influenced by rationalism. Take for instance our ideas about salvation and discipleship. We have tended to use language like: “making a decision for Christ.” On the one hand we have talked in abstract Aristotelian terms about God’s omnipotence or in monarchical terms about God’s sovereignty and yet on the other hand too often our evangelistic language gives us away. Discipleship is viewed often in terms of how it will affect us. Knowing God’s plan for our lives becomes a thin religious veneer for what really suits us and the lifestyle and worldview we have chosen. At its worst this kind of religion is an adjunct to an essentially secularised existence. It is a bourgeoisie religion and salvation becomes an individualistic choice once we have checked out the syllabus, made sure of the fine print, assessed its compatibility, looked at the projected dividends and know what we will end up with at the end.

Biblical Christianity or better, a Jesuanic (Jesus centred Christianity), constantly challenges our rationalistic assumptions as indeed it critiques the rise of neo-Gnostic trends in some of the Pentecostal conglomerates. For instance, the call narratives of the Jesus tradition found in Mark’s Gospel, subvert classical notions of discipleship. In these accounts it is Jesus who initiates the process. It is Jesus who makes the invitation. And it is the potential disciples who respond. The call narratives contain a pervasive mystery. The call comes from One who is yet unknown and the nature of the call is not revealed. The disciples simply leave all and follow. The central motifs of salvation and discipleship are mystery and the gracious call of God. We are invited to participate, but the process does not rest upon us assessing or determining outcomes. However, discipleship is not a call to blind faith. There is no manipulation of emotions here and a free choice to follow or not is involved. But the process of becoming Christian is primarily about faith – a faith in the One who calls and a faith in what we are called to. This is the mystery at the heart of Christianity.

The first call narrative (Mark 1:16-18 RSV): A three-fold structure

1. [Jesus initiates] And passing along by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. 2. [Jesus calls] And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you become fishers of men.” 3. [People respond] And immediately they left their nets and followed him.

The second call narrative (Mark 1:19-20):

1. [Jesus initiates] And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zeb’edee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. 2. [Jesus calls] And immediately he called them; 3. [People respond] and they left their father Zeb’edee in the boat with the hired servants, and followed him.

The third call narrative (Mark 2:14):

1. [Jesus initiates] And as he passed on, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office, 2. [Jesus calls] and he said to him, “Follow me.” 3. [Person responds] And he rose and followed him.

Interestingly there is one other important call narrative and it is structured differently. In Mark 10 a rich man is reported as approaching Jesus to ask him the essential question about life? He asks Jesus how can he find eternal life? Here is the classical image of discipleship. One cannot help but feel sympathy for the man. (Indeed Jesus feels a strong sense of ‘agape’ love for him). No doubt the man is a devout searcher. He has kept the Mosaic Covenant to the best of his ability. However, somehow his beliefs have not affected his lifestyle. This is the archetypal scenario of both rationalistic and gnostic religion; that is, an artificial Platonic divide has been constructed between, belief / experience, mind / body, spirit / ethics, ideas / practise, thought / feelings, and so on. Jesus challenges the rich man about his personal ethics and lifestyle. For Jesus, the question of salvation and discipleship, assumes a holistic connection between the social, the political and the religious and spiritual. Jesus calls the man to discipleship, but unlike the others whom have been able to leave all in faith and follow, this man is unable to do so. The offer of discipleship the man rejects because he is unable to give away his wealth. Here is the bourgeoisie attempt at discipleship. The man epitomises the tendency to fit the Gospel into a set of rationalistic assumptions. Here lie the possibilities we often take to domestic the Gospel, or to procure some kind of dualistic insurance policy that covers both the physical and eternal, or to serve both God and mammon, or to keep politics and economics separate from core religious beliefs.

The fouth call narrative (Mark 10: 17-23):

1. [Person initiates] And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 2. [Jesus responds] And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not kill, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.'” 3. [Person responds] And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have observed from my youth.” 4. [Jesus calls] And Jesus looking upon him loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 5. [Person responds] At that saying his countenance fell, and he went away sorrowful; for he had great possessions. [Summary statement] (And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!”)

This is the only time in the canonical Gospel tradition that a person turns Jesus down, having been directly called by him to follow. Why does he turn the invitation down? In a sense we have looked at some possible answers already. However, to put it bluntly, as was Jesus’ habit, the man was wealthy. It is interesting that the contemporary neo-Gnostic groups who flood the market with “Christian books” on how to be exceedingly successful and wealthy are blind to the fact that they are just like this rich man who, with all his self-justification, came to Jesus. If they are like the man what are the implications for them? Now before I get too self-righteous, I also need to write my name into the story as this man who asked Jesus: how do I find eternal life? What are the implications for you and I, once we do that?

Blessings in Jesus’ name,

Kim Thoday, Hewett Community Church of Christ, South Australia

http://hewett.org.au