I wrote my sermon in a different location this week. We were having some needed work done in our living room, so rather than spending some quiet time in our study at the church, I sat in the basement at home with my computer. I set up my computer, my books, and my notes on the little table in the basement, but before I could even start writing, I felt distracted by my new environment. In my field of view, just beyond my computer screen, was a shelving unit that was cluttered with all the stuff we can never figure out what to do with. One particular cubby on the shelving unit houses stuff that I used when my book was first being published: cards and matching envelopes to mail to people who ordered the book, stickers, a binder with notes for teaching a class, piles of papers. I had already sent out all the cards I needed to send. The stickers don’t serve a purpose any longer. The notes might be useful, but certainly not if they are piled under all this other stuff. Why on earth was I still holding on to these things?

As I sat at my computer to write I kept looking at the passage from Mark 10: “When [the man] heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.” Then I’d look up and see my many possessions. The thing is, I don’t think I’d be sad to get rid of most of the stuff that was cluttering those shelves. And yet, I still have all of it. I always used to think the man with lots of possessions went away sad because he was unwilling to get rid of all that stuff. He loved it too much. But what if he went away sad because he knew how much work was ahead of him? After all, there’s a reason that moving is listed as one of the top stressors for people. It’s a lot of work–emotionally and physically to get rid of stuff.

All that said, the more I’ve read and studied this passage, the more I’m not convinced this passage is only about stuff. In this passage, Jesus sees a man who has a lot going for him spiritually. He wants to keep the commandments. It’s important to him that he’s doing the right things. But, he’s not so sure he’s done enough to receive eternal life. In this man, I see so many of us–I see myself. “Jesus, I’ve been trying my whole life to do what’s right. I’ve been working so hard to follow you. Is it enough?” Mark 10:21 says: “Jesus, 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.’”

Jesus looked at him and loved him. The verb here that the NRSV translates as “looking” is an aorist active participle. You might be thinking, “That’s all Greek to me,” and I get it. You don’t need to remember the word “aorist.” There won’t be a quiz on that. But, the verb tense Jesus uses here is incredibly important. A verb in the aorist tense is a past tense verb, but it also implies that the action is already completed and is not ongoing in the present. A more accurate translation of this verse would say, “Jesus, having looked at him, loved him.” Jesus saw this man with his many possessions. He sized him up. He knew his heart. He knew the possessions were going to be difficult for this man to part with, and yet, having looked at him, Jesus loved him. Jesus loves this man even though he isn’t perfect, even though he lacks one thing–one very big thing. Jesus doesn’t look at the man expecting perfection; he looks at him and wants for him what is good.

So, what is good?

At the beginning of this passage from Mark, the man calls Jesus, “Good Teacher,” and Jesus responds that “no one is good but God alone.” This word “good” means far more than what we think of when we use the word “good.” We might describe a snack as good, or a football game as good. But, in Jesus’s day, the word “good,” especially the Hebrew word “tov” meant so much more.  

As God created the world, God paused all along the way and saw that the creation was good. In the Garden of Eden, God created two trees and placed them in the midst of the garden. Do you remember what those trees were called? The tree of life, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Good and evil. Tov, good–and evil, ra. When all of creation was completed, God saw that it was tov me’od: very good. This goodness, this beautiful beginning state of the world when everything was just as God intended it to be, is captured by that little word “good,” “tov.”

From that first moment, humans had a choice to either trust in God’s goodness, or to trust in themselves. That’s why the serpent tempted Eve with “Did God really say…?” Is God trustworthy? Is the good world that God created really the best world? When sin entered into the world, things were no longer tov. Only God was tov–good. Good was no longer a word that could be used to describe everything. Instead, it was an ideal to long for. It was something to pray to God for.

In the passage we looked at from Amos, Amos twice uses the word “good.” In verse 14, he writes, “Seek good and not evil.” In verse 15, he emphasizes, “Hate evil and love good.” In other words, return to God. Move away from leaning on yourself and your own strength, and turn toward the goodness of God. Scot McKnight, who co-authored A Church Called Tov wrote this about the concept of Tov–of Goodness:
“The Hebrew word Jesus had learned from His father and mother as a child, tōv, was 

one of the Bible’s greatest moral terms…Tōv sometimes means beautiful – it’s used many times in the first chapter of Genesis for what God thought of His creation. Tōv means excellent and sometimes means God’s tōv design. When it summarizes a person’s life, tōv means a flourishing, faithful moral character. God is tōv, God’s design is always tōv, God’s redeemed people are to do tōv…The closer we are to the dazzling tōv of God, the more we become tōv.”

The closer we are to the goodness, the tov, of God, the more we become good, tov.

In our story from Mark 10, the man with many possessions was drawing closer to the goodness of God. He had turned away from evil. He was following the law. He wanted to get even closer to God and to God’s goodness, and Jesus shows him what is needed. Yes, the man’s stuff was in the way, but it wasn’t just in the way of the man and God–it was separating this man from his neighbors–from the people he is called to love as himself. Jesus loved him and his journey toward goodness, but he could see that the man wasn’t all the way there yet. None of us are. So, Jesus showed him the way.

Pablo Casals was a prominent Spanish and Puerto Rican cellist, composer, and conductor who later in his life became the subject of a movie by Robert Snyder. While Snyder was working on the movie, he decided to ask Pablo Casals why he continued to practice four or five hours a day at the age of 80. After all, after so many years of practicing, why did he need to practice so much? In response, Casals said he continues practicing, “Because I think I’m making progress.” 

No matter how far we are in our journey with God, we still need to keep practicing. Maybe we are like the man who approached Jesus and we’ve been at this for a long time. Maybe we think we’ve grown in all the ways we need to. Jesus looks at us, truly sees us, and loves us. But that doesn’t mean he won’t also tell us where we still need to grow. 

As a recovering perfectionist, I’ve spent a lot of my life doing the right things for the wrong reasons. I kept rules because I wanted people to be proud of me. I was faithful in keeping my commitments because that faithfulness was a core part of who I saw myself to be. These reasons aren’t totally wrong, but they are also terribly incomplete. In our faith, we are called to follow Jesus’s example, not so that we’ll get a gold star on our perfect attendance chart, but for the sake of what’s good–for the sake of what’s tov.

We approach Jesus and ask him if we’re on the right track because we long to be true to the goodness God created for us. We want to be faithful to the purpose God has given us, and we want a better life for our neighbors.

So, how do we work for the sake of what’s good? How can we work towards a world that is tov? 

First, we need to remember what tov looks like. We do this by returning to the Scriptures, and by seeing how God has acted: beginning with the creation of a good world, and all of the actions after the fall to try and call people back to the good way. The young man in Mark 10 does this by seeking out Jesus. He falls on his knees and asks, “What must I do?” Jesus responds, “You already know what to do.” “Yes, and I’ve been doing that.” “How are things between you and your neighbors?” The man hears Jesus’s words about giving up his status and wealth and helping others, and he goes away sad, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t go home and do what Jesus said. He went away grieving his way of life, sad about what it might cost him to work towards what’s good, but that is all part of the repentance process. We need to search the Bible, spend time with Jesus, and be willing to open ourselves up to correction. It won’t be easy, but it is one step towards what’s good.

We need to remember what tov looks like, and we need to be honest with what’s hard. The young man started this process by grieving. He knew what he needed to do, and he wasn’t sure he could do it. This is part of the process, but we also need to invite trusted people into this part of the journey. James 5:16 says, “Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed.” Something happens when we share the tough stuff with each other. It makes the burden a little lighter, but it also sheds some light on the burden. Let me explain what I mean: I think many of us tend to be our own worst critics. If we allow ourselves to be honest with what’s hard, but we don’t invite others along with us, we might exaggerate our shortcomings, feel hopeless, or think there’s nothing more we can do. When we confess to each other, we lighten the load, and we allow others to shine a light on what’s true. “Yes, friend, you’ve missed the mark, but you are still deeply loved, and there’s still hope.” We need to remember what tov looks like. We need to be honest with what’s hard. And we need to remember that Jesus sees it all, and loves us. Just like the man who knelt at Jesus’s feet, we want to know what else we need to do. But, also just like the man who knelt at Jesus’s feet, we are deeply loved by One who has taken a look at our hearts, knows the good and where we fall short, and loves us anyway. This is such good news. May we find the courage to ask Jesus to examine our hearts. May we confess to ourselves and to each other where we need to grow and change. And may we rest in the assurance that even with all we lack, we are deeply beloved by God. Amen.