In passing through a train station I noticed an electric signs which, I presume, announced which train was due to arrive on which track when. Instead, the sign kept flashing these words: “No Message.” Rather odd. But on further reflection, isn’t that the reality in which we live in nowadays. Our world, our society, our culture has “no message” that will help us to live better, become happier. The irony is, of course, in our age the number of messages that we are bombarded with has increased a hundred-fold. You could be getting information from the TV, the radio, the movies. You can get information on your computer, on your I-pad, on your smart phone. You can google, you can text and you can skype for info. Alexa or Siri will talk to you. You can even get information from newspapers and magazines. But with all that information available to us, we receive “no message.” Certainly we get lots of people trying to sell us something. Or we get entertainment numbing us from looking at what is going on inside our hearts and our homes. Or we get images of so-called celebrity which glorifies people who seem to have a talent for making themselves and other people miserable. But in all that information, there is no message, no message of life, of love, of joy. So maybe that sign in the rail station was a prophetic word: don’t look for a message in the popular culture. Don’t look for a message in various media which are crowding in on you. Rather, find the place where there is a message, a message which leads to life, life to the full.
You know where that is, church. You know where to get a message. It’s in the word of God. The epistle today says “the word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern the reflections and thoughts of the heart.” Now that’s a message! The word of God is not a commodity to buy or an amusement to distract but something living and effective. This word of God provides a prudence and a wisdom. If you want to know what you are supposed to do, turn to the word of God and you will find the directions for right living. If you want to know how to stop worrying about your bills, turn to the word of God and you’ll find that “the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.” If you are concerned about your health turn to the word of God and discover that the divine physician make the blind to see, the lame to walk, the deaf to hear, the sick to get well. The word of God is living and effective. It shows the way better than any road map. It provides the light better than any street lamp. It offers relief quicker than excedrin. The love you find in the word of God is what makes life worth living. The strength you find in the world of God makes you able to withstand any storm and conquer any enemy. The wisdom that comes from the word of God is so precious that in view of it, all gold counts as a little sand and silver is to be accounted mire, according to the Old Testament lesson.
However, remember the word of God is, as the epistle puts it, a two-edged sword. It not only adds to our lives by providing wisdom, strength and guidance, it also cuts through and cuts out of our lives some of the nonsense, some of the accumulated stuff that clutters up our minds and hearts. That business of gold and silver provides a perfect example of how the word of God wants to cut through the poor messages we’ve received from society so that we can discover the divine wisdom. The constant attitude which is being urged on us is that you need more – more money, more house, more car, more of everything. What is the expression? You can never be too rich or too thin. The word of God exposes that for the lie that it is. The man in the gospel we are told had many possessions. But he still wasn’t happy. No matter how many possessions he had they did not fill up the hole in his soul. So he went to Jesus looking for some eternal gold, some non-perishable silver that he could pile up just as he had piled up the stuff that he had. But Jesus said, more isn’t better. Having more stuff, even seemingly good stuff, will not make you happy, will not lead you to life. Give it away, empty yourself, let God fill you up instead of trying to fill yourself up. Then you’ll be happy. “Go, sell what you have, give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven.” The rich man couldn’t do it. He had bought the illusion that having things could make him happy. The message of Jesus is that we don’t become happy by having, but by giving.
There is another message that the two-edged sword of the word of God cuts through – “penetrating even between soul and spirit.” When the man approaches Jesus he is told to keep the commandments. “Teacher, all of these I have observed from you youth,” he answers. In other words he is familiar with the word of God! He knows the kinds of things the word of God says he is supposed to do. He thought he needed more commandments. Here is the subtlety: The word of God is not a rule book, an instruction manual. Do this, that and other and then you get your reward. Rather, the word of God has been give so that we can enter into a relationship with God. Jesus looks at the rich young man with love, St. Mark tells us. That makes all the difference. God speaks a word to us so that we will get to know him and then we will love him and after that serve him. Do we look on God as the tooth fairy who give us prizes for running through the hoops correctly? Or do we enter into a relationship with the God who loves us and wants to be with us? For the word of God is addressed to each one of us today just as surely as it was addressed to the young man. And Jesus looks at us with love and says to us: empty yourself of your own plans for happiness and come follow me. Follow me in a life of love and service. Follow me in compassion and generosity. Follow me in forgiveness and mercy. Then you’ll find happiness. Then you’ll find love. Then you will truly be alive.
