I’ve been seeing this bumper sticker around for years:

“He who dies with the most toys wins.”

I’ve also seen the rebuttal:

“He who dies with the most toys is still dead.”

Many of us have been in the position of closing up the estate of a parent or other relative.

And while some of the assets have monetary value, and some have sentimental value, a lot of it is just “stuff” to us.

Every time we move to a new home, we realize how much stuff we have accumulated, especially if we have been in a home for a long time.

If you’re interested in learning more about stuff, I recommend the lecture “A Place for My Stuff” by George Carlin.

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Let’s go to God in prayer.
God of wisdom, may the words that I speak, and the ways they are received by each of our hearts and minds, help us to continue to grow into the people, and the church, that you have dreamed us to be.
Amen.

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If you’re not familiar with the book of Job, here is an irresponsibly short synopsis:

God says “check out Job! He’s a good faithful human!”
The tempter says “sure, it’s easy to be good and faithful when you’re rich.”
God says “Take anything away from him you want, but don’t harm him.”

So the tempter kills Job’s livestock, his servants, and even his children.

Job is not happy. But he’s still good and faithful.

God permits the tempter to cause physical suffering to Job, bit not kill him.
So Job suffers all sorts of ailments and sores.
Job is not happy. But he’s still good and faithful.

Job’s friends show up to tell him to repent from whatever sin he has committed, but Job can’t think of anything to repent of.
He feel he’s being unjustly punished by God.

Job’s wife helpfully suggests that Job curse God so God will kill him.

Yes, Job is surrounded by people who blame him for the bad things that happen.

Ultimately, God challenges Job to show he has the understanding of God, which of course he does not.
Job cannot understand God’s ways.

And then God gives Job more than he had before.

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Job is one of my least favorite books of the Bible.

There are obvious reasons, like it is very long, it’s depressing, and has an unsatisfying ending.

But one of the things that grates on me is what the military calls “collateral damage:” the people around Job who are affected.

If Job were a lab rat to be tortured in an experiment, that would be troubling. But to kill his rat babies to torture him, that’s just sadistic.

There is a book called “Good Omens,” from which a miniseries was made that was so successful that they decided to make a sequel miniseries.

In the sequel – which is not in the book, so don’t go looking for it there – a demon is removing everything Job has while his angel friend protests.

Yes, an angel and a demon are friends. You kind of have to watch it to understand.

And at the end of Job’s trial, some other angels arrive to tell Job and his wife that they’re going to have more children to replace the ones they had. Job’s wife is unimpressed: both by the fact that their original children are still dead, and also that, at her age, she’s going to have to bear even more children.

So the trials of Job are also the trials of people around him.

Job is a particularly Jewish story, even though the original story is likely older than Judaism. It addresses real-world struggles, and doesn’t give us a satisfying solution.

It tells us that even if we live a good and faithful life, we may still suffer.

A natural disaster like an earthquake, fire, or hurricane could wipe out our home and everything we own.
War could break out in our homeland.
An oppressive government could drive us over a border into a land whose people don’t want us.
We could get sick.
We could lose loved ones.

And while riches can soften the impact of some of these, they can’t stop them. The question of Job is: can we remain good and faithful even in the hard times?

Our Gospel reading today is from Mark 10:17-31 (NRSVue)

Teaching on wealth and reward

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?”

¹⁸ Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.

¹⁹ You 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.’”

²⁰ He said to him, “Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.”

²¹ 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.”

²² When 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!”

²⁴ And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!

²⁵ It 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.”

²⁶ They were greatly astounded and said to one another, “Then who can be saved?”

²⁷ Jesus 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.”

²⁹ Jesus 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

³⁰ who 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.

³¹ But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”

There were some who followed the teachings of the reformer John Calvin who began to reason that if they were the elect – those chosen by God to enter into heaven – that they would likely receive a foretaste of their heavenly reward while still on earth.

They further reasoned that if they were prosperous in this life, it was a strong suggestion they were bound for paradise and, conversely, that those who were poor were bound for eternal torment.

I think they could have benefited from these two readings today.

Having wealth, as the man who knelt before Jesus, is not an indication of destiny. Nor is suffering, as in the case of Job, an indication of sinfulness.

It might feel unfair that some do the right thing and still suffer. It might feel unfair that some are selfish and harm others and are successful.

But everything we have is temporary:
Our homes,
our clothing,
our food,
our money.

Everything we are is temporary:
our ability to move and work,
our senses,
our ability to speak and write,
our own capacity for thought and reasoning.

Maybe it’s less important that we have much,
and more important that we do what we can with what we have.

So my challenge for all of us this week
is to consider whether we are keeping score with how much we have
or seeking a personal best for how much we can do with what we have.

Amen.

• Scripture quotations marked NRSVue are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. https://www.friendshippress.org/pages/about-the-nrsvue
• Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James version of the Bible.