Many years ago a good friend of mine showed me a book he’d recently been given. The abbott of a monastery gave it to him. My friend said, “It came from the abbott’s personal library. It’s very rare and valuable. Can you believe he could be that free with his book and just give it to me?”

I thumbed through the book and said, “Yeah, that’s pretty amazing. Can I have it?” “No, hell no,” he said. “It’s mine. He gave it to me.”

It’s hard to let go of our stuff and there’s a fine line between possessing our stuff and our stuff possessing us. I wonder if the man in today’s gospel (Mark 10:17-31) has crossed that line. I know what that’s like, don’t you? 

Have you ever bought new stuff and then realized you needed to get more stuff to preserve, protect, or accessorize the new stuff you just bought? We insure our stuff so if something happens to it we can replace or repair our lost or broken stuff. We work to make monthly payments on our stuff even after we no longer like or want that stuff we’re continuing to pay for. We worry that someone might steal or vandalize our stuff so we get security stuff. 

The stuff we have and the stuff we want often drive our decisions and set our priorities. My guess is that many of us are living stuffed lives, lives embalmed with all our stuff. 

When Cyndy and I moved to Tennessee to go seminary we went through all our stuff. We picked out and packed the stuff we thought we would need and use. And the rest of the stuff we stuffed into a storage shed. I bought stuff to build shelves and organize the shed to more efficiently store all our unnecessary stuff. Every month for three years we paid to keep the stuff we didn’t need or use. And when we came back to Texas we looked at the unneeded and unused stuff and asked, “Why do we still have this stuff?” Today some of that stuff is in the garage with other stuff I don’t need or use. 

We’ve got a lot of stuff, all sorts of stuff. Maybe you do too. So does the man in today’s gospel. He’s got a lot of stuff. Yet, he recognizes something is missing. “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” he asks Jesus. He’s looking for something his stuff hasn’t given him and probably can’t. Maybe he’s gotten lost in all his stuff and he’s looking for himself, meaning, or purpose. Maybe he’s looking for a connection to something bigger than and beyond his stuff. 

I know what that’s like. I suppose you do too. He’s living a “taxidermied life.” It might be beautiful and colorful on the outside but there’s no life on the inside, just stuffing. 

Stuff has a way of filling up the space in our life. When I finished law school I packed my stuff in the truck and drove to Corpus Christi to begin work. Back then I had more space than stuff. But now when Cyndy and I go on a weekend trip we sometimes have more stuff than space. I’ve got my stuff. She’s got her stuff. We’ve got stuff we share and we have stuff just in case. We even have stuff for the cat. What’s your stuff to space ratio these days?

Have you ever bought new stuff to organize and hold your old stuff to make space for more stuff? We have boxes with stuff too good to throw away but too bad to keep out with the good stuff. We make sure to keep the good stuff out where we can get to it. When the bad stuff takes up room the good stuff needs I set the bad stuff out on the street hoping it might be good stuff for somebody else and they’ll take it, or I take it to the dump with other people’s bad stuff, or I offer it to my son. 

He doesn’t want my bad stuff. He doesn’t even want my good stuff. When Cyndy and I visited him and his wife in their new condo I noticed they didn’t have much stuff. There was no stuff on the walls, no stuff on the shelves, no stuff on the kitchen countertops. “Where’s all your stuff?” I asked. “We don’t have much stuff,” he said. 

I was concerned for and worried about them. (That was my stuff.) “If you need help,” I said, “we can get you some stuff.” “Dad,” he said, we don’t want to spend our time and money on stuff. We’d rather spend it on experiences.”

I thought to myself, Now that’s a different way of thinking about stuff, and I wondered, In what ways is my stuff getting in the way of experiencing life? 

What about you? How would you answer that question? Does your stuff nurture and foster life or does it weigh you down? How does your stuff affect your relationships with others? What stuff are you willing to share with others and what stuff is off limits? Does your stuff benefit others or is it only for your benefit? What are you doing with your stuff and what is it doing with you? What would it be like to live free of your stuff?

Stuff is usually at the heart of our conflicts whether personally, nationally, or globally. Stuff divides and leaves family members estranged. It’s often a sticking point and a weapon in divorces, inheritances, and sibling rivalry. Countries go to war over stuff. The desire for more stuff has resulted in violence, the oppression of other peoples, and a reason to deny another’s dignity and even take her or his life. People or countries with the most stuff tend to acquire or feel entitled to more stuff.

I’m not suggesting that all stuff is bad stuff or that we shouldn’t have enough stuff, and I don’t think Jesus is either. The world does not need more poverty. But how much stuff is enough? And what’s our responsibility to those who don’t have enough stuff? 

Maybe Jesus is asking us to reconsider our relationship with our stuff. What does your stuff mean to you? What is it giving you? What is it taking from you? What is it asking of you?

Stuff is always more than the stuff. As I said last week, “It’s not about what it’s about.” Maybe that’s why we are often so attached to and protective of our stuff. We’ve made stuff a primary symbol of power, prestige, and position. It often defines us and reveals our values. It establishes our place in the community. Stuff has come to represent our success, hard work, and achievement, or another’s lack thereof. Sometimes we feel the more stuff we have the more enough we are. 

And then there’s that belief that stuff is a reward and approval from God. I think that belief is why the disciples were so perplexed and astounded when Jesus said, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God.” 

Having more stuff isn’t the same as having more God and the one who dies with the most toys doesn’t necessarily win. I know that, at least in my head I do. My garage and closets, however, might suggest otherwise. Maybe that’s true for you too. 

Who are we without our stuff or with less stuff? I think that’s the question behind Peter’s comment, “Look we have left everything behind and followed you.” It’s the question the man in today’s gospel was unwilling to ask himself. So he turned back to his stuff and went away grieving.

What about you and me? Do we want a life of stuff or do we want the stuff of life?

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Image Credit: AI generated on canva.com.
Sources: This sermon was inspired by The Rev. Carl J. Arico and Ms. Carol Card.