Reflection -- Marley’s Ghost

When I was a child, one of my favorite possessions was an audio recording of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.”  I would listen to it over and over again.  A particularly dramatic scene, at least for a child, was the visit to Scrooge by Jacob Marley's ghost.  On the recording, the visitation was accompanied by suitable sound effects of something dragging and thumping over the floor. 

The sound was made by a chain that the ghost wore. As Dickens describes it, "it was long, and wound about him like a tail; and it was made (for Scrooge observed it closely) of cash-boxes, keys, padlocks, ledgers, deeds, and heavy purses wrought in steel.”  The chain that Marley wore in death was burdened by the great weight of the “stuff” that he had spent his life accumulating while the rest of life passed him by.

There have been times in my life when I felt like Jacob Marley's ghost; weighed down with “stuff” that fills every nook and cranny of my life -- things to be cared for, dusted, protected, insured, maintained, fixed, arranged and managed.  At some point in life, I began to realize that my “stuff” owned me as much as I owned it.  It was a moment of enlightenment that permitted things to begin to change, bringing in beginning glimmers of real freedom.

I hope there is more to the story of the rich man who came to Jesus asking about eternal life than we have; an unrecorded sequel where the man is finally able to let go of things, for he was clearly in that place where his “stuff” owned him.  That was the heart of his problem.  There was a goodness in him that Jesus saw and loved, but the rich man was not able to give up the temporary for the eternal.  Jesus called him to a far richer life, a life with lasting value, but he could not cut the ties that held him back.  In his case, it was his material possessions.  For others, it might be something different.

Jesus does not promise us a trouble-free existence if we can give up the “stuff” that holds us back -- just the opposite -- but he does promise that we will find life that is full, and rich, and deep if we can let go of it and follow him. 

Are you clinging to your “stuff,” whatever shape it may take, instead of letting it go to gain the freedom God calls you to?  What chains might you be dragging?  Is there bondage to possessions, addictions, an unhealthy relationship, or something else? 

Remember Marley's ghost.

revclay

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Mark 10:17-31

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?" 

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

He said to him, "Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth." 

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." 

When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions. 

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!" 

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!  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." 

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

Jesus looked at them and said, "For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible." 

Peter began to say to him, "Look, we have left everything and followed you." 

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