First Encounter: Wealth and Letting Go | 18 February 2024 | Lent 1
Mark 10:17-31
Speaker: Joel Miller
On February 24, in the year 1208, a young man sat in a chapel listening to a sermon. It was based on Jesus’ instructions to his disciples as he sent them out to spread his message: “Take no gold, nor silver, nor money in your belts, no bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor a staff…whatever town you enter, find someone in it who is worthy, and stay with them till you depart.”
The young man was the son of a wealthy cloth dealer. He had already begun to question the smooth, comfortable path he had inherited. As his earliest biographer, Thomas of Celano tells it, that day, in that chapel, was the decisive moment. Hearing Jesus’ words as a direct personal calling, he discarded his shoes and walking staff. He began wandering the countryside and villages, preaching Jesus’ message to anyone who would listen. We know...