Becoming More Nonpossessive

Devotional Reflection , Wednesday, August 13, 2025

Proper 14, the week of the ninth Sunday after Pentecost

The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.

Key phrases for reflection from today’s Gospel reading:

But Jesus said to them again, ‘Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25It 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.’ 26They were greatly astounded and said to one another, ‘Then who can be saved?’ 27Jesus looked at them and said, ‘For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.’

You will find the full text of today’s Gospel reading at the end of this reflection.

Daily Office Lectionary readings (BCP, 978)

AM Psalm 101, 109:1-4(5-19)20-30; PM Psalm 119:121-144

2 Samuel 14:21-33; Acts 21:15-26; Mark 10:17-31

David’s Reflections

Henri Nouwen reminds us of a basic tenet of commitment: being nonpossessive. "To be able to enjoy fully the many good things the world has to offer, we must be detached from them. To be detached does not mean to be indifferent or uninterested. It means to be nonpossessive. Life is a gift to be grateful for and not a property to cling to.” +

In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells this young man that he must sell all he possesses and then follow Jesus.  The young man demurred and left grieving, because he possessed much.  To what or whom was he clinging?

In yesterday’s Gospel, Jesus advocated for women and children, two groups with no power or standing in his culture.  Today’s reading has him confronted by someone with standing and with the attendant power of wealth.  This man also had a history of obedience to God’s law.  Unlike the children in yesterday’s reading, this man had a history and standing to commend himself to God. A child has little or no history of religious achievement to commend himself/herself to God.

His question, “What must I do to inherit?” contains an oxymoron.  Inheritance usually does not result from doing; rather, it results from being related to the one from whom one inherits.  Does the question itself reveal a sense of need to commend oneself to God by some history of obedience?

Jesus told no one else to sell all in order to follow him.  Perhaps his keen intuition had detected that this person was clinging to possessions.  Jesus certainly had detected the self-commendation mentality, because he rejected the appellation “good” in the young man’s address, “Good teacher.”  We determine who is good by comparing them with others.  Jesus’ response, “No one is good but God,” is not a comment on his being sinful so much as a rejection of this human tendency to rank persons as better or worse than oneself.

This young man was unwilling to strip himself of his history of obedience and his legacy of wealth and stand before God like a child who had nothing with which to commend himself to God or others.  Therein, lay his fatal attachment.  Jesus knew it, and the young man ‘s response revealed it.

Before we walk away with a condescending nod, perhaps Nouwen’s challenge can bring us back to our own reality.. Can we let go of what or whom we cling to?  Can we pretend we’ve already lost it or them?  Can we accept the reality that one day we will lose it or them, no matter what we do?  The more free we become from those things and people we are attempting to posses, the more free we are to follow Jesus wherever that persistent inner voice or that recurring biblical text or that risky circumstantial demand pulls us. And, the more free we become from that ambition, thing, or person, the more free we become to be present to others, God, and ourselves, free to risk, free to act, free to love.

These lines in the prayer below from The New Zealand Prayer Book recur in my awareness regularly. “We thank you for the measure of freedom we have, and the extent to which  we control our lives.” We can celebrate the prospect of a growing freedom even as we wrestle with our possessiveness and seek God’s liberating grace. Clinging always proves to be tough work; our “hands” get weary and breathing, labored. Letting go will allow us to breathe and relax into God’s loving abundance.

+Henri J. M. Nouwen, Bread for the Journey: A Daybook of Wisdom and Faith (New York: Harper, 1997), February 20

Collect of the Day, Proper 14, the ninth Sunday after Pentecost

Grant to us, Lord, we pray, the spirit to think and do always those things that are right, that we, who cannot exist without you, may by you be enabled to live according to your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you

and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.  (BCP 232)

A Collect for Grace

Lord God, almighty and everlasting Father, you have brought us in safety to this new day: Preserve us with your mighty power, that we may not fall into sin, nor be overcome by adversity; and in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 100)

Collect from Night Prayer, New Zealand Prayer Book

God our Creator, our centre, our friend, we thank you for our good life, for those who are dear to us, for our dead, and for all who have helped and influenced  us. We thank you for the measure of freedom we have, and the extent to which  we control our lives; and most of all we thank you for the faith that is in us, for our awareness of you and our hope in you. Keep us, we pray you, thankful  and hopeful and useful until our lives shall end. Amen. (NZPB, 697)

For those we Love

Almighty God, we entrust all who are dear to us to your  never-failing care and love, for this life and the life to come, knowing that you are  doing for them better things than we can desire or pray for; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.  (BCP, 831)

A Prayer for Light

O Lord God Almighty, as you have taught us to call the evening, the morning, and the noonday one day; and have made the sun to know its going down: Dispel the darkness of our hearts, that by your brightness we may know you to be the true God and eternal light, living and reigning for ever and ever. Amen.  (BCP, 110)

A Collect for Mission

Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of your saving embrace: So clothe us in your Spirit that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for the honor of your Name. Amen. (BCP, 101)

Daily Office Gospel, Mark 10:17-31

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?’ 18Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. 19You 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.”’ 20He said to him, ‘Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.’ 21Jesus, 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.’ 22When 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!’ 24And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, ‘Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25It 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.’ 26They were greatly astounded and said to one another, ‘Then who can be saved?’ 27Jesus 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.’ 29Jesus 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, 30who 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. 31But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.’

Daily Prayer Offices in The Book of Common Prayer

Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, Book of Common Prayer

Noonday Prayer, p. 103, Book of Common Prayer

Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p. 109, Book of Common Prayer 

Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer 

Compline (Night Prayer), Page 127, Book of Common Prayer

Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer