The Challenge of Letting Go
- davidwperk
- Feb 13
- 7 min read
Devotional Reflection, Thursday, February 13, 2025
The week of the fifth Sunday after Epiphany
The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.
Key phrases for reflection from today’s Gospel:
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.
You will find the full text of today’s Gospel reading at the end of this reflection.
Daily Office Lectionary readings (BCP, 946)
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
Today we celebrate the Feast of Absalom Jones. (See below.)
David’s Reflections
In the movie, “Star Wars: Episode Three” Anakin Skywalker, who later becomes Darth Vader, consults with Yoda, a Jedi master, about his dream that his wife was going to die in childbirth. Anakin believes that he cannot live without her. Yoda tells him that attachment makes him vulnerable to the dark side of The Force and then says, “You must train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose.”
In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells this young man that he must sell all he possesses and then follow Jesus; he must let go of everything he fears to lose. The young man demurs and leaves grieving, because he possesses much. What was he afraid to lose?
In yesterday’s reading, 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 with which to commend himself to God.
His question, “What must I do to inherit?” feels oxymoronic. Inheritance usually does not result from doing; rather, it results from being related to the one from whom one inherits. (Obviously, that always does not hold true, especially if the one bequeathing operates with a transactional understanding of love, as in “I will this to you because you pleased me.”) Does the young man’s question itself reveal a sense of need to commend oneself to God by some history of obedience?
The Gospels do not report Jesus telling anyone else to sell all in order to follow him. Perhaps his keen intuition had detected that which the young man feared to lose. 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 themselves 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 Yoda’s challenge would sabotage our self-elevation and connect us with the young man’s grief. “You must train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose.” What do you and I fear to lose? Can we release it? Can we pretend we’ve already lost it? Can we accept the reality that one day we will lose it, no matter what we do?
The more free we become from those things and persons we fear to lose, the more free we are to follow Jesus wherever that persistent inner voice or that recurring biblical text pull us. The more free we are from that person, thing, or dream we fear to lose the more freely we can cherish and relate to it or them. We have no freedom to cherish that which we must have.
Van Morrison sings these lyrics in “The Mystery.”
Let go into the mystery
Let yourself go.
When you open up your heart
You get everything you need.
Baby, there's a way and a mystic road.
You've got to have some faith to carry on.+
+Van Morrison, "The Mystery,” From the album “Poetic Champions Compose" (Exile Productions, 1987)
Collect of the Day, Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany
Set us free, O God, from the bondage of our sins, and give us the liberty of that abundant life which you have made known to us in your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP, 216)
Today we celebrate the Feast of Absalom Jones, priest (died 13 Feb 1818 CE).
Collect of the Feast of Absalom Jones
Set us free, heavenly Father, from every bond of prejudice and fear; that, honoring the steadfast courage of your servant Absalom Jones, we may show forth in our lives the reconciling love and true freedom of the children of God, which you have given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
A Collect for Guidance
O God, whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people; Grant that when we hear his voice we may know him who calls us each by name, and follow where he leads; who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP 100)
Of the Holy Eucharist (Especially suitable for Thursdays)
God our Father, whose Son our Lord Jesus Christ in a wonderful Sacrament has left us a memorial of his passion: Grant us so to venerate the sacred mysteries of his Body and Blood, that we may ever perceive within ourselves the fruit of his redemption; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 252)
In the Order of Worship for Evening
Almighty, everlasting God, let our prayer in your sight be as incense, the lifting up of our hands as the evening sacrifice. Give us grace to behold you, present in your Word and Sacraments, and to recognize you in the lives of those around us. Stir up in us the flame of that love which burned in the heart of your Son as he bore his passion, and let it burn in us to eternal life and to the ages of ages. Amen. (BCP, 113)
A Collect for Mission
O God of unchangeable power and eternal light: Look favorably on your whole Church, that wonderful and sacred mystery; by the effectual working of your providence, carry out in tranquility the plan of salvation; let the whole world see and know that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection by him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 280)
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
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