One Saturday afternoon when I was about 14 years old, my youth group took a trip to an indoor climbing center in Charlotte. When we walked in the front door of this large facility, we found ourselves automatically looking up at the vast indoor tower that rose around us. Each of the four walls of the tower was covered in different styles of handgrips. Some of the walls were at 90-degree angles while others had places where the wall jutted out. As we walked across this vast entryway, I noticed that my feet had a certain spring in my step. This was not caused by nerves, but from the special rubber flooring that covered the room.

After a brief training session, each of us in the group stepped into a harness and, three at a time, began to climb the beginner wall. The first few feet were fine but when I got up about 15 feet it became harder to find handgrips. They seemed to be farther apart and my nerves were screaming at me that it was crazy to be this high up in the air with nothing but a little rope and my trust in the guy holding the other end holding me up.

But with my friends calling up from below, pointing out where I could find my next hand-hold, and voicing their confidence in my ability to make it all the way to the top to ring the bell I slowly went up the last 10 feet to the top.

Once I had rung in the bell at the top, my journey was only half over. Once I got to the top, I then had to come down. There were no stairs on the other side of the wall. I had to go back the way I came. But I wasn’t supposed to simply climb down the wall. I was to rappel down it. Now when you rappel, you lean back and put your body at an almost 90-degree angle to the wall and walk down. You place all your weight in the harness and the rope and use your feet to keep you from crashing into the wall.

It’s a very strange feeling this vertical walking and as I leaned back to begin my descent all of the nerves in my body screamed at me that this was an insane idea. It was crazy to lean back and trust that a rope and a few straps of nylon would support me as I walked down the wall. But with more supportive words from my friends below (and a few comments from the person who was waiting to go next), I leaned back, trusted the rope, the harness, and the spotter below and walked down the wall.

The ground never felt so good. As I took that last step from the wall to the floor, my knees shook as I released myself from the rope that moments before had guided me down the 25-foot wall. I had trusted and not fallen.

Jesus is continuing along the way to Jerusalem when this rich man comes up to him to question him. He seems to be very genuine in his approach. After all, his question is not described as Mark describes the Pharisees who seek to trick Jesus. The man seems to really want to know the answer. "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" he asks Jesus. But Jesus’ response sends him away dejected. "Follow the commandments, sell all you have, give money to the poor, and follow me." Jesus is asking the man to make a sacrifice for the Kingdom of God.

One definition of sacrifice is, "an act of giving up something valued for the sake of something else regarded as more important or worthy." So in order to sacrifice, one must give up something of value.

With the transition to digital television signals, Goodwill and other charity organizations saw a steep increase in the number of television sets that were donated. Essentially these were tvs that weren’t going to make the transition so the people gave them away. They were not of value and were therefore given away.

One day, at a local crisis assistance clothing center, I was given the job of going through the clothes that were donated and selecting those that were suitable for re-sale. Most of the t-shirts and other clothing had holes or were just plain worn out. These worn out items were bundled together and sold to be made into industrial rags but as far as being clothing for those in need, they were worthless. They had been donated to the center because they were worthless.

How many times have we all given from out of our excess instead of making a true sacrifice? How many times have we been satisfied with giving only the crumbs from the table instead of offering the meat? Jesus is asking the rich man not only to follow the commandments but to give up something of value. Jesus, on his way to the cross where he will give up his very life, is merely asking for the man to give up his possessions. When we look at it that way… when we realize that Jesus is on his way to give up his very life, the sacrifice he is asking for from the rich man pales in comparison.

But yet, we say, giving up property and money is no small matter. Even though Jesus’ sacrifice was so much bigger, this call to sell everything and give away the money is still a huge task. No wonder the rich man leaves quietly never to be heard from again. Wouldn’t you? If what it takes to inherit eternal life is nothing less than everything we have, then who would do it? Who would have the audacity to sacrifice all the things we value in order to gain eternal life? Is it too high a price to pay? Is Jesus asking too much?

Don’t believe people if they say Jesus was not a radical. Jesus was about the most radical person I can think of. "Everything," he tells the rich man. Not 10% off the top, not just don’t cheat anyone in your business deals and pay fair wages to your workers but everything. But if I give up everything then what will I have? What will be mine?

The disciples issue their own complaint. After all they have given up everything in order to follow Jesus along this journey, what’s in it for them? "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." Now, Jesus, you had me up until the persecutions. Jesus promises his disciples that they will receive much for what they have given up but then he adds on persecutions! With a deal like that, one wonders why the disciples followed him at all. Is it too much? Is the price that Jesus sets too high?

Many of the commentators I read on this passage went to great pains to talk about what this passage means today. One commentator highlighted that Mark was written to Christians who were living under the mentality that this age was coming to an end very soon. So, Jesus’ command makes sense in that context but not in our present day context when few Christians believe that the new age of Christ will come in their own lifetime.

Another commentator said that Jesus was not really talking about how the man should give up his riches but about how Jesus’ disciples should give up the attitudes that are associated with riches. They should give up that mentality of living for oneself that is characteristic of many wealthy people. So Jesus was talking about giving up attitudes about wealth and not wealth itself.

Jesus was indeed a radical. He told the rich man to give up all that he was dependant upon and rely completely on God to provide. He is asking the man to make a true sacrifice, to give up something of value to gain something more worthy. On his way to the cross, Jesus asks the man to give up his stuff in order to gain eternal life. In light of the sacrifice that Christ made, his very life, is it asking too much to sacrifice some of what we have for the worthy cause of the kingdom. What are you willing to sacrifice to follow Christ?

I have heard people ask, and I admit I have asked myself, is a tithe 10% before or after taxes? But here Jesus isn’t asking for 10% off the top but is asking the rich man to give up what he values in order to become Christ’s follower.

Running through my mind about now is a similar question to the one the disciples asked, "Who, then, can be saved?" Giving up everything is a steep price to pay and in our consumer-driven society I doubt any of us would take Jesus up on his offer. Who, then, among us can be saved? How far are you willing to go to follow Christ? What sacrifice are you willing to make? What will you give up of value?

We live in a world where money equals power and the only way to get anywhere in the world is with power and money. But is this the type of world that Jesus wants his followers to live into? Jesus flips it all upside down with his "first will be last and last will be first" was of looking at God’s kingdom. In God’s Kingdom, power and money are not guarantors of being at the top. Jesus presses his disciples to live into a world where we can let go of the wall that we worked so hard to climb up and lean back and depend upon God to keep us from falling.

On the way to the cross Jesus asked a rich man to give up his possessions and follow him. Perhaps everything is too tall an order. Who then can be saved? For human beings it is impossible but with God all things are possible.

Glory be to the God of infinite possibilities, Christ who was willing to sacrifice everything, and to the Holy Spirit that pushes us in directions we might not choose on our own.