Matthew 19:16-22
“Unclenching Our Hands”
Preached, Sunday, May 11, 2025
Today is a day of note. It is Sunday, always a “set-apart” day for rest and connecting with God. It is Mother’s Day - an important day for many families. And it is our conclusion of what we are calling the “active phase” of our Today, Tomorrow, Together Capital Campaign. It is our Commitment Sunday where we invite those who have not yet made their three year commitment to this campaign to do so and where we make note, celebrate, and give thanks to each other and God for the momentous amount of generosity, sacrifice, and HOPE for both the church of today and the church of tomorrow, that is behind each and every gift.
With the importance of today noted, we will move on to talking about this: (*open and close hand*) - okay, let me explain myself by turning to our text from Deuteronomy.
There is a command here that every seven years there is to be a remittance of debt for fellow Israelities in their community. The question I was asking of myself in this text was, was it a one-year hold on collecting debts? Was it a forgiveness of debts? I honestly couldn’t find the answer… but it was, at the least, putting debts on hold for a year - done every seven years. It was a practice for the big remittance, the big forgiveness that is the year of Jubilee which is every seventh seventh year. But what strikes me is what comes after giving the command. The text says, remit debts every seven years…but should there really be any among you in need in the first place? An exact quote: “There will, however, be no one in need among you, because the Lord is sure to bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you as a possession to occupy, if only you will obey the Lord your God by diligently observing this entire commandment that I command you today.” In essence: Should there be anyone in need among you? Not if you’re treating each other like you should! Should there really be any among you who had to go into debt to survive? Not if you care for one another as you have been commanded! Oh if we only still held and followed this value today.
The last line of the passage from today really gets to the core of the values embedded in this passage: “Give liberally and be ungrudging when you do so, for on this account the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, ‘Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.’”
Open your hand…
Are you starting to get what I mean by this? (*open and close hand*)
Now, I want everyone to do this with me. Close your fists tightly….Now open, release….Now close tightly…and now open, release…
This is the primary concept or idea we are looking at in our sermon today - the juxtaposition between holding on too tightly to something or releasing it, letting it go.
Deuteronomy gives us instructions to open our hands for the good of our neighbors, to not hold too tightly or begrudgingly onto things, instead to liberally open our hands to our neighbors, the poor and needy.
In our Gospel lesson from Matthew we see a man holding on too tightly to what he has. A man comes to Jesus and asks him, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” To which Jesus replies, “If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.”
Well, “Which ones?”
“And Jesus said, ‘You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness. Honor your father and mother. Also, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”
You can almost hear the young man checking off the boxes in his head. Yupp, I’ve done all those…But what’s of interest here…is Jesus did not actually list all the commandments, the ten commandments, as we know them. He didn’t mention the first ones that deal with relationship with God: No other God before me, no idols, no mis-use of the Lord’s name. He didn’t mention what I call the bridge commandment because it deals with both God and neighbor, the command of Sabbath. He went right to the commandments that deal with our neighbors: Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not lie, honor your father and mother… so if we’re counting commandments….we are at 9. What is the 10th Commandment that Jesus does not mention? “You shall not covet…”
Realizing that Jesus did not explicitly state this commandment, but knowing that the young man probably KNEW this commandment - as did Jesus - it gives new meaning to the rest of this interaction as the man asks,
“I have kept all these; what do I still lack?” Maybe he’s hoping that Jesus will say “nothing else…” That he conveniently forgot the commandment of covetting, of always wanting more.
Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”
That’s the NRSV translation which is what I normally preach from but I actually like the Common English Bible more here… “If you want to be complete, go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor. Then you will have treasure in heaven. And come follow me.”
And then that line we know all too well: “When the young man heard this word, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions.”
He was holding on too tightly. Too tightly to his possessions. And maybe too tightly to his narrative of what those possessions could do for him. His hands were closed tightly around what he had - not only his hands but his heart and soul too. And by so tightly holding on to what he had, by not unclenching his hands, it kept him not only from love of neighbor…but from love of God.
Let’s open and close our hands again. Clench them tightly….now open, release…clench them tightly….now open, release….
If your fists are clenched tightly, literally or metaphorically, you cannot, as Deuteronomy says, open your hand and give liberally and ungrudgingly to your neighbors, the poor and needy. If your hands are clenched too tightly…we cannot fully love God and neighbor.
Now, I want everyone to do this with me. Close your fists tightly….Now open, release….Now close tightly…and now open, release…
This is the primary concept or idea we are looking at in our sermon today - the juxtaposition between holding on too tightly to something or releasing it, letting it go.
Deuteronomy gives us instructions to open our hands for the good of our neighbors, to not hold too tightly or begrudgingly onto things, instead to liberally open our hands to our neighbors, the poor and needy.
In our Gospel lesson from Matthew we see a man holding on too tightly to what he has. A man comes to Jesus and asks him, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” To which Jesus replies, “If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.”
Well, “Which ones?”
“And Jesus said, ‘You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness. Honor your father and mother. Also, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”
You can almost hear the young man checking off the boxes in his head. Yupp, I’ve done all those…But what’s of interest here…is Jesus did not actually list all the commandments, the ten commandments, as we know them. He didn’t mention the first ones that deal with relationship with God: No other God before me, no idols, no mis-use of the Lord’s name. He didn’t mention what I call the bridge commandment because it deals with both God and neighbor, the command of Sabbath. He went right to the commandments that deal with our neighbors: Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not lie, honor your father and mother… so if we’re counting commandments….we are at 9. What is the 10th Commandment that Jesus does not mention? “You shall not covet…”
Realizing that Jesus did not explicitly state this commandment, but knowing that the young man probably KNEW this commandment - as did Jesus - it gives new meaning to the rest of this interaction as the man asks,
“I have kept all these; what do I still lack?” Maybe he’s hoping that Jesus will say “nothing else…” That he conveniently forgot the commandment of covetting, of always wanting more.
Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”
That’s the NRSV translation which is what I normally preach from but I actually like the Common English Bible more here… “If you want to be complete, go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor. Then you will have treasure in heaven. And come follow me.”
And then that line we know all too well: “When the young man heard this word, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions.”
He was holding on too tightly. Too tightly to his possessions. And maybe too tightly to his narrative of what those possessions could do for him. His hands were closed tightly around what he had - not only his hands but his heart and soul too. And by so tightly holding on to what he had, by not unclenching his hands, it kept him not only from love of neighbor…but from love of God.
Let’s open and close our hands again. Clench them tightly….now open, release…clench them tightly….now open, release….
If your fists are clenched tightly, literally or metaphorically, you cannot, as Deuteronomy says, open your hand and give liberally and ungrudgingly to your neighbors, the poor and needy. If your hands are clenched too tightly…we cannot fully love God and neighbor.
So everyone, clench those fists again…hold them up, look at them. What does a world of clenched fists give us? I feel like we’re all rock ‘em sock ‘em robots. Literally or metaphorically, a world of clenched fists does not give itself to generosity, reciprocity, love and care…it leads to, well, fighting, hoarding, mine and yours, have and have nots…
Something really beautiful happens when we unclench our fists - go ahead, unclench your fists - when we unclench our fists…we can better be in relationship with one another. We can fulfill the commandments. We can be complete…this understanding that without loving our neighbors, without being part of a community together…we are incomplete, we are not whole. We are not living as God intended us to live.
Unclench your fists. Open your hands.
Turn to your neighbor and offer them your hand - You can shake hands. You can hold hands. You can high-five…if you don’t know your neighbor that well, you can wave at them! What difference would we make in our world if we all had open hands? With open, unclenched hands…You can offer a hand out…or a hand up. You can be in relationship with each other. And when you’re in relationship with one another, we can go back to the question in Deuteronomy, “Should any among you really be in need? Not if you’re all living as we are commanded to do.”
So my question this morning is: What are we holding on to too tightly? For some, it may be possessions, money, stuff and how we interact or use it all. It might be part of our own life that is holding us back - regret, shame, low self-esteem. It might be an ideology of othering we’ve held on too tightly that keeps us from loving our neighbors.
It might even be a vision of what our church has been - what it was, a decade, two decades, or even 5 decades go…that we are holding on to too tightly, so we cannot love our church and community and one another now, here in the present, and move forward into God’s future for us, hand in open hand.
To be clear - so many of you have opened your hands to this church, this Today, Tomorrow, Together Capital Campaign is a HUGE and momentous sign. We don’t get to the 545,950 that was already committed to this campaign without open hands. And we don’t get the loving faith community we have without open hands and open hearts. And we certainly don’t get to this point without making sacrifices, of whatever each of you has let go of when unclenching your hands, to join hands with one another, to help and love their neighbor, to be church community… Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. For your generosity, and your open hands.
Friends, in just a moment, we will join together in our Commitment Liturgy that is printed in the bulletin, and ushers will invite you by rows to come to the front of the church, and place your commitment cards in the baskets. Now, we know that many of you have already turned in Commitment Cards. Thank you. We know that some of you are not ready yet to do so. Or some of you may be guests with us today and this part of the service doesn’t apply to you…
Which is why, in your bulletins, every single one of us has a blank index card. Because every single one of us has something in our lives that we’d like to give to God. Maybe it is something you are holding on to too tightly and you are ready to release your hands, unclench your fists in the act of letting go of something… Maybe you have already opened your fists and what you’d like to give to God is a commitment of time, talent, or treasure - or a way you can better love God and love neighbor. Examples might be…becoming a Sunday School volunteer, forgiving the person who harmed you, fasting from social media, taking the next time to become a foster parent, becoming a volunteer for a good cause, reading your Bible daily, taking on the practice of daily praying for our world or visiting the homebound…the possibilities are endless.
And so, I’d like each of you to take those cards, and hold them in your hands. You can do that right now, hold them in your hands, and think of what you’d like to give to God today. What God is calling you to give, to do, to release…with open hands and open hearts. If you’d like, you can grab a pencil from the pew and write on that card. Or you can just think it, inscribing on the card with your thoughts and heart…
And so when we come forward, some of you will be bringing cards for our Today, Tomorrow, Together Campaign - thank YOU - and all of us will be bringing forward that piece of paper, a tangible sign, a concrete action - of giving to God of our whole selves, with open hands…
And so, let us join together in the responsive litany printed in your bulletin…
Leader: The 90th Psalm reads: Let your acts be seen by your servants;
People: Today!
L: let your glory be seen by their children.
P: Tomorrow!
L: Let the kindness of the Lord our God be over us.
Make the work of our hands last.
P: Together!
L: Let us pray, As we open our hands and give what we have over to you, Lord, bless all the ways we and this church bless and serve you. May our generosity bless this community for generations to come. And so we pray with the Psalmist:
All: Make the work of our hands last! Amen.
You may come forward as the ushers invite you. Amen!
Something really beautiful happens when we unclench our fists - go ahead, unclench your fists - when we unclench our fists…we can better be in relationship with one another. We can fulfill the commandments. We can be complete…this understanding that without loving our neighbors, without being part of a community together…we are incomplete, we are not whole. We are not living as God intended us to live.
Unclench your fists. Open your hands.
Turn to your neighbor and offer them your hand - You can shake hands. You can hold hands. You can high-five…if you don’t know your neighbor that well, you can wave at them! What difference would we make in our world if we all had open hands? With open, unclenched hands…You can offer a hand out…or a hand up. You can be in relationship with each other. And when you’re in relationship with one another, we can go back to the question in Deuteronomy, “Should any among you really be in need? Not if you’re all living as we are commanded to do.”
So my question this morning is: What are we holding on to too tightly? For some, it may be possessions, money, stuff and how we interact or use it all. It might be part of our own life that is holding us back - regret, shame, low self-esteem. It might be an ideology of othering we’ve held on too tightly that keeps us from loving our neighbors.
It might even be a vision of what our church has been - what it was, a decade, two decades, or even 5 decades go…that we are holding on to too tightly, so we cannot love our church and community and one another now, here in the present, and move forward into God’s future for us, hand in open hand.
To be clear - so many of you have opened your hands to this church, this Today, Tomorrow, Together Capital Campaign is a HUGE and momentous sign. We don’t get to the 545,950 that was already committed to this campaign without open hands. And we don’t get the loving faith community we have without open hands and open hearts. And we certainly don’t get to this point without making sacrifices, of whatever each of you has let go of when unclenching your hands, to join hands with one another, to help and love their neighbor, to be church community… Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. For your generosity, and your open hands.
Friends, in just a moment, we will join together in our Commitment Liturgy that is printed in the bulletin, and ushers will invite you by rows to come to the front of the church, and place your commitment cards in the baskets. Now, we know that many of you have already turned in Commitment Cards. Thank you. We know that some of you are not ready yet to do so. Or some of you may be guests with us today and this part of the service doesn’t apply to you…
Which is why, in your bulletins, every single one of us has a blank index card. Because every single one of us has something in our lives that we’d like to give to God. Maybe it is something you are holding on to too tightly and you are ready to release your hands, unclench your fists in the act of letting go of something… Maybe you have already opened your fists and what you’d like to give to God is a commitment of time, talent, or treasure - or a way you can better love God and love neighbor. Examples might be…becoming a Sunday School volunteer, forgiving the person who harmed you, fasting from social media, taking the next time to become a foster parent, becoming a volunteer for a good cause, reading your Bible daily, taking on the practice of daily praying for our world or visiting the homebound…the possibilities are endless.
And so, I’d like each of you to take those cards, and hold them in your hands. You can do that right now, hold them in your hands, and think of what you’d like to give to God today. What God is calling you to give, to do, to release…with open hands and open hearts. If you’d like, you can grab a pencil from the pew and write on that card. Or you can just think it, inscribing on the card with your thoughts and heart…
And so when we come forward, some of you will be bringing cards for our Today, Tomorrow, Together Campaign - thank YOU - and all of us will be bringing forward that piece of paper, a tangible sign, a concrete action - of giving to God of our whole selves, with open hands…
And so, let us join together in the responsive litany printed in your bulletin…
Leader: The 90th Psalm reads: Let your acts be seen by your servants;
People: Today!
L: let your glory be seen by their children.
P: Tomorrow!
L: Let the kindness of the Lord our God be over us.
Make the work of our hands last.
P: Together!
L: Let us pray, As we open our hands and give what we have over to you, Lord, bless all the ways we and this church bless and serve you. May our generosity bless this community for generations to come. And so we pray with the Psalmist:
All: Make the work of our hands last! Amen.
You may come forward as the ushers invite you. Amen!
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