The lessons are from Ecclesiastes 5:10-20; Hebrews 4:1-16; and Mark 10:23-31. They continue a theme from last Sunday: justice cannot be escaped.
In Ecclesiastes, the rich are never satisfied nor able to sleep, but the laborer sleeps well whether his belly is empty or full. There is nothing better than to eat and drink and enjoy good in the work God has fitted you to accomplish.
Hebrews provides a whole chapter of warning against failing to enter God’s rest. Israel failed to enter and remain in God’s rest because of unbelief; that is, dishonesty about what their lives depended on. Belief, faith, and trust are all the same word and have to do with coming to rest in honesty about what our life depends on, or I should say, Who our life depends on.
Mark continues after Jesus’ encounter with the rich young man. How hard it is for a person rich in this world to enter the kingdom of heaven. If you are full of yourself or full of what you have gathered to yourself from this world, there is no way you can enter or live in the kingdom of heaven. By God’s grace and genius, the process of dying typically relieves our grip on material things and makes room for God’s redeeming grip on us!