Someone came to Jesus with this question: “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” “Why ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. But to answer your question—if you want to receive eternal life, keep the commandments.” “Which ones?” the man asked. And Jesus replied: “‘You must not murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. Honor your father and mother. Love your neighbor as yourself.’” “I’ve obeyed all these commandments,” the young man replied. “What else must I do?” Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” But when the young man heard this, he went away sad, for he had many possessions. Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is very hard for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. I’ll say it again—it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!” The disciples were astounded. “Then who in the world can be saved?” they asked. Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.” Then Peter said to him, “We’ve given up everything to follow you. What will we get?” Jesus replied, “I assure you that when the world is made new and the Son of Man sits upon his glorious throne, you who have been my followers will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or property, for my sake, will receive a hundred times as much in return and will inherit eternal life. But many who are the greatest now will be least important then, and those who seem least important now will be the greatest then. [Matthew 19.16-30]
I sat in a restaurant last night with two of the men in my discipleship group for our weekly meeting. There, one of the men pointed out a couple of significant passages from the previous day's OYCB reading. First was Luke 14.25-27, a passage that commonly needs discussion. Then, he pointed out another passage in the same chapter of Luke:
So you cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own. [Luke 14.33]
I found myself confidently 'reasoning' the meaning of what Jesus told His followers in Luke 14.33 with a less-literal explanation. But in hindsight, I wonder if I spoke truth or opinion... Today's OYCB reading seems to support the latter. Now, I feel like perhaps I mistakenly utilized the same kind of reasoning that angered Jesus so much regarding the matter of dead Lazarus (see Never Give Up).
The thing that is most disturbing about my own actions yesterday is that eternity is at stake according to the three Gospel accounts of the subject passage above and I had the audacity to "explain" Jesus' command in Luke 14.33 to suit my level of comfort but not in the general context of the entire discussion.
Jack and Glenn, I apologize for imposing my opinion upon you in our meeting. Today's OYCB reading says nothing if it does not clearly refute my watered-down reasoning last night. Jesus is not looking for us to reason with His instructions or commands, but to resign from our plans so that we might follow Him. Forgive me for interpreting what Jesus said so as to go easy on you (and therefore easy upon myself!).
Perhaps no other account of Jesus' instructions in all the Bible elicits the deception of Satan more than Matthew 19.16-30 (above), Mark 10.17-31, and Luke 18.18-30! With all the forceful words Jesus employed to make His point in this encounter with the wealthy young man, people (sadly, including myself) still reason that it doesn't necessarily apply to them. And then we wonder why we live such powerless lives, void of the works of Jesus.
Okay, I get it. Everyone reading this is totally uncomfortable right now. Surely there has to be some logical explanation of Jesus' confrontation of the rich guy that tells us we are all good. I mean, we simply must use reason when reading these passages, right? Otherwise, we might be accused of foolishly forsaking all just to follow Jesus! How stupid would that be? ... <crickets chirping...>
I wish I could figure out a way to give up all I own without giving up all I own! Think, Greg, think!
<crickets chirping even louder...>
"Thinking" and "reason" have never been so dangerous!
<crickets chirping at a deafening roar now...>
No comments:
Post a Comment