Today I'm in Mark
10.17. The Rich Young Man is everyman in
America. I look at the church, the amount of money, the toys, the houses, … and
I count myself as guilty … and Jesus' words hit me like a bat:
And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to
him, "You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor,
and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." Disheartened
by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
Jesus loved him; He
wanted the best for him; He told him one act that would be best for him, for
his soul ("what must I do to inherit
eternal life?").
How much
"stuff" do we have? What do we need - not want, but need? This rich young man had lived an upright
life, keeping the commandments, doing the "right thing" as defined by
his culture and the Scripture he believed. Yet Jesus perceived an idol in his
life: go, sell, give were the commands given to the man … commands he could not
bring himself to follow, for the idol in his life, his great possessions, had
hold of him.
I empathize with the
man. Here I am, having 50 years of life, selling my house, well over half my
earthly stuff, and moving across the world to a place which is not so easy to
live (on the surface, at least). Why? This makes no sense. I was warned that I
would have doubt, frustration, loneliness, anger; check, check, check, check.
And yet I have not followed to the extent Jesus instructs; I still own many
possessions, though not physically in the same location I now live. I gave some
possessions, though I sold others. Though far, far from perfect, and far from
following the command Jesus gave his disciples (yes, I am observing,
interpreting, then applying; not skipping the step of interpretation), I
believe and am trying to live this pericope.
Finally, notice
Jesus' response:
Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left
house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my
sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time,
houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with
persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will
be last, and the last first.
Ouch. To a degree, I
am living out this portion of the Gospel. It hurts. And as I have been warned
here, international workers have seen negative physical impacts. I'm not
certain this is precisely what Jesus meant by the words "with persecutions",
but it may be included in the orb of meaning.
Yet I, and we, can
live with the assurance, the promise, Jesus gives at the end of this passage:
"But many who are first will be last, and the last first." We love to
quote this phrase. Living this phrase is different story.
Father, give me, give us, the faith and the strength to live the radical ("to the root") lives You have called us to live. Let us reject, vehemently and stridently, the allure of this world. May I live to see You be made much of. This I pray.
