This week’s reading includes the account of a young man whose wealth keeps him from following Jesus. In fact, Jesus goes on to suggest that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a wealthy person to enter the kingdom of heaven. Given that a good chunk of Australians would be included in the wealthiest 10% of the world, we should probably pay close attention.
There are a couple of important pieces of context that are worth starting with. First, this man acknowledges Jesus authority in his life. He kneels before Jesus, addresses him as teacher. Second, the man has lived a life of obedience with respect to God’s commands which are relatively black and white: no murder, no adultery, no telling lies, no cheating, no stealing; the honouring of parents still seems a little subjective. It does seem a careful omission that Jesus doesn’t mention the commandments about keeping God first. The third important piece of context is that Jesus ‘looked at (the man) and loved him. On the one hand we would likely be shocked to hear Jesus dis-liking anyone, but in this case there seems to be a particular gentleness in his response to the rich man. Perhaps it is significant that the rich man desires to be faithful; the man is asking what more he must do to inherit eternal life because he wants a relationship with Jesus. His heart seems to be in the right place.
So why does Jesus make such a hard request? Jesus didn’t ask everyone to give away all their money (some left jobs, some left families, some paid back people they wronged with a bonus, and some were healed to be sent back into society presumably to become able to work for a wage). Assuming that Jesus knew the man’s heart, it would seem that Jesus was picking on the man’s weakness: his attachment to his money. When we come to God longing to go deeper, He doesn’t usually ask us to give up what we love because we love it, but will often ask us to give up anything that still competes with God in our hearts. Anything that has become an idol, or running the risk of becoming an idol. Another dynamic in this request is that Jesus asks the man to bless the poor and then come and practice the vulnerable lifestyle of following Jesus: dependent on God’s power and provision, relying on the hospitality of others and risking rejection even while participating in the miraculous.
May we imitate the boldness of the young man to ask what still stands between us and God, and may we have the courage to lay it down in favour of the joy of having God first in our lives.
