Matthew 19:16-30
Let’s remember to pray for Jim and Marty.
“Notice what you notice.” Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete (or “perfect”), go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property. (v. 21-22) I often identify with characters in our Gospel readings – all too often it’s the Pharisees! But today it’s the young man, not because he is young, but because he owned much property. And while, in a USA sense we do not own “much property”, relative to the rest of the world we are quite wealthy – and even by American standards we are well off. We have been abundantly blessed and have tried to be good stewards of all that God has given us. But there is always that lingering question when the story of “the rich young ruler” comes up – sell all that we have and follow Jesus. And we’ll have this same gospel story three days in a row…!
For starters, I know that Carol and I have been following Jesus, both before and during our entire married lives. And we have each been following Him at a born-again, Spirit-filled level. We have been a “tithes and offerings” couple – we have always given 10% or more to our church and have also supported missionaries and special causes. Frankly every year our tax package questions the correctness of our charitable contributions. We also offer our time and talents to His service.
I say all this to only a few of you, but seriously there is nothing special about us. Many others are much more generous. Yet still that “rich young ruler” story hits me hard. Do we give enough and have we done enough? I know that it’s by grace, not works, that we are saved, but our Lord does call us to service. But selling all to follow Him…? More reflections the next two days…!
Slava Bohu!
Fred, we all need to think this through. But Jesus didn’t say this to everyone – He has a knack (He is God after all!) to ask us to give up or release what is most precious to us so that we can follow Him more closely. I have had great difficulty “giving” or releasing Grant in order to follow Jesus. Maybe others feel that way about family, I am sure that Hindi and Muslim converts must feel that way about leaving their families to follow Jesus. God wants our hearts, with nothing (money, family, whatever) holding us back from being with Him.