Matthew 19:16-30
Back to the “rich, young ruler” again… This incident of a young man coming to Jesus, asking about eternal life appears in each of the Synoptic Gospels, so we will be reading different accounts of this incident today and the next two days.
Almost every time I read this story I find myself somewhat guilted out as to whether I am doing enough. (See my 2019 comments below.) But today I had a different thought. In the past I have said that I often consider Jesus speaking to His disciples back then as Him speaking to us today. So here’s Jesus speaking from today’s reading: Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. (v. 28) Those of us sharing these readings are following Jesus – so will we be sitting on thrones judging others? Unfortunately I don’t find it in my ability-set to be able to sit in judgment of others! I don’t know fully what Jesus means in that statement, but it certainly is a more positive statement than my reactions to this story in the past.
So today, even though Carol and I have not sold all our possessions and given that to the poor (v. 21b) we are following Jesus. If we fall short by holding on to our possessions as we follow Him – well, we leave that to Jesus and we ask His Holy Spirit to guide us further. More reflections on the “rich, young ruler” tomorrow…
See also: August 8 / Matt.19:16-30
Fred, I read it as get rid of anything that comes between me and God, whether material possessions, family, anything else. The reason I read it that way was because I was seeing in Luke that Jesus only mentions the last six commandments, about relations with people, not the first four about putting God first. Hmm.
Interesting, Debbie, but Jesus only mentions five of the “other” six. The sixth that He mentions is His “second” to the “Great Commandment”, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” The number six that is not mentioned is “You shall not covet…”, and apparently that was the young man’s major problem in following Jesus.
It should be clear that those sitting on the twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel are to be the Apostles, not all the rest of us. Yes, most of the time, what Jesus says to the Twelve, He says to us all, but there are times (like this) where His words are directed just to them (or to other specific individuals — like the rich young ruler).