Hey Guys,
In my last letter I talked about the way in which Jesus came – humbly, unexpectedly, as a servant, never taking power over another human being (though he did take power over the demons).
I think the way it will go, cause I could write 100 letters on Jesus alone is to try to short circuit that a bit and talk about what he had to say in this letter, and then address what he did in his next letter. All of these things tie together. They tie back to what I’ve said earlier, and I realize that it is a lot to take in, but please remember the purpose of all this is for me to lay out for you as clearly as possible what is important to me. As I do this, I hope I answer the question, “Why?”
Thomas, I told you the other day that Mark’s gospel, which is the shortest, has the most action. Luke and Matthew have a lot more teaching in them, and John is perhaps the most philosophical of the gospels. One of my favourite stories in the Jesus story is found in Mark 10:
One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could touch and bless them. But the disciples scolded the parents for bothering him. When Jesus saw what was happening, he was angry with his disciples. He said to them, "Let the children come to me. Don't stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children.
I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn't receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it." Then he took the children in his arms and placed his hands on their heads and blessed them.
As Jesus was starting out on his way to Jerusalem, a man came running up to him, knelt down, and asked, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
"Why do you call me good?" Jesus asked. "Only God is truly good.
But to answer your question, you know the commandments: 'You must not murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. You must not cheat anyone. Honor your father and mother.' "
"Teacher," the man replied, "I've obeyed all these commandments since I was young."
Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him. "There is still one thing you haven't done," he told him. "Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
At this the man's face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.
Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God!"
This amazed them. But Jesus said again, "Dear children, it is very hard to enter the Kingdom of God.
In fact, 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 not with God. Everything is possible with God."
Then Peter began to speak up. "We've given up everything to follow you," he said.
"Yes," Jesus replied, "and I assure you that everyone who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or property, for my sake and for the Good News, will receive now in return a hundred times as many houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and property—along with persecution. And in the world to come that person will have 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." (Mark 10:13 - 30)
So I started a paragraph before the story begins, and then left in Jesus’ teaching on the back side for a reason. You’ve learned in your English classes that the context of words and stories matter. Please never forget this truth. For though the context does not limit truth it is important to understand the writer’s idea of truth.
Jesus is taking a hike with his disciples. He is on the way to Jerusalem. Along the way parents are bringing their children to be blessed. The disciples decide to run interference and block the families’ paths to Jesus and Jesus gets upset with them. He says, “the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like children.” He actually said, “to ones like this…” but the translators wanted to make his point for him. Remember how Jesus came. His kingdom is for the drop outs the losers, those who have no hope without him, those who can’t figure it out for themselves, those who approach him as a child approaches an adult to rely on that adult for help.
Then with this back drop the story begins. A rich guy runs up to Jesus. So, note this: In the old days I used to say that if he were alive today he would drive up in a BMW, but that is wrong. It would be more accurate to say, “He grabbed a BMX bike and rode as fast as he could to intercept Jesus and get in front of him...” When he got there he fell on his knees in front of Jesus. I say this because it was undignified to run in that culture. This cat, who had everything he wanted made himself look the fool to get in front of Jesus so he could ask a simple question: “Good teacher, what do I have to do to get eternal life?”
You need to be aware of at least three things all from this simple question:
- He thought Jesus was better than him. He addressed him as, “Good teacher,” falling
on his knees in front of him after running. He humbled himself before Jesus. - When he asks what he has to do, it has two parts to it in the original language. It
carries the immediate, “What do I do?” However, it also asks, “How do I do it?” - He is not asking about life after we die. That is a Greek and now Western idea of
eternal life. To the Jew, eternal life was the concept of God coming to earth
to put things right here on the planet. In essence the man was asking how he
could be a part of the Kingdom that Jesus was announcing, “Repent, for the
Kingdom of God is at hand.” Eventually we are going to have to talk about the
Kingdom of heaven, but for now let’s simply state that it is the “rule of God
on planet earth.” The dude on his knees was asking how he could be a part of
that.
Didn’t Jesus respond in a whacky manner? “Why do you call me good? There is no one good but God alone.”
There is a movement in academia called the “Jesus Project.” It is a bunch of really smart professors that get together and vote on whether certain words in the Bible are actually a part of the original
texts, or if they were redacted (edited) later to become a part of the Bible we now have.
They agreed that this truly was part of the original text. Their reasoning was that since Jesus denied his divinity here it had to be a part of what was originally written. So I will accept that it is part of the original text, but I will argue that Jesus didn’t deny his divinity here.
To the contrary, Jesus is going to make a strong claim to be God here. I think you’ll see it as we move forward. He goes on, “You know the commands: Don’t murder. Don’t commit adultery. Don’t steal. Don’t lie. Don’t cheat anyone. Honor your father and mother.”
If you go back to Exodus 20 where Moses presents the 10 Commandments to the Israelites, you will see that Jesus listed the last six commandments. They are all the commandments that have to do with how we relate to one another. He skipped the first four: “Have no other Gods, Don’t take my name in vain, Don’t make an idol, and keep the Sabbath.” Why would Jesus skip the commandments that have to do with how we relate to God and list the commands that have to do with how we relate to one another?
Apparently the guy was a really good guy. He replied, “I’ve done all those things.”
Jesus looked at him and loved him. I love those words. Jesus wasn’t out to get the guy. He was like most of the people in churches today. He believed in Jesus, otherwise he wouldn’t be on his knees in
front of him asking the question. He wanted to do the right thing. Jesus loves that, and so he answered, “There is one other thing: “Go sell everything you have and then come follow me.”
As soon as Jesus said that the man’s face fell. He got up, and he walked away sad. The one thing Jesus needed he was unwilling to do. In essence, Jesus said get rid of anything that gets between your following me and then join my merry band. In one fell swoop Jesus replaced the first four commandments with one simple one: “Trust me enough to follow me, then follow me.”
Here is the heart of Jesus’ message: If you want to live in the Kingdom, follow me. He doesn’t say, “Believe the right things, or do the right things.” He says, “follow me.”
I could point you to John 21 where after he has been crucified and comes to the disciples after the resurrection he says to them, “In the same way that my Dad sent me to you, I am sending you to the world.” Remember he said this less than a week after they saw him brutally beaten and crucified. He then tells his disciples to go the same way he came to them.
We are to be followers of Jesus. We are to imitate Him and be his representatives in this world in which we live.
So here is the rub, I can’t do it. Neither can you, or anyone else you might sit next to in a church pew or at a Christian concert. We are as incapable of following Jesus as the Israelites were of obeying all those laws He gave them. That reality leads us to the next two posts: What He did, and what he left.
I realize this is deep. You may not read this letter until much later in life, but it is central to who I am and how I live. I pray that you find the peace of making it central to your own lives as you grow and become the woman and man he has made you to be.
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