Greetings friends, I just published a new blog post (excerpt and link below) - go check it out and feel free to share it far and wide.
Much love,
Glenn || PATREON | BUY ME A COFFEE
"As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. 'Good teacher,' he asked, 'what must I do to inherit eternal life?'
'Why do you call me good?' Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’
'Teacher,' he declared, 'all these I have kept since I was a boy.'
Jesus looked at him and loved him. 'One thing you lack,' he said. 'Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.'
At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth."
--
I've heard this story from Mark’s Gospel a thousand times and have taught about it a handful of times, but the application has almost always been the same:
Don't be like this wealthy man.
Why?
Like many people, he was curious - curious about what action he needed to take in this life in order to ensure that he would be taken care of in the next (in the "age to come").
"What must I do to inherit eternal life?", he asked.
And so he came to Jesus to ask his question and when Jesus challenged him to sell all of his stuff and give the profits to the poor in order to ready himself for life in the Kingdom of God, he went away sad.
Why did he go away sad? Who knows. We aren't told, but we tend to assume that he went away sad because he chose NOT to sell his stuff and, therefore, realized he would be unable to inherit the eternal life he so desperately wanted.
We imagine him drooping his head down low and walking away muttering to himself ...
"I can't possibly do that."
"What a bummer."
"That's a shame."
"I guess I'll never receive eternal life."
BUT.
Does the text say that? Although we can certainly read it INTO the story, I'm not so sure it's actually IN the story and so that frees us up to imagine and wonder, "what if there's another way to look at this story?"