“As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” ¹⁸ Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. ¹⁹ You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.’” ²⁰ He said to him, “Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.” ²¹ Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” ²² When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions. ²³ Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” ²⁴ And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! ²⁵ It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” ²⁶ They were greatly astounded and said to one another, “Then who can be saved?” ²⁷ Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible. ²⁸ Peter began to say to him, “Look, we have left everything and followed you.” ²⁹ Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news,^[f] 30 who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. ³¹ But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.” ” Mark 10:17-31

Leaving everything and following – both present their challenges and their fears. We have two contrasts in our texts – for as difficult as it was for the rich man to part with his possessions and follow Jesus, it sounds as if it was easy for the disciples to leave everything behind and follow Jesus. What the text does not tell us is that, like the rich man, the disciple’s decision to follow must have been agonizing, and difficult. There is no one who decides to leave everything who does not fret about their decision. We don’t know much about the disciples except that some of them were hard working individuals in the occupation of the fishing industry. Their work was hard, difficult, and physical. Most of them left the family business to follow Jesus – they left everything (as Peter points out) but were not promised much except to be fishers of people. 

The rich man, however, when given the option to leave everything to “inherit eternal life”, well he finds it too difficult to leave. What is it that bothers you about this text?  What is it that challenges you?  What is it you have “left” to go deeper with your faith life?

Today is Ash Wednesday—the beginning of Lent. You have six weeks to go deeper with Jesus and your relationship with G-d.

Pastor Dave

Some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” ³ He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” ⁴ They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.” ⁵ But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. ⁶ But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ⁷ ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, ⁸ and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. ⁹ Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” Mark 10:2-9

Relationships are so important—especially to Jesus. We are to consider our relationship to G-d, and to each other, and how we can better these relationships. In other words, relationships are a work in progress—and this could not be more truer than in the relationship of marriage. In a perfect world, there would be no need for laws about divorce and the need for Jesus to focus so much of his teaching on how we are to relate to each other. In a perfect world, we would not need to consider divorce, because our relationships with each other would not be flawed. But, we do not live in a perfect world, and our relationships are often interrupted by sin. The imperfect nature of this world is the reason that our relationships go sour and for this reason, we need to know that, although divorce is not G-d’s preferred end for our relationships, it is still necessary in many circumstances because of neglect, brokenness, and abuse.

But divorce should not be misused neither. Love for each other and the love of G-d should be at the heart of all of our relationships. But, when our relationships do suffer, we need to know that G-d is there to sustain us in the difficult times and to bring healing in all aspects of our lives. While human love is imperfect, G-d’s love is unconditional and limitless.

Pastor Dave