Today’s Lectionary Readings: Psalm 119; Genesis 6:1-8; Matthew 19:13-22; Romans 2:1-11
Lots of folks think that today’s passage from Matthew is about one – and only one thing: materialism. I don’t think that’s the case. Let me take a moment and set up the passage, and then suggest another lesson that I think is buried within the text. In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus is talking with a young man who asks what is required to get eternal life. Jesus starts at the most basic level in his initial response to the young man; he basically tells the young man to follow the rules as laid out in the Ten Commandments. Jesus might have been content to leave things there, but the young man pushed Jesus by noting that he’d already mastered that level. When Jesus heard that, he immediately raised the stakes by challenging the young man to take his faith commitment to the next level; Jesus challenged the young man to go out and sell his possessions. At that moment the young man couldn’t bear to walk away from his possessions so he walked away crushed. Here’s the other lesson that I think is buried within the text. The faith that Jesus calls us to is a faith that is always pushing our boundaries or comfort zones. Just when we think we’ve mastered one level, Jesus presents us with the challenge to go deeper – into another level of faith. For the young man, the next level of faith development involved confronting his materialism. For others, the next level might represent a different form of addiction. The point is that there is always room in our lives for further spiritual growth and development. May we seek God’s grace and guidance as we continue to do the work to which God calls us so that we don’t do what the young man did – simply walk away. Til next time…
Lots of folks think that today’s passage from Matthew is about one – and only one thing: materialism. I don’t think that’s the case. Let me take a moment and set up the passage, and then suggest another lesson that I think is buried within the text. In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus is talking with a young man who asks what is required to get eternal life. Jesus starts at the most basic level in his initial response to the young man; he basically tells the young man to follow the rules as laid out in the Ten Commandments. Jesus might have been content to leave things there, but the young man pushed Jesus by noting that he’d already mastered that level. When Jesus heard that, he immediately raised the stakes by challenging the young man to take his faith commitment to the next level; Jesus challenged the young man to go out and sell his possessions. At that moment the young man couldn’t bear to walk away from his possessions so he walked away crushed. Here’s the other lesson that I think is buried within the text. The faith that Jesus calls us to is a faith that is always pushing our boundaries or comfort zones. Just when we think we’ve mastered one level, Jesus presents us with the challenge to go deeper – into another level of faith. For the young man, the next level of faith development involved confronting his materialism. For others, the next level might represent a different form of addiction. The point is that there is always room in our lives for further spiritual growth and development. May we seek God’s grace and guidance as we continue to do the work to which God calls us so that we don’t do what the young man did – simply walk away. Til next time…
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