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How Jesus Kicks Our Value System to the Curb

October 13, 2018

Mark 10:23-31

23 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”

24 The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said 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 The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?”

27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”

28 Then Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow you!”

29 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel 30 will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. 31 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

CONSIDER THIS

With these few sentences Jesus crushes the conventional wisdom of the day. In those days (as in our own), people tended to equate wealth as a sign of God’s favor and as the fruit of a righteous life. The corollary also rang true: poverty was a sign of the absence of God’s favor and the bitter fruit of sin.

We need to remember at this point how Jesus had systematically taken on this value system. He went to the poor and the lepers and the sick and unleashed extravagant blessing on them. In today’s text, he takes the system on from the angle of the rich. This comment about the impossibility of rich people entering the Kingdom of God would have been nothing less than stupefying to those gathered. Jaws would have hit the floor everywhere. Jesus said the exact opposite of all they had been taught.

The Twelve looked at one another with sheer incredulity.

The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?”

Wealth was not the sign of blessing, rather it was the source of burden? This was truly a head scratching moment.

The Kingdom of God cannot be understood as an extension of the Kingdom of the World with a little Jesus overlay. The Kingdom of God cannot be understood as a projection of even the best and most fair minded merit system we can imagine. Bottom line: No one has any claim on the Kingdom of God. In fact, it’s impossible for anyone to enter the Kingdom of God on their own terms.

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”

The Kingdom of God belongs exclusively to those who will unconditionally and absolutely belong to the God of the Kingdom. In the end this is not about divesting oneself of wealth but entrusting oneself to God. Wealth, like nothing else, can get in the way of this, which is precisely why our wealth must be entrusted to God—whatever that means and whatever it takes.

Then Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow you!”

At first glance it feels like Peter was contending for some kind of claim here; something akin to “you owe us.” In response, Jesus doesn’t so much rebuke as he reassures. All the possibilities of God reside with those who place all of their possibilities in his hands. On second thought, I think Peter was saying just that—we have trusted you with everything, Jesus.

Jesus reassures them by saying in effect, “And everything I have, ‘little flock’ I am giving to you.

This is extravagant exchange. The celebrated missionary turned martyr, Jim Elliot said it best when he said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

THE PRAYER

Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me. Lord Jesus, I want to belong to you. I want to be identified with you. I want to place all my possibilities in your hands and entrust you to bring to fruition the ones that matter the most. Melt me. Mold me. Fill me. Use me. For the glory of your name, Jesus. Amen.

THE QUESTION

Jesus says it is hard to enter the Kingdom of God. Why do we tend to speak and act like it is so easy?

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For the Awakening,
J.D. Walt
Sower-in-Chief
seedbed.com

Get my latest book, THE DOMINO EFFECT.
I write every day at THE SEEDBED DAILY TEXT.

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WHAT IS THIS? Wake-Up Call is a daily encouragement to shake off the slumber of our busy lives and turn our eyes toward Jesus. Each morning our community gathers around a Scripture, a reflection, a prayer, and a few short questions, inviting us to reorient our lives around the love of Jesus that transforms our hearts, homes, churches, and cities.

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