Daily Prayer - The Rich Young Ruler

Good Monday morning, my friends.

In one of my messages last week I made reference to Jesus' parable of "The Rich Young Ruler". A friend of mine (thanks, Drew) pointed out something I had not seen before in the text:

Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?”

So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’”

And he answered and said to Him, “Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.”

Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.”

But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. (Mark 10:17-22, NKJV)

OK, I am not a Bible scholar, and it is dangerous to question Biblical text, however I have deliberately chosen to use the "New King James Version" for this text because there is a minor (or perhaps not so minor) difference in the text from one translation to another. In some common translations, such as the New International Version (NIV), Jesus says to this young man: “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

The word "then" implies that this young man (and by extension all of us) could only begin to follow Jesus after he had made a wholesale change in his life. In my experience that isn't the way Jesus works. Rather, once we begin to follow Him we begin to change our lives through the help of the Holy Spirit. As the saying goes, "God loves you just the way you are but He loves you too much to leave you that way". I believe that for this young ruler, he was asked to sell his posessions and follow Jesus as parallel activities, not sequential ones.

Something else to note and ponder on from this parable are the words "Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him". Anyone who has ever encountered Jesus including you and me, receives this love as well. But let's not follow the example of this young man and reject the life-giving changes God wants to make in us.

Grace and peace be yours in abundance!
Bruce

Dear Father, Jesus' words have a way of piercing our hearts and defenses we have built up against you and doing things your way.

Make us tender-hearted. Gently expose the reservations of our hearts, as you did for that wealthy young man those many centuries ago.

But give us grace to be able to obey you, the Great Physician, who alone can heal our corrupt and deceitful hearts, and make us whole.

Forgive us, O Lord, for clinging to the remnants of a life independent of you, and make us wholly yours.

In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.

(http://www.jesuswalk.com/lessons/18_18-23.htm)