I have read this passage many times and it always has made me think of wealth. But the young man had many possessions. It was the possessions that held him back. And this is very common among the rich, the collectors, the hoarders… the stuff we collect, the wealth we hold, the very things we have stored for a bad time can become our master.
And I don’t like this: I am sitting in my room typing on a bespoke computer (I don’t buy desktops from Dell: I go down to a local assembler and get them put together and then install the OS on the bare metal), with a guitar I bought with my first wages, paintings from my sister… and many other things I consider precious.
My cupboards are full. The kids rock collection is on display. But you have to be prepared to account all these — even the relationships with your parents and your children– as gone, if they stop you entering the kingdom.
Christ is preaching a kind of minimalism that I am not good at.
17As 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?” 18Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. 19You 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.’” 20He said to him, “Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.” 21Jesus, 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.” 22When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.
23Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” 24And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25It 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.” 26They were greatly astounded and said to one another, “Then who can be saved?” 27Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.”
28Peter began to say to him, “Look, we have left everything and followed you.” 29Jesus 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, 30who 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. 31But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”
It’s worth noting that this was a good young man. He had kept the law, he was sincere, and he was loved by Jesus. Well and good.
But the possessions he had held him back. Managing his possessions took all his time.
And so we have to be careful. It does not really matter if you are the best prepper, or a brilliant businessman, or working for a wage. We all have too much stuff: much of it we do not use. Some of this we can recycle — I should (but don’t) weed my wardrobe of thigns I do not wear and give them to those who can use them.
But weed we must, otherwise our houses fill with junk and our lives become small. Perhaps, then, we will give more, and keep our gear acquisition syndrome (says me, with musical instruments and cameras…) ounder control.
And watch the collections. The sparkly toys. The sets. It’s good to cherish toys when small, but when you grow up, those full sets of Barbies, Cabbage Patch trolls or McDonalds toys and those comics need to go somewhere else. One of the things I have to watch is that I like physical books — but I am running out of shelf space and should instead by ebooks (and read them on a DRM free reader, for bonus points. The Kobo glow is pretty darn good and ensuring Jeff Bezos does not get a cut is just a pleasure)
i struggle with this. As Jesus said, it’s impossible for a camel to get through a needle. And I have so many camel-like traits. But in Christ, all things can change: I have lost thousands of books before and I know that I can do it again.
If needed.
For our worship must be of God, not our family, or, much worse, our collections.
