Okay, so a rich young man runs up to Jesus in Mark 10:17-27, kneels before Him and asks, “Good Master, what should I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus’ answer may seem puzzling. Instead of going into a theological dissertation, He turns and asks the man His own question. “Why callest thou me good?” The Amplified makes it even clearer: “Why do you call Me essentially and perfectly morally good?” Then Jesus adds, “There is no one good, expect God alone.”

In this statement Jesus is telling the man two things. First, that He is God, and only on that basis can He be called good. In other words, if we don’t believe Jesus is God, we have no business calling Him “good.” That pretty much settles the issue of people wanting to call Jesus a good man, a good teacher, a good prophet, yet denying His deity. It just won’t do. Unless Jesus is God, then He is not a good “anything”.  

Secondly, no one is good enough to inherit eternal life. The young man, by his own works, was incapable of securing it. Isaiah 64:6 reminds us that “we are all as an unclean thing and all our righteousness are as filthy rags.” And if that’s not enough, Romans 3:23 says, “For we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God.” All means all. To drive this point home, Jesus, in Mark 10:19 starts talking to the young man about the commandments to which the man promptly replies, “Teacher, I have carefully guarded and observed all these and taken care not to violate them from my boyhood.” Really? Is that possible? Can anyone really keep all the commandments perfectly when you realize they encompass our thoughts, words and deeds? The answer is a resounding NO! The man was blind to his own failings. But God sees.

So what was Jesus’ reaction? This part is great. “Jesus, looking upon him, loved him.”  There’s more that follows, but I need to stop here a moment. Jesus looked right through this man and could see those areas where he didn’t measure up to God’s standards and . . . loved him. In the same way, Jesus can look right through us and love us anyway. Even so, Jesus needed to confront the man with truth. After He loves on him, He tells the young man, “One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come take up the cross and follow me.”

Why did Jesus say that? Is it wrong to have riches? Must we be poor in order to be pleasing to God? No. Not at all. But because Jesus could see right through this man, He knew that the man’s riches had become god in his life, the thing he loved most and depended upon most. That’s why they had to go. God will always ask us to give up what comes between us and Him. Jesus also told the man he must take up the cross, the instrument of death, death to self, and follow Him. It’s interesting to note that Luke, in 18:18, calls this young man a “ruler.” That word in the Greek is archon and means “first, chief, first in rank or power.” It’s hard for someone who is first or chief in their lives to follow or submit to another.

This message still applies today. We will never earn eternal life on our own. Most of the time we can’t even see ourselves for the poor creatures we are. Thus, we need the One who is truly Good to do that. And we need to give up those things that come between us and God. We need to die to self. We can’t be chief in our lives. That’s God’s place. But God is more than able to help us do this. That’s why Jesus, right after the rich young ruler walks away, tells his disciples, “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God,” But then, happily, He adds this: “with men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible.”

But there’s another lesson we need to take away, one on a corporate level. In Revelation 3:17-18 Jesus rebukes the church of Laodicea; the church that was neither hot nor cold; the church that Jesus called “rich” and “blind” and admonished to buy from Him, “salve” to put on their “eyes” that they may “see.” So many of our churches are fast becoming like that Laodicean Church of Revelation. They feel they are “rich and have need of nothing” but God, who can see through the facade, calls them “wretched, poor and blind.” Is this why so many of our churches are becoming irrelevant?

Oh, Lord, may we purchase Your eye salve so that we may see our true condition!

Until next time,

Sylvia

 

 

Soon after the miracle of the loaves and fishes Jesus, in John 6:25-65, when talking to the     multitudes, began making fantastic claims about Himself. It’s not the first time. He’s already said in John 5:19-30 that He was the Son of God, that He “gives life to whomever He wills” and that the judgment of sinners was in His hands. Now He claims He’s the Bread of Life, that He’s come from heaven and only He has seen the Father, that the Bread is His flesh which He will give for the life of the world and that no one could have any life without eating it or drinking His blood, and that whoever does and believes on Him will have eternal life and He will raise him from the dead at the last day.

Well, this was just too much. Even many of His own disciples found His words too offensive and stopped following Him that day. It was inevitable if one understands the Jewish mindset. Blood was sacred. Leviticus 17:11 says that the life of the flesh was in the blood. And it was the blood that made atonement for the soul. It was forbidden to drink blood. In fact, blood was reserved exclusively for God. Now Jesus was telling them they must drink His blood and eat His flesh. Did He really want them to violate the law? Not at all. What He was actually saying was so wonderful they just couldn’t grasp it right then. Jesus, as the Word made flesh (John 1:14), was telling the people that if they believed on Him and ingested His life-giving words and appropriated the saving merit of His blood they would have eternal life. And not only that, but that His life, the very life of God, would indwell them. It was simply too amazing to be believed!

But as amazing as it is, those claims are still valid today.  Think of it! Eternal life! Forever with our precious Lord in a world without sin, sickness, pain, sadness. A world filled with love and joy. And all we have to do is believe and receive. It’s so amazing and so easy. No wonder many still can’t believe it.

Until next time,

Sylvia

 

In following Jesus we next find Him resting at Jacob’s well in Samaria. I commented on this story in a post over two years ago, but since it’s one of my favorite “Jesus Encounters” I can’t resist reposting it now.

So while Jesus is resting a woman comes to draw water. Immediately He begins a conversation by asking her for a drink; rather shocking with you consider that she was not only a Samaritan, a member of a mongrel race considered unclean by Jews, but also a woman, a second class citizen in a male dominated society.  Jewish men didn’t strike up conversations with strange women.

She acknowledges this prejudice by asking why He’s even talking to her.  His response is amazing on so many levels.  In essence He says, if you knew who you were talking to, you’d “ask of him and he would have given you living water.”  He goes on to explain this living water was “a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”  He was declaring that He was the source of everlasting life, and here’s the kicker, He was declaring it to a fallen Samaritan women.

A few verses down we realize just how fallen.  She’s had five husbands and the man she’s currently living with wasn’t even her husband. That’s probably why she came to the well around the 6^th hour or noon, in the heat of the day, when no one else would be there, because she was probably even an outcast among her own people. But Jesus knew all this, and revealed His knowledge to her.  And she was amazed.  And so am I because even with this prior knowledge He doesn’t say, “boy, you really blew it.  You’ve really made a mess of your life.” Rather He said, “if you’d asked, I’d have given.”

And that’s just what he says to us.  No matter how much we’ve messed up our life, no matter how low on society’s totem poll we are, no matter how insignificant we feel, no matter how “unclean” our lives have become, God loves us, and says, “if you ask I will give you eternal life.” Wow! 

Sometimes I don’t understand why God bothers with us.  We are so flawed, so weak, so much like the “dog who returns to his own vomit” yet He’s there, saying to each of us, “ask me, and I’ll give you because I love you, no matter who you are or what you’ve done.”

The end of the story is also wonderful.  Jesus uses this woman, this fallen unclean Samaritan, to go and tell her community about Him and lead others to Him, thus showing there is a place for even the lowliest in God’s kingdom and in His plan. 

Oh what a God we serve! What a loving, tender, good God! And it’s His very goodness that leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4b).

Until next week,

Sylvia

Did you ever want something so much you could taste it? Did you ever pray for it, hope for it, even beg and weep for it? And when things didn’t turn out the way you wanted, you were so disappointed, perhaps even angry with God?  I have. A few times. And when that moment came when I realized my prayers were not going to be answered, at least not in the way I wanted, there also came the grace to deal with it.

But it brought to the forefront something else, too: my sense of entitlement. I think sometimes we Christians can fall into an “entitlement” mentality. Just because we are God’s, we sometimes believe He is obliged to answer our prayers in just the manner we want. It’s coming to us. Right? After all, we’ve been walking in faith these many years, doing things His way. Surely we can expect our prayers to be answered now and then.  But what we forget, what I forget, is that God is not obligated to do anything more for us. He already did it all by sending his son, Jesus, to the cross to pay for your sins and mine. And this act has given us the greatest gift of all, peace with God and a hope and a future.

During this Easter season, as I thought about the magnitude of what He did for me, everything in my life, all of its problems, its hurts, its disappointments, paled in comparison.  If God never does another thing for me, I’d have no right to complain. When I reflect on this great gift of peace with God, forgiveness of my sins, and the hope of eternal life, I’m amazed all over again by God’s great love. It’s this kind of loving God that I can trust with my future, to know what is best, even when I don’t understand what He is doing. And He is the kind of loving God you can trust as well.

Until next week,

Sylvia

I love this one.  In John 4:5-42 Jesus is resting at Jacob’s well when a woman of Samaria comes to draw water. He immediately begins a conversation by asking her for a drink; rather shocking with you consider that she was a Samaritan, a member of a mongrel race considered unclean by Jews, and that she was a woman, a second class citizen in a male dominated society.  Jewish men did not normally strike up conversations with women.

 

She acknowledges this prejudice by asking why He’s even talking to her.  His response is amazing on so many levels.  In essence He says, if you knew who you were talking to, you’d “ask of him and he would have given you living water.”  He goes on to explain this living water was “a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”  He was declaring that He was the source of everlasting life, and here’s the kicker, He was declaring it to a fallen Samaritan women.

 

A few verses down we realize just how fallen.  She’s had five husbands and the man she’s currently living with wasn’t even her husband. That’s probably why she came to the well around the 6^th hour or noon, in the heat of the day, when no one else would be there, because she was probably even an outcast among her own people. But Jesus knew all this, and revealed His knowledge to her.  And she was amazed.  And so am I because even with this prior knowledge He doesn’t say, “boy, you really blew it.  You’ve really made a mess of your life.” Rather He said, “if you’d asked, I’d have given.”

 

And that’s just what he says to us.  No matter how much we’ve messed up our life, no matter how low on society’s totem poll we are, no matter how insignificant we feel, no matter how “unclean” our lives have become, God loves us, and says, “if you ask I will give you eternal life.” Wow! 

 

Sometimes I don’t understand why God bothers with us.  We are so flawed, so weak, so much like the “dog who returns to his own vomit” yet He’s there, saying to each of us, “ask me, and I’ll give you because I love you, no matter who you are or what you’ve done.”

 

The end of the story is also wonderful.  Jesus uses this woman, this fallen unclean Samaritan, to go and tell her community about Him and lead others to Him, thus showing there is a place for even the lowliest in God’s kingdom and in His plan. 

 

Oh what a God we serve! What a loving, tender, good God! And it’s His very goodness that leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4b).

 

Until next week,

Sylvia