Thursday, March 14, 2013

Go and sell everything

He walked up to Jesus like he was someone really interested in the man I knew now to be the Christ. He fell at his feet, stopping Jesus from walking farther.

He asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life?

Jesus was smiling as he answered. "Why do you call me good? No one is good -- except God alone."

We smiled at that. We couldn't quite figure what it meant that the Messiah would be so humble, and Andrew and James had long arguments about it around the nightly campfire. We were on our way to Jerusalem, where we thought Jesus would settle things at the temple, make the most glorious announcement ever.

Could you imagine it? We could. Jesus walks up the steps to one of the gates, turns, smiles broadly and announces He is the Christ, the Messiah, the anointed one.

There. It's done.

The Romans might not know it right then, what that meant I mean, but they would.

Anyway, Jesus went on to tell the man, "You know the commandments: 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.'

The man said, "Teacher, all these things I've kept since I was a boy."

Jesus looked at him in that way he had, the look speaking volumes about His love for all of us, the compassion fairly pouring out of him and said, "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."

The man's smile melted off his face.

We know that Jesus talks differently, teaches differently, acts differently, but still we walked with Him, trying our best to understand.

We were headed to Jerusalem for Passover. We had left everything to follow Him. We thought that was enough, even if we no longer had anything to give the poor.

What sort of man talks like this?

No comments: