Jesus says it’s hard for rich people to get into heaven.

The disciples say, “Then how can anyone get in?”

There is, in their question, the implication that having wealth is a measure of something spiritual, that wealthy people, particularly wealthy religious people,  must be closer to God.

I think it isn’t just those first followers of Jesus. We think that heaven is about amassing a lot of stuff.

Sometimes stuff is touchable stuff.

• But stuff could be opportunities. Money buys access, buys status, buys opportunities. And clearly, the person with more opportunities has a better chance of heaven.
• Stuff could be serving. Money buys greater amounts to give, greater resources for doing huge things for lots of people. Money can give huge numbers of kids bookbags full of the coolest school supplies.
• Stuff could be freedom from hard work. The person who has money has the luxury to spend their time volunteering for great things.

But, Jesus says, this is something that people cannot do, this getting into heaven.  But, he says, God can do anything.

Even lots of money cannot buy all the stuff that can make God happy enough or satisfied enough to get to heaven. There is, implied in Jesus’ words, a sense that wealth can make it harder to depend on God. And that may be true. Of course, being jealous of those who have wealth and being obsessed with accumulating more wealth are just as bad has depending on the wealth you have.

But I think that the passage is about more than money. It’s about how hard I’m working to show God that I measure up.

Give away all of that stuff, Jesus says, all of those dreams of being rich enough or serving enough or connected enough or anything enough.

Just follow.

I said yesterday that something is missing from Matthew 19:16-30

Let’s recap the story. A young man who is very wealthy comes to Jesus to find out what he can do to get eternal life. Jesus says to obey the commandments. The man asks which ones. Jesus lists six: don’t murder, commit adultery, steal, or perjure;  honor your parents, and love your neighbor. The man says he does them all. Jesus says he has to give away everything to the poor and then to come and follow Jesus. The man walks away.

Look at that list of commandments. The first five are randomly from what are known as the 10 commandments. The sixth is from Leviticus 19:18. All of them relate to relating to people. What could possibly be missing?

The answer is in Matthew 22:34-40 and in Matthew 25:31-26.

In Matthew 22 , when Jesus is asked what the most important commandment is, he will pick one of these, the sixth, as his SECOND choice. The first will be to love God completely.

It isn’t in this passage.

Then, in Matthew 25, Jesus says that what you do for the sick and hungry and thirsty and imprisoned and strangers, you do for him.

That expression of love isn’t in the actions of this man.

Jesus invites the man to give up doing anything and bringing anything and just follow him. In Mark’s account, we read that Jesus looked at him and loved him. What Jesus is doing is inviting this man to love God with everything, to become a follower rather than an earner or a pleaser or a criteria meeter.

I suppose the story talks about the danger of wealth. But at the heart of it, more than money or anything else, is a simple question from Jesus:

“Will you follow me? Will you love me?”

If you just joined us, we’re looking at what it means to follow Jesus. We’re doing it mostly by walking slowly through Matthew, the first of the stories of Jesus. This slow reflective walk seemed the thing to do, since Matthew tells us at the end of his book that Jesus said to teach people to obey everything he commanded, and throughout the book there are commands.

Today, we’re looking at Matthew 19:16-30. It’s a story about a religious man with lots of money. It’s a story familiar to lots of people. It talks about camels and eyes of needles, making it vaguely familiar to more people.

It’s hard to write reflections about things that everyone knows.

So I sat staring at the text and realized that something huge was missing, right in the middle of the story. Absolutely huge. Glaringly huge. So huge that I never realized that it was missing.

I mean, I know this story. I’ve told this story to other people. For all I know, I’ve taught this story somewhere along the line. I’ve talked about how earnest the man is, how serious he is, how thoughtfully Jesus talks with him.  I’ve talked about how sadly he responds.

On the other hand, I’ve probably talked about how he comes to Jesus asking what good thing he can do to enter the kingdom, asking this of the person who will be dying because there isn’t anything anyone other than Jesus can do to ‘good’ their way into the kingdom of heaven.  I’ve talked about how this sense of being good enough is a dangerous thing. I’ve wondered, probably, about why Jesus led him along, why he wasn’t clearer about the importance of a relationship, a conversational relationship, with him, with Jesus.

So what’s missing?

Guess.

(My answer tomorrow.)

“Can you pray for my child?”

Who could refuse that kind of request? It’s simple. It doesn’t take long at all. It’s the least you can do.

“Can you just put your hand on my child while you pray? I mean, you don’t have to come over or anything, I’ll come to you.”

So poignant. So tender.

“Can you ask Jesus to pray for my child?”

What! That’s the stupidest idea. Just leave him alone. He’s doing important stuff. He’s teaching important things. He’s working with us. Just go away.

————

That’s what Jesus’ followers did. They scolded moms for wanting Jesus to pray for their children.  The moms just wanted Jesus to touch their children and talk to his dad.  Likely a simply blessing, is what it was. Almost like the “kissing babies” that a politician does when campaigning, only this time the parents were wanting it and the campaign staff didn’t.

For Jesus, however, there was no campaign. He wasn’t trying to build a great reputation. He wasn’t trying to marshal popular opinion or look impressive in the polls. He wasn’t trying to be efficient or look for the best photo ops. He was just being Jesus and in Matthew 19, he overhears what his would-be protectors are saying and says, “Stop it. Let them come.”

Jesus knew, more than the disciples, that these kids were the future. They were the ones who could grow up knowing what it means to be loved by a Jesus capable of touching. They were the ones that would grow up after the resurrection. They were the first generation who would grow to adulthood with “I have come that they might have abundant life” ringing in their ears.

No wonder Jesus wanted to touch them.

No wonder he still does.

Do we let him?

Jesus says that divorce isn’t what he wants.

His followers say, “then why get married?”

And we say, “What?”

It is better to be safe, they are saying, than to risk the impossible. It is better to not ever be in the situation of having things go wrong, they are implying, than to be in the situation where things can go amazingly, delightfully, life-transformingly, passionately right. It is better to avoid the possibility of a  more thrilling and terrifying and nerve-wracking and soul-wrenching life than you could ever imagine.

It is better to be uptight than married.

While some of you are thinking about that, I need to quickly say that Jesus is not at all implying that to be fulfilled you have to be married. In fact, he is saying the exact opposite. He is strongly affirming that God calls us each differently. It is better to be single than married if you are built for being single. It is better to be married than single if you are built for being married.

We often take this approach to life, to relationship.  If we might get punished for messing up, we think, we are better off not even trying.

Jesus almost always offers another alternative: do what he invites you to do and do it with his help.

Jesus knows that marriage is hard, or can be. Jesus knows what it feels like to be betrayed in relationships. But he also knows that we are created for relationship, we are created to love, we are built to enjoy every element of marriage, if that is where we arrive.

So live. Live well. Live with delight. Live with risk.  It seems safer to avoid failure, but it is far safer to pursue life in relationship with the giver of life.