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.)