Following Jesus

Matthew 19:13-28

The Little Children and Jesus
13 Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them.

14 Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” 15 When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.

The Rich and the Kingdom of God
16 Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”

17 “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”

18 “Which ones?” he inquired.

Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, 19 honor your father and mother,’[d] and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”

20 “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”

21 Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

22 When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.

23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for the rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?”

26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With human beings this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

27 Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?”

28 Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. 30 But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.

Psalm 31:1-5

1 In you, LORD, I have taken refuge;
let me never be put to shame;
deliver me in your righteousness.
2 Turn your ear to me,
come quickly to my rescue;
be my rock of refuge,
a strong fortress to save me.
3 Since you are my rock and my fortress,
for the sake of your name lead and guide me.
4 Keep me free from the trap that is set for me,
for you are my refuge.
5 Into your hands I commit my spirit;
redeem me, LORD, my faithful God.

Reflection

There is something very challenging about today’s reading. Jesus seems to come to us as one who commands obedience to the law. In fact, some of you might be asking yourself, “what about the God of grace that we hear so much about in church?”

The simple answer to the question is that the God who declares, “your sins have been forgiven” is also the same God who declares, “but many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.”

In the beginning of our passage today, Jesus is brought little children to bless. Seeing this, Jesus’s disciples try to stop people from bringing little children to Jesus. Jesus responses by saying, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

During the day of Jesus, little children where some of the most disrespected groups of people in the world because they could not take care of themselves. For this reason, they were thought to be annoying and burdensome. This is why Jesus’s disciples try to stop people from bringing him children; they thought they the children were being a burden to Jesus.

This is why Jesus’s response is so amazing, because Jesus is saying that the Kingdom of Heaven is for those who are disrespected, who might be a burden, those who have to rely on others.

The next character that we meet in Matthew is a “Rich Man.” Unlike children, the rich held high honor in the society that Jesus lived in, much like today. People thought that God or gods must have blessed them because they were rich.

This Rich Man comes to Jesus and asks, “What good thing must I do to inherit eternal life?”

Jesus responds, “Why do you ask me about what is good?” “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”

At first it seems like Jesus is saying that to enter into eternal life, one must obey the commandments. Yet, at second glance, we can see that Jesus is simply answering the man’s question, “what good thing must I do?”

This is why the commands that Jesus points out are focused external aspects of one’s relationships to God and humanity, not the internal aspects.

Jesus then pushes more when the man has seemed to keep all of the commands by stating, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

Ouch! Jesus cuts right to the heart of this man, right to the thing that he honors and places his hope in.

As the Rich Man walks away, Jesus’s disciples are in shock that a man of such great ‘blessing’ cannot even get into heaven.

This is where the gospel comes in, “With human beings this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

God gives us the ability to achieve the impossible, to get into heaven through his grace!

This does not mean that we necessarily have to ‘sell everything’ or ‘leave everything’ to follow Jesus. What this means is that our actions of ‘selling everything’ or ‘leaving everything’ are a response to God’s amazing grace. When we follow God, we say thank you to God, and tell the world of the grace that has transformed us.

Questions

1. Why were children disrespected in Jesus’s time?
2. What does it show us that Jesus wanted the little children to come to him?
3. Why were rich people respected in Jesus’s time?
4. Why does Jesus answer the Rich Man’s question by saying, “keep the commandments”?
5. In what way are you trying to work your way into heaven?
6. Jesus let’s us know that we cannot get to heaven by our own works, but only by what God has done. How has this truth transformed you?
7. What do you still have to leave behind? How do you still have to allow God’s grace to transform you?
8. Pray for each other.