Figuring It Out
As Jesus was starting out on his way to Jerusalem, a man came running up to him, knelt down, and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
“Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked. “Only God is truly good. But to answer your question, you know the commandments: ‘You must not murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. You must not cheat anyone. Honor your father and mother.’”
“Teacher,” the man replied, “I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was young.”
Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him. “There is still one thing you haven’t done,” he told him. “Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
At this the man’s face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions. Mark 10:17-22
You ever look back on those times when you had to figure out why your parents were the way they were? I have probably mentioned a time or two about the stories of my father never answering questions for me and telling me to figure things out. I loved that about my father now that I am older because it gave me a sense for how to do things even when I might not have initially figured out a way to do so. As a result, I would often answer my children’s questions with another question. “What do you think,” I would ask. Sometimes they would figure it out, and other times they would not. But helping them to see their way forward inspired them to do the same for their children. The point here is not how things pass from generation. It is for us to be critical thinkers. Yes, there are times it is far faster for someone to give you an answer, but by my dad’s way of teaching, it helped me see things better and figure things out.
As followers of Jesus Christ, we have read numerous parables and heard Him prophecy about things. However, we tend to forget that Jesus is God, and with it comes all those main characteristics. As a spiritual mentor taught me to say, He is omnipotent (all-powerful), omniscient (all-knowing), and omnipresent (all over). When we read about Christ, we tend to see His perspective like we ourselves would. While that allows us to connect with people in the story and what Jesus is experiencing, that limits our ability to learn what Jesus was doing. We do not know everything. Our powers are limited, and we cannot be in two places at the same time let alone everywhere. But if we take the position of reading His story from the perspective of ‘He knows what is coming before it happens and can change anything He wants,’ each interaction takes on a whole new meaning. His acts are no longer miracles. They are God’s plan, and part of the plan is for us to learn so that we too can teach others.
Jesus is a master teacher. The story of Jesus’ interaction with the rich man is fascinating because we focus on the perspective of the rich man himself. He did all the right things, but when asked to sell his possessions and give the money to the poor, the man walked away. Now most of us would take the approach that the man loved money more than God. That would not be wrong. But for a moment, let’s put on the Jesus perspective. Jesus is all-knowing. Thus, he could have asked the rich man to sell his possessions at the very beginning of their exchange and shut down all ‘the drama’ you could say. He chose to keep asking one thing after another and another until getting to the rich man’s weakness. Why? It was never really about the money at all! It was to point out that there is always something that will prevent us from achieving God’s glory. If it was alcohol, He would have asked the man to give up drinking. If it was gluttony, it would have been food. Even Peter, who said he would never betray Jesus, denied Him three times … just like He said he would! But Jesus went through the process of piece by piece noting the things the rich man did right only to fall short. Just like we do. This was a subtle and effective way to teach the disciples and us to understand how we are to be careful about what we hold above God and check ourselves to avoid being sucked in to worshipping false idols for as Paul wrote:
“So, my dear friends, flee from the worship of idols. You are reasonable people. Decide for yourselves if what I am saying is true. When we bless the cup at the Lord’s Table, aren’t we sharing in the blood of Christ? And when we break the bread, aren’t we sharing in the body of Christ?” (1 Corinthians 10:14-16)
Jesus’ abilities are limitless! Understanding that is rare. However, reading the stories more than once or twice and taking time to connect the dots can not only add depth to our understanding of scripture but also give us more applications for our lives to become better teachers. So, let us be followers who do not just speak about God’s word but live it with the intent Jesus Himself showed. What stories of Jesus Christ might you look at again focusing on Him as God? How can you better apply what He has taught you? My prayer is that we expand our perspective of Jesus to better figure out God’s plan for us. Amen.