A Man So Rich That He Was Poor

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He came to Jesus.  He looked Him in the eye.  He asked for eternal life.  What greater question could he ask?  In response Jesus offered this insight: “Do not commit adultery.  Do not kill.  Do not steal.  Do not bear false witness.  Defraud not.  Honour thy father and mother.”  God’s moral code has always been of universal importance.  But the young man knew there was more he could do.  No question about it.

So he asked.  And Jesus said: “One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.”  But no.  That was too much.  Why?  Because he had too much. 

Of those who have much is much asked.  Or as we sometimes say, those to whom much is given is much required.  Capacity equals responsibility.  But that responsibility is not always met with the proper reaction.  Perhaps that’s why just a few moments later Jesus offered this insight: “Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!  It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.”  It’s not a matter of how much a person has but how much value they place on it.  This young man valued his treasure more than his soul (Mark 10:17ff).

But it didn’t have to be his money.  It could have been anything.  Relationships (Luke 14:26); self (Matt. 18:1ff); pleasure (1 John 2:15-16), etc.  It just has to be something more important than Jesus.  To him it was his money.  What is it to you?

He came to Jesus.  He looked Him in the eye.  He asked for eternal life.  But when he was faced with the reality of what it would cost him he found the burden was greater than he wanted to bear.  He saw the face of pure love looking back.  But he turned, rejected it all, and walked away.  For the sake of what he had he refused what he was offered.  He was a man so rich that he was poor.  What treasure will we allow to do the same?

-Andy Brewer

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