Thought for the Week w/b 14th July

Stretched to the limit – Mark 10: 17-23

^‘ As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’  Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.  You know the commandments: “You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honour your father and mother.”’  He said to him, ‘Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.’  Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, ‘You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’  When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, ‘How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!’ 

Reflection

You might think Jesus was being a bit hard on the young man.  He came asking about the way to eternal life.  A good motive, and he was trying hard!  “I’ve kept the commandments since I was a boy,” he said.

We can imagine Jesus with a hint of a smile on His face at this point, listening to the young man’s over-confidence.  There was, perhaps, just a little self-righteousness in him.  None of us is really that good about meeting the demands those commandments make, but Jesus looked at him and loved him.

He has a strange way of showing it though.  No congratulations for the way the boy had lived so far, just an uncompromising demand for a complete revolution in his life.  “Go, sell…give…and follow me.”

Jesus always stretches us.  We move one step forward on the road to life, and He asks another.  We show signs of progress, and He shows us there’s more to come.

Sometimes, when we love people, we make allowances, give them the easy option, try to smooth the path.  Not so Jesus.  He’s never content with the status quo.  He’s never satisfied with where we’re at, He’s always encouraging us to grow, stretching our limit and demanding that little bit more.  And, when you think about it, it’s a sign of the depth of His love that He makes us reach out for more, a sign of His faith in us, that He believes we’re capable of more.

In love, He asks everything from us, He has the right to, because that’s what He gave!

Prayer

Thank you Lord, for each step we make you ask another.  Love says move on, stay taut, stretch tight, reach out.  And as we do love meets us, not standing on the summit, high and unobtainable until the last, but climbing with us.  Amen.

Penny Bonham