Devotions
Rev Gav
Impossible
Mark 10.17–31
As he 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!’ And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, ‘Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.’ They were greatly astounded and said to one another, ‘Then who can be saved?’ Jesus looked at them and said, ‘For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.’
Peter began to say to him, ‘Look, we have left everything and followed you.’ Jesus said, ‘Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age — houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecution — and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.’
Reflect
The rich young man in today’s Bible Reading recognised that something was missing in his life. His life was defined by doing and Jesus responded with a list of things he could do but tacked on the end, that once the man had done all these things, “then come, follow me.”
Yes, the rich young man went away perplexed because it was a tall order, but like him, we have to learn that there is no amount of doing that will get us close to God, and that the bar was and is set impossibly high. If the man did go away and do all the things Jesus asked him to do, he still would not find eternal life (life in all its fullness in the here and now and forever) and neither would we!
Jesus then explained that it impossible for anyone who has wealth (including possessions) to enter the Kingdom of God, and his disciples rightly asked, “Who then can be saved?” I like to think that Jesus winked and smiled when he replied, “for God all things are possible!”
Of course, doing good works is important, and I’m not suggesting we hang up our coats and stop being kind, loving, generous, supportive, helpful, and serving — just that these things don’t get us over the bar and close to God.
It is God’s love that saves us, and the irony is that when we surrender to God’s love and stop trying to live life in our own strength, we are set free from expectations and our own failings, and become more kind, loving, generous, supportive, helpful, and serving!
Today, accept that there is nothing you can do that will get you close to God other than welcome God’s loving embrace. Hear the words of Jesus, “then come, follow me.”
Photo by J. Balla Photography on Unsplash
Pray
Holy God
Thank you that with you
all things are possible,
and that my salvation
does not depend on me.
I surrender to your love
and pray that you will
guide and lead me
to become the person
you created me to be.
This day and forever.
and then