once there was a man

a man once approached Jesus and said to him, “Sir, you have quite a reputation as a man who knows God and eternal things. So, tell me what must I do to get eternal life? I have all the world can offer now, but surely I will someday die, and I must be assured that a glorious afterlife is certain.”

Jesus responds to the man, and right off you discover Jesus has shifted the focus of the issue. the man is concerned about “getting eternal life” (read “heaven”); the man wants to cinch up his afterlife. Jesus, however, shifts the conversation to “life” - Jesus begins, “If you want to enter life…” in this subtlety, Jesus wants the man to see he is focused on the wrong end game. the man thinks it’s all about the security of heaven after you die; Jesus is wanting to invite the man into the present reality of “life,” which is more than human existence, but living in the present reality of God’s kingdom - a kingdom, according to Jesus, which is within us and the source of life (read peace, love, joy, freedom, and contentment). in the gospel of John, Jesus defines “eternal life” as “knowing God.” in other words it is a now reality.

the man is proud of his religiosity and is operating under the assumption that whatever God has to offer it can be attained through religious duty - being good, doing church, keeping a list of do’s and dont’s, observing the law, ordering your life around religious rule and ritual. Jesus goes with the man down this path of logic, and acknowledges his life of religious duty and discipline. Jesus isn’t busting on him; he is giving credit where credit is due; the man has worked very hard at what he has understood God expected of him.

in the process, the man comes to a place of profound self-realization. he says to Jesus, “What do I still lack?” despite his religious commitments, the man feels deep within himself that something is amiss. looking at him on the outside, he is living an impressive religious life that probably few can match. he is also a wealthy man, and so he is living a life of material security and abundance, and yet he feels a deep lack within him. he is now experiencing the “life” Jesus refers to earlier, and the pain is painfully aware of this emptiness within him.

so, Jesus tells the man that the answer to his lack is to sell all his possessions and give them to the poor. we would be mistaken in thinking that this is primarily a scripture about sacrificing for the poor or a call to social justice or a condemnation of material wealth. Jesus wants the man to experience the present reality of the kingdom of God (life), but what is standing in the man’s way is his misplaced dependencies. the man has depended on his material wealth as the source of his security, identity, and happiness. he has depended on his wealth and what it can do, as his source of life and wellbeing. but Jesus knows, just like the man’s religiosity, so also his misplaced dependency won’t work for the man.

so, Jesus invites the man to let go of his misplaced dependency so he can in fact experience life in God’s kingdom. some people thing they must wait until death in order to experience the fullness of life in God. others think they must separate from society and enter a life of blissful contemplation to experience any inkling of it. Jesus is essentially telling the man that the life of the kingdom is within the man, and the man can choose to let go of his misplaced dependency and instead depend upon the source of “life” (peace, contentment, joy, love, freedom) within him.

the man chose not to let go of his dependency. why? fear. it’s not that he “had” wealth and all that wealth brings. in his mind, the man was his wealth and all that wealth brings. like a;; misplaced dependencies, letting go of them is like dying to your self; as if there might not be any self at all if you let it go.

maybe this false self of misplaced dependencies must fall to the ground and die, so that the abundance of life in the kingdom can be experienced. we die in our old world, and our raised up in a new world of “life.” maybe this is the choice in every moment of our lives, which can be made regardless of our circumstances; a choice that allows us to walk in the present reality of God’s kingdom, which is not dependent upon any set of human circumstances.

(photo by annieA)