174-175. Entrance into the Kingdom

BACKGROUND AND LINKS:

174. Jesus blesses the children: Matthew 19:13-15, Mark 10:13-16, Luke 18:15-17

Children were not a waste of Jesus' time and were important to Him. These children ranged in age from babies to preteens. In the Mark and Luke accounts He said we were to receive the kingdom with child-like faith.

175. Jesus speaks to the rich young man: Matthew 19:16-30, Mark 10:17-31, Luke 18:18-30

The rich man thought he could "do" something to gain eternal life. Jesus has just said we must receive the kingdom like a helpless child (Mark 10:15; Luke 18:17), but this man wanted to know how he could help himself to get there.

Jesus shook this man's false perception of what is good. Nothing we do is going to reach the perfection of God's goodness. Not even keeping five of the ten commandments dealing with human relationships that Jesus quotes in this passage. (The Mark account has a "do not defraud" which is not one of the commandments, but some commentators believe it is a paraphrase of the 10th commandment in Exodus 20:17 or a supplement to "you shall not steal" and "bear false witness.").

Even if the man had kept them all, he did not have total devotion to God because he loved money more (Matthew 19:22; Mark 10:22; Luke 18:23), breaking the first commandment to have no other gods before him. The Jewish mindset was that a man's riches were an indication of God's blessing. So when Jesus lovingly asked the rich man to give up all his wealth and told His disciples that it was hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom, He was speaking counter to everything they had ever understood about God. The camel (the largest animal in Palestine) through the eye of a needle comment related to a Jewish proverb of the time that depicted the impossible. 

This made the disciples wonder if they could even enter the kingdom, and Jesus responded by indicating that it is impossible to enter by human effort, but God can make it possible by His grace (Job 42:2; Ephesians 2:8-10)!

REFLECTION

There is absolutely nothing we can do to earn our way into the kingdom. Let go and abandon that pursuit. Your good works can only be a result of grace.

God's grace is free. Let go of everything else and accept it as a child and enter into the joy of Your Master!

APPLICATION

This is my favorite book on grace:

Free for the Taking: The Life-changing Power of Grace by Joseph R. Cooke

This book changed my life. I was so excited that I even tracked down the author and visited with him and his wife. Then, when I was mentored by two elderly women, it turned out they had gone to college with him, and I was able to see him again many years later! I have so benefited from the ministry of elderly saints!

PRAYER

Thank You for Your grace. Amen.