The man in today's (not really today's) Gospel thinks that he has got it all figured out. Have you ever been there before? When you were a yutester didn't you know more than your parents?
To me he is lacking in humility and obedience and a dose of prudence. He comes to the master having witnessed those who have done the same time and time again and thinks that he can outwit him and believes that he is worthy to even be in the presence of such nobility and intellect.
Jesus already knows what he is up to, this isn't his first time having dealt with this kind of individual. And yet when the man is rebuffed or dismayed because he was wealthy, Jesus doesn't scold him or twist his arm in this case; instead, Jesus lets him make up his own mind to follow and be obedient to the law or to go his own way and find the struggles that are in front of him. He wanted to maintain earthly wealthy over long term wealth in heaven...
This yute knew better. Even though he saw all the wonderful works that Jesus had done-he believed he knew better.
And from time-to-time don't we all do this? Instead of going to the master surgeon don't we seek our own healing in so many different ways?
The man in this situation had ears to hear and eyes to see and didn't fall down in amazement of what was in front of him. Maybe it was abhorrent in his mind to leave his beliefs behind and try a new path or to listen to the word and practice it.
Awhile back I heard that someone was re-writing the Bible a new translation-I wondered what they expected to find. Did they think that it would be different the millionth time around. Like our guy in the Bible they weren't to thrilled with walking out on money and yet they did walk out on the miracle maker.
Jesus doesn't chide him when this man tells him how wonderful he thought he was.
It reminds me of a story I wrote in first person, not a bad story and still it was all, "I." This leaves us with a good case of Aye-Yai-Yai, when we fail to realize that their is something greater than us.
We are told to love wisdom and at times make choices that are foolhardy and not out of love. "Be anxious about nothing." Really take those words to heart. "Nothing."
We have better things to be anxious about. And still I fail. We often have the same question that both Peter and the young man had, "What's in it for me?"
Am I the only one that has done that from time-to-time? Come on give me the bottomline.
The purity of our actions is often compromised, due to ego and intellect or the fact that we are human or just not knowing the right answer at the time. What a mess .
Once again they fail to recognize Jesus and his ways as being supreme and instead search for a monetary value that can be placed on Christ's worth. Isn't that a form of betrayal?
The opportunity was given to this man to walk with Jesus. Be there in that situation and notice the impact of that last statement. The young man is in a sense searching for approval and Jesus welcomes others disapproval. In the Bible he was a king that lowered himself. Was there another that did the same for us ? That is what makes Jesus unique.
Many times in my life I have walked away from the intelligence of others, sometimes I didn't have enough smarts to know how to get the job done. I remember I learned later on in life that when in a kitchen one was to address a Chef in the following manner, "Yes Chef," or "No Chef." It was something that I didn't know when I was younger. I was unaware of the nuances of relationships. Once when working in a kitchen, we had a Chef that mumbled, most of the time I could figure out what he was trying to say; yet one time amidst the noise of the hotel I didn't have a clue that what he had asked me for and replied, "Yes Chef." He scowled at me I had given him the wrong answer.
I asked around if anyone knew what he wanted, no one did. Jesus on the other hand makes his point very clear, he speaks in a luminous and undarkened way and yet our friend just isn't thrilled with the answer. Jesus didn't mumble and yet we act like he did...
One's knowledge is in vain and one's knowledge is pure. Often in my own journey I have been caught up in what will they think of me 'Itis" . (pronounced eyetis). Sometimes the purity of God's intellect is to much to take. Imperfect us is trying to figure it all out and then we are reminded not to try and figure it all out. And just because we strive we don't always achieve. Who is to blame if we don't get where we want to go ?
Still we have time to be in awe of all the wonderful works that have transpired in our lives. Sometimes, the person that I call me, looks up the wonderful rejuvenating process the body undergoes all without us noticing.
Heart beats. We breathe. We digest. We see. We Walk. And much more. And how often do we fail to give thanks. Our bodies are a treasure.
It is as if the bulb that was buried in the fall deep in the near frozen ground, going unnoticed would never bloom again and yet it comes back year after year and do we delight in that process?
Do we delight in the flight of butterfly or flapping of a bird's wings or the spider creating it's web again and again or have we lost the good part of our childhood on journey to eternity. We can learn from children. My belief is that psychologically we are still seeking the same things we were in the beginning.
It is time now to cast aside our childish ways. Wait aren't we told to be like little children?
Many times in life we all have made the wrong choices and when we are called to go against the grain, what will we do? Often it is difficult to conceptualize a realm different than our own and we can rationalize our actions with a phrase or two.
In one study it was determined that people often do something nice so that they can do something bad.
We drink the Diet Soda so that we can have the Ice Cream Sundae. Have we ever thought that we knew something for certain and then it turned out another way?
In life are we just doing a tightrope balancing act between good and evil? Do the words spoken in the Bible have value to us? Do they leave us better or bitter? Which side are we on?
Will we listen to God's words, in our own state of youthfulness? How can we welcome God when we don't know who he is? Who are we? And who is He? We are all flawed except for the glory of God.
I took a negative approach in writing this story. My feeling is that we wasn't as great as he thought he was and that if he searched deeper that he would of found out that he had violated all the Commandments. Was he loving God, with his whole heart and soul? In life have we boosted our own egos in front of others or how great we are?
Isn't that the purpose of life? And I am curious if the story has a happy ending, does the person return at some point and change his mind? We do know that there are many more opportunities to always come back to God. We are told that he walked away sad. And yet sadness is not a permanent state. What happened to him the world may never know...
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