The Rich Young Ruler

My first jobs were with a family friend, our neighbor John Wayne Coletrane. He was about as country as you could get. We shared a large garden between our families and he set up as many money-making opportunities as he could, from mowing graveyards to selling honey to hauling hay. At the end of a summer's week of work John would hand me a paycheck and it was almost immediately blown at the Macon Mall, a single room supply store that had at one time been a corner gas station, about a mile's walk from my house. I mostly bought candy.

I didn't have any idea what the others were paid, I just enjoyed the work and the money that came from it.

Looking back I'm sure I made less than the others. They were all older and able to do more, and I wasn't the most focused worker he had... Even the simple task of keeping the hay truck between the bales proved difficult to a young boy who let his mind wander.

I didn't have much as a kid. My family didn't have much. But we were happy. It wasn't until I went to a different school in 6th grade that I started looking around and comparing what my family didn't have to what other families had loads of.

This comparison thing is a joy killer. We have less than other people and we look around and think WE ARE less than other people and try to find ways to bring them down to our level. Or we have more than other people and we look around and think WE ARE more than other people and try to find ways to exert or maintain dominance.

I think this was one of the issues the Rich Young Ruler had in Matthew 19. He looked around at others who weren't doing so well and thought, "I'm a decent fellow, I don't need anything, I should be fine as it goes with God."

But he didn't feel fine. There was an emptiness inside him that couldn't be filled by good works or things he could buy or what he could get his servants to do. So he went to Jesus. "What good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?"

Wrong question.

Jesus, who knows everything anyway, saw right through the question to see the depth of his need. In 2 moves Jesus revealed the source of the emptiness: The Rich Young Ruler's security was based in what he could do and what he had. Neither of those things will bring lasting joy or fulfillment. And, unwilling to get down on a level with lesser people, the rich guy went away unsatisfied.

The disciples, led by Peter, followed up with still more comparison: "We've left everything and followed you, what is there for us?"

I imagine Jesus closing His eyes and rubbing His temples. "You're going to get your reward." But get out of this comparison game! The first will be last and the last, first. We usually take this statement as still more comparison, shaming the person who tries to be first in line. But in Matthew 20, Jesus is referring to the fact that we're all on the same playing field, needy but recipients of the great grace God offers those who believe! There is no first and no last. There is no lesser and no greater. And there is much freedom and satisfaction and joy in seeing ourselves this way.

It's not by works or possessions or any external measure, but by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me!