Morgan Murray is guest blogging for me on a series about the Rich Young Ruler. If you are like me, it may sound hauntingly familiar.
Tod
Yesterday I suggested that Jesus’ invitation to the Rich Young Ruler to “sell everything” and follow him should be the happiest moment in this young man’s life. Instead, it becomes the saddest. Why? The Rich Young Ruler does not have the capacity to imagine an identity for himself apart from his possessions. It is very much like a doctor saying, “When we amputate your leg you will make a full recovery and live a long, healthy life.” But all the patient hears is, “you will spend the rest of your life without your leg.” The most awful part of the story is not that the young man is shocked and grieving. These would be appropriate responses. The terrible moment comes when he walks away. He has come to the Great Physician, received the best prognosis possible (if he will submit to the treatment), and decides against it. He may go seeking second opinions until he hears the one he wants. But Jesus, knowing his diagnosis is correct, so desires that we have whole and fulfilling lives that he will not sugar-coat the truth for us or withhold it because it might be too much for us to take.
It would be fair to ask how Jesus is qualified to make this diagnosis. If we go to the beginning of Mark’s gospel, we find the answer. After baptism, “the Spirit immediately drove Jesus out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him (Mark 1:12-14).” This would be the same as saying that Jesus went to medical school and graduated at the top of his class. In Henri Nouwen describes Jesus’ temptation as the place where he confronted the three big compulsions we face: The compulsion to be relevant (turn stones into loaves), to be spectacular (throw yourself down), and to be powerful (I will give you all these kingdoms).
We now know why Jesus is so certain of his diagnosis. It is because he has “been there.” We think of Jesus as a working-class carpenter and spiritual teacher, but he is also the incarnate Word, the true Son of God with all of God’s resources, power, and glory at his disposal. He has confronted the desire to be relevant and spectacular and powerful; exactly the things the young man’s many possessions would gain for him. In the solitude of his temptation experience, Jesus was able to affirm his relationship with God the Father as the only source of his identity: “You must worship the Lord your God and serve him alone.” In a very real sense, Jesus is calling the young man to remove the scaffolding of status, self-image and stuff in order in discover his true identity as a beloved child of God. Jesus has done it, and come out on the other side assured of his relationship with God (angels attended him) and certain about his life’s purpose: “Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God…”
This is the kind of assurance Jesus want to offer to us.
Tomorrow: The Biggest Gamble of Our Lives
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