Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Mark 10:13-31; Answers when Approached

Pharisees, little children and a rich man approach Jesus in this chapter. The Pharisees came to critique and left ashamed. The little children were brought in innocence and were received. The rich man came asking for more information and was told what he already knew. We all approach Jesus in different ways; what we find is never complicated. This seems the most explicit with the rich man. Instead of more details about life, Jesus responded with the last 6 of the 10 commandments. He skipped the first 4 which deal with a relationship with God and focused only the last 6 which deal with human interaction. When the rich man did not understand, he simply added "complete devotion shown in giving to the poor and following Jesus" to the list, i.e., basically the first commandment. Nothing fancy or complicated, just living life the way the innocent children would.

People today often seek Jesus today by going to a church. They are met with a new set of social norms (unspoken and unintended but very real) and rigid schedule demands (such as be here twice Sunday and participate in one of these other ministries). I don't think they find the simple answers about daily living that Jesus gave. Sometimes I wonder if we would let Jesus be a leader in our churches; he certainly did not seem to fit the norm for a modern minister trying to build a community.

I know my perspective is skewed and I can only see a glimmer of the glaring truth that Jesus spoke. Yet it is enough to realize that I still have a long way to go in order to be as simple and refreshing as Jesus. The followership he called for was not a light burden with regard to its complexity but heavy with regard to its implications for daily living.

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