Penniless, Homeless, Hungry

~~~ Judges 2:11-19 ~~~ Psalm 106 ~~~ Matthew 19:16-22 ~~~

A young man approached Jesus and said,

“Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?”

Jesus gives an answer that surprises the young man...

'Keep the commandments'

But then the man asks which commandments.

There are only ten commandments;

if each one were not important then God 

would not have given them to Moses.

On this day Jesus chooses to focus on the commandments

dealing with how he interacted with others.

killing, adultery, stealing, lying, honoring our parents

 and finally loving his neighbor.

The young man is quick to respond,

 confirming he keeps these commandments.

There must be more he can do...

We too can identify with this young man.

We keep the commandments...we are good people...

we love our neighbors, well sometimes.

But then Jesus goes deeper...

“If you wish to be perfect, go,

sell what you have and give to the poor,

and you will have treasure in heaven.

Then come, follow me.”

When Jesus presents leaving everything behind to follow him,

the young man panics and quickly runs away.

I am not sure if we should take this verse literally

 or embrace the spirit of the words.

If we take it literally then we would all be living in tents.

We would not have a thriving economy.

We would be growing our own food...

making our own clothes.

We would not have doctors or higher education.

The list could go on and on.

On the other hand if we realize the spirit of this verse

it takes on a different meaning.

We must share what we have, acknowledging that 

all has come from God.

Some people are poor in their heart.

We are being asked to draw from the abundance

 within our own heart and give to those in need.

Jesus did not have monetary wealth as went about his ministry.

Jesus had wealth of spirit, given to him from the Father.

The Father filled the heart of Jesus 

with much more than money could buy.

We too have this same spirit within because

  the Lord is one with us.

The only way for us to follow Jesus

 is to reach into that spirit 

and make it real in our daily lives.

If we want our treasure in heaven

 we must look outside ourselves...

We must find a way to be more like Jesus. 

To follow Jesus...to enter into the kingdom of heaven

does not mean that we must be penniless, homeless, and hungry.

To follow Jesus means we walk humbly with him.

We cannot follow Jesus if we turn and run in the other direction.

You are Blessed each day

 with the necessary grace to follow Jesus.

He is there to support and guide you.

~~~Peace~~~