Our two stories - the children, and the rich man, are in Matthew, Mark and Luke. Not only that, but they are right next to each other in all three. Sometimes stories are in different order in different Gospels. So the fact that these two stories have stuck together in all three Gospels tells us they really belong together. Let's see what we can learn by looking at them together!
What these two stories do is make a contrast: between opposites:
* Little and large.
* Babies, and a grown-up.
* Children who have nothing, and a grown-up who has everything.
- All the children had to offer Jesus was simple, total faith. No strength. No cleverness. No polite introductions ("good teacher"). Not much understanding. All they had to bring was weakness, need, and delight in being there with Jesus. Simple, total faith. Dependency.
- The rich man thought he had lot to offer Jesus. He was smart. He was powerful. (He was a ruler). He had education: he knew the law. He had good behaviour. He had things: he was rich. He had influence, money, education. He had a lot to offer Jesus...
* Children who have a share in the kingdom of God, and a grown up who can't get eternal life. The Kingdom of God.
- Little people already have the kingdom. It belongs to such as these. In fact, Jesus says, "If you want to enter God's Kingdom, you have to come like a little child."
- Big people, rich, powerful, clever people, find that what they have can separate them from the Kingdom. Jesus said, "It is hard for rich people to enter God's kingdom."
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| Photo by Ikiwaner: used under GNU License |
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| Photo by George Shuklin used under creative Commons License |
Listen: you can come to Jesus two ways. You can come like a child: with nothing; in total dependency; in simple, total faith, like a child. The Kingdom belongs to such as these.
Or you can come with something. Something you want to hold onto. Something you think you can keep and use. Something you can rely on. Something you like to have. You come depending on yourself, your cleverness, your gifts, your money, your know-how; your traditions, your history, your religion.
The rich man was holding onto his money. When Jesus saw that and told him that he had to give all his money away, he went away sad. It seemed impossible for this rich young man to become a follower of Jesus. The things he had were too much to give up. It seemed impossible for him to have eternal life.
Jesus said that it's easier to get a camel through the eye of a needle than to get a rich man into the Kingdom of God. A camel through the eye of a needle is a tight squeeze. It's a bit like me saying "I can squeeze Iain (who's well over 6ft tall) through a hole in this piece of paper!". It's impossible. But I think we can make a hole in this piece of paper, and squeeze Iain through it. Even the impossible is possible with God. It takes a miracle inside us to make us let go of the things we want to hold onto. But God can do it.
Children, it seems, come with simple total faith, always expecting Father to do the miracle. Sometimes adults come with a complicated, partial faith: we trust ourselves, our abilities, our know-how and our things; we'd maybe like a miracle, but we don't, frankly, expect our heavenly father to work too many miracles.
But when we come like children, God changes us. We are able to make a difference in our world, to show God's love for the poorest in or world. We are able to take risks for God's Kingdom. We are able to let things go, and as we do, we get a reward: we see the Kingdom making a difference in our lives and in the lives of other around us.
© Gilmour Lilly March 2012
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