There’s a good reason why it’s tempting to run after people and try to seek a compromise. Because we love them. And we want them to get to know Jesus too. Jesus looked at this man and loved him. He looked at this man, straight after he’d claimed to have perfectly kept God’s holy law. Straight after he’d given himself the stamp of approval for entry into God’s kingdom. Straight after he’d proved himself to be anything but poor in spirit, one who would receive God’s kingdom.

Here’s a really well known passage. A rich young man comes along. He’s eager to inherit eternal life. He falls before Jesus. Jesus points out to him that only God is perfectly good. He reminds him of the commandments to love your neighbour – leaving off the command not to covet. Then, the rich young man shows  he has no real understanding of the commands of God. He doesn’t understand that they are more than skin deep. That even if we hate, or lust, we’ve broken the commands. And so, he’s able to claim, verse 20, “I’ve done all of this, all the time.”

So, what does Jesus do? He sets an incredibly high bar for the man. Verse 21. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” It’s an incredibly high standard. But it’s not unreasonably high. This is what God made us for – to love him more than anything, and to love the person made in his image, as much as I love myself.

And so, Jesus points out to this man the idol in his life – the idol of wealth. This thing that is a gift of God to the man, which has become his god. Jesus shows this man that he hasn’t kept the law of God at all. Shows him, therefore that there’s NOTHING he can do to inherit eternal life.

What does this have to do with us? Everything! Like Martin Luther said, “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, ‘repent’, he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance..” We’re to turn from the idols we put in place of God – not just on the day we’re converted. But every day.

So, this account speaks about our own relationship with the Lord. It speaks about our own need to love God more than anything. Our need to constantly guard against putting anything on a par with God. Our need to always grip the good things he’s given us, with a really loose grip. Because otherwise, eventually we’ll go away sad, clutching tight to our idols, like the young man in verse 22.

How do we stop career, or relationship, or money. How do we stop house and home, or pleasure, or status – how do we stop these things creeping back in as the Master of our lives? As the thing that’s in charge, that becomes the thing I daydream about, the thing I funnel my attention to, the thing that takes up my resources? The thing I can’t imagine living without?

Well, isn’t it by reflecting on the cross? By thinking about what Jesus speaks about in verses 33 and 34. “We are going up to Jerusalem, Jesus said, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and teachers of the law. “They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the gentiles, who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.”

That’s the way to be able to keep God in his rightful place. By recognising our own sinfulness, and need for the cross. By recognising God’s own love for us, and his freely sending Christ. By recognising Jesus’ grace towards us, and his suffering for us. By recognising that our God is the one who receives us, not because of the great things we can do, but as helpless little children.

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