real love is not afraid to bleed

And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” And he said to him, “Teacher,all these I have kept from my youth.” And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” (Mark 10:17-31, ESV)

This one apparently took me a long time to process, because it's been a little over a week since my last post. Ooops. Haha.

The first thing I noticed was that this young, rich ruler ran and knelt before Jesus. This must've been a strange sight at the time, because men of this kind of status didn't run, let alone kneel. If anything, people would run to this ruler and kneel before him, asking for who knows what. But today, it's role reversal. The ruler kneels to a lowly rabbi. This goes to show that this ruler knew that Jesus had something much bigger than himself, and he wanted it desperately. He wanted eternal life.

Jesus' response to the ruler's question, however, is interesting. He first addresses the fact that only God is good. Therefore, it isn't right for the ruler to call Jesus a "good teacher" until he is ready to acknowledge Jesus as God. Lost some points already.

But anyway, Jesus' statement of no one being good except God Himself sort of pre-proves His following point. He lists out the commandments, to which the ruler says that he has fulfilled since his youthful days. My guess is that this ruler must've been excited, knowing that he fulfilled all of Jesus' supposed "requirements" for eternal life. But I guess he also forgot that no one is good, except God Himself. He gets so caught up in being a good person, that he looks over his sins and, as Jesus is about to point out, his lacking of one thing.

Jesus' call out to this ruler must've been thought of as a bit extreme, and if anything, a bit offensive. To say that this rich, young ruler, who probably has every material thing he would want/need and then some, still lacked something must've been thought of as a bit crazy, or a bit stupid. But it says that Jesus looked at this ruler and loved him. So whatever Jesus is about to say next is flowing out of His love for this ruler. 

By Jesus telling this ruler to sell all he had and give it to the poor, He reveals the one thing the ruler lacks. This ruler lacks faith. Jesus even reassures him that he will have treasure in heaven, and therefore, beckons him to follow Him. But the ruler is disheartened, and walks away sorrowful, for he had "great possessions."

This ruler lacked the faith to let go of everything he had for the sake of Christ. He counted the cost of discipleship, but figured that it was too much to give up. He worshipped his wealth, rather than the Giver and Taker of wealth.

Jesus calls us all out in loving manner to be ready to give up everything to follow Him. He doesn't call all of us to sell everything we have and give it to the poor, but He certainly could, and if/when He does, we have to be willing to count the cost and decide whether He's worth it or not. Is He truly worth it though?

Jesus then looks at His disciples, and says this one key phrase that we repeat all the time. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. How difficult it will be for the rich to enter God's kingdom. The disciples are amazed and shocked, asking Jesus how then  can people get saved if that is the case.

Jesus simply says that with man, this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible. How simple, and yet, how convicting. Salvation and entering the kingdom of God is humanly impossible. There is nothing we can do,  or say, or even dream of doing or saying, that can earn us salvation. This is impossible. But yet, with God, ALL things are possible. It is only by GOD'S grace can we be saved. There is nothing in our salvation that even hints at our doing and our behaviour. It is entirely God's doing.

But Peter, simply being Peter again, boldly says something that's kind of stupid, and misses Jesus' point entirely. Peter exclaims, probably with much pride, that all of them have left everything and followed Him. It's like Peter saying, "look, we dropped everything, no where's OUR reward?"

Jesus' response, time and time again, is so beyond understanding, even to this day. No one who leaves everything behind for the sake of Christ and the gospel will go unrewarded, both with earthly rewards, and heavenly rewards. It's interesting that Jesus puts a heavier emphasis on people rather than things, almost to suggest that when you are saved, you gain something much better than material stuff. On earth, you gain the entire body of Christ. You are now a part of that family, and so you gain many more brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and all of us are under our one Heavenly Father. And then in the age to come, we get eternal life.

But this all comes with a little catch. This all comes with persecutions. This is the cost that the ruler had initially forgot to count. This is the cost that we today must count if we are to follow Christ.

Reminds me of a line from a song by Rend Collective, aptly titled, "The Cost."

Check it here...

One particular line that sticks out to me is in the second verse, "I'll chase You through the pain, I'll carry my cross, because real love is not afraid to bleed."

Real love is not afraid to bleed, for the sake of Christ. This is the cost that we often forget when we think about following Christ. There are far too many Christians today who claim to be following Him today, but are not willing to lay down everything they have for the sake of the gospel. I'm not saying that I've perfected this either. It's like how Paul says it, I do not claim to have already attained, but I press on. This is why it's so important that we remember that our reward on Earth is the body of Christ, both in the sense that He died for our sins, and in the sense that we are a part of this family. Together, we can strive to lay down everything for the sake of the gospel. Together, we can strive to give up everything for the sake of Christ.

Jesus is assuring His disciples and us, with His last statement, that our surrendering to Him and not without reward, which is eternal life in the kingdom of God in the presence of Jesus Christ Himself. And that is worth everything we have now and more. That is worth giving everything up for. That is worth dying for.

The very last statement, the first being last, and the last first, suggests that it is the humble, obedient servant who doesn't get much recognition is the one who will receive the greatest honour and reward. We as Christians are not only called to be willing to lay down everything, but we are called to do so with a humble heart and an obedient attitude. We are not meant to be seeking the spotlight in order to show off our humility. It's like how Jesus would criticize the Pharisee for publicly praying for the sake of stroking his own ego. 

Put everything together then, we as Christians are called to surrender everything about us to God. We are called to do this as a community and a family, and we are called to do this humbly.

With all of this in mind, this is how we will obtain the reward of eternal life with Christ on high, in the kingdom of heaven. It is not about the suffering we face today, it is about the reward that will greatly outweigh that suffering that we will receive in due time.

-simon