I have read this passage a gazillion times and taught it many. I never "got it" what the core of the intro was. Matthew 19.16 ff is the story of the "rich young ruler."
I always focused on the totalitarian demands of Jesus, where he says in essence, you must surrender everything to me, I am a kind despot, but you may not be my disciple (i.e., a Christian) without handing over the keys to the control room of your life. I often used this like a whip, in fact, to beat professing Christians who did not measure up to my standards of commitment and all.
While this part of the event IS true (we must hand over complete lordship to God, and nothing less is acceptable), this only makes "sense" and is only a comforting thing when we consider the preface to this demand. The guy comes up and says "what good thing must I do to inherit eternal life" and Jesus in essence says "you are asking the wrong question. You are framing this issue as though goodness comes from you, your effort, your obedience, your determination to produce goodness from yourself. ONLY GOD IS GOOD, and all goodness flows from Him. All "goodness" you have must be a gift from him and until you start there, you are mostly in need of a huge paradigm shift before we can talk."
So, any standards of obedience, dedication, devotion, allegiance, piety, scriptural fidelity (all the marks of the pious) must START with the acknowledgement that you are bankrupt, and in need of a "goodness" that flows from outside yourself, ie, from God, who alone is the fountain of all good.This stood me on my ear, and made the rest of the encounter (which is still quite astounding in its demands) make sense.
I am a beggar, and will always be a beggar. A beggar cannot define the terms of receiving a gift. He simply opens his hand and receives. The biggest thing I need to repent of is NOT holding on to my little kingdom of security, prestige, ego, etc etc, but the hateful picture I have of God which is that of a miserly, stingy, ugly dictator who is neurotically commanding "worship" out of an insecure need for obeisance. All goodness, blessing, joy, happiness, and eternal riches are with Him, and He invites me to quit scraping around in my shitpile and instead relax in an ocean of blessing which He lets me taste and experience here, but plans to overwhelm me with delight on the other side.That perspective is either the craziest lunacy and most polyanna nonsense one could imagine, or it is a true "gospel" (good news), the depth of which I cannot imagine. "Only God is good"
Maybe you could pray for me today that I can believe the latter?
I always focused on the totalitarian demands of Jesus, where he says in essence, you must surrender everything to me, I am a kind despot, but you may not be my disciple (i.e., a Christian) without handing over the keys to the control room of your life. I often used this like a whip, in fact, to beat professing Christians who did not measure up to my standards of commitment and all.
While this part of the event IS true (we must hand over complete lordship to God, and nothing less is acceptable), this only makes "sense" and is only a comforting thing when we consider the preface to this demand. The guy comes up and says "what good thing must I do to inherit eternal life" and Jesus in essence says "you are asking the wrong question. You are framing this issue as though goodness comes from you, your effort, your obedience, your determination to produce goodness from yourself. ONLY GOD IS GOOD, and all goodness flows from Him. All "goodness" you have must be a gift from him and until you start there, you are mostly in need of a huge paradigm shift before we can talk."
So, any standards of obedience, dedication, devotion, allegiance, piety, scriptural fidelity (all the marks of the pious) must START with the acknowledgement that you are bankrupt, and in need of a "goodness" that flows from outside yourself, ie, from God, who alone is the fountain of all good.This stood me on my ear, and made the rest of the encounter (which is still quite astounding in its demands) make sense.
I am a beggar, and will always be a beggar. A beggar cannot define the terms of receiving a gift. He simply opens his hand and receives. The biggest thing I need to repent of is NOT holding on to my little kingdom of security, prestige, ego, etc etc, but the hateful picture I have of God which is that of a miserly, stingy, ugly dictator who is neurotically commanding "worship" out of an insecure need for obeisance. All goodness, blessing, joy, happiness, and eternal riches are with Him, and He invites me to quit scraping around in my shitpile and instead relax in an ocean of blessing which He lets me taste and experience here, but plans to overwhelm me with delight on the other side.That perspective is either the craziest lunacy and most polyanna nonsense one could imagine, or it is a true "gospel" (good news), the depth of which I cannot imagine. "Only God is good"
Maybe you could pray for me today that I can believe the latter?
