The Cost of Eternal Life

Now as He was going out into the road, one came running up, and having knelt before Him, he asked Him, "Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?" 

So Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good except One, God. 

You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery,' 'Do not commit murder,' 'Do not steal,' 'Do not bear false witness,' 'Do not defraud,' 'Honor your father and your mother.' " 

And he answered and said to Him, "Teacher, all these I have observed from my youth." 

Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, "One thing you lack: Go, sell all that you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me." 

But having become gloomy at this saying, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions. Mark 10:17-22.

A Holy Lifestyle

1. one came running up, and ... he asked Him, Good Teacher.  This title was never applied to other Rabbis in Jesus’ day,  because it implied sinlessness, a complete goodness ... Only God was called “good” by ancient rabbis. Guzik.  Christ immediately interrupted him and said, Why do you call Me good? No one is good except One, God.  Or, in other words, I am not God and you should not be calling me by a title that infers that I am divine.

what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?  Christ's answer to this question is very interesting.  He said, keep the ten commandments.  In many churches, the answer is to believe that Jesus died and rose again and you have eternal life.  

The problem with that answer is that one can believe those things about Christ but believing those points of fact makes no difference in that person's lifestyle and consequently have no meaning.  The true test is in how we live, not in how well we know the catechism.

Believing that Christ is the living redeemer is mandatory for eternal life yet Christ laid the emphasis on the practical side of Christianity.  If you don't even try to keep these commandments, which Christ mentions in this list, how can you call yourself a Christian?  In this context notice: Pious mouthing of tradition-worn cliches can be deceptive.  When people tout being "born-again" as a cliche without a genuine experience of a spiritual turnaround with appropriate actions, they are like the Jerusalem worshipers announcing their orthodoxy, "This is the temple..."  Those who insist they are "baptized church members" and therefore safe, but whose behaviour is unholy, scandalize God. Jeremiah by Elmer A. Martens, 1986.

Christ goes further, He says, Go, sell all that you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.  The young man did not go home to convert his assets into cash so that he could feed the hungry.  He went away, grieving because he could not have both: his heart set on keeping his material wealth and also treasure in heaven.

Don't Look Back

Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, "Lord, I will follow You wherever You go." 

And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." 

Then He said to another, "Follow Me." But he said, "Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father." 

Jesus said to him, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God." 

And another also said, "Lord, I will follow You, but first permit me to say farewell to those who are at my house." 

But Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." Luke 9:57-62.

2. Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.  It is so easy to make glib promises in emotional settings.  Before you make those promises consider this, birds have nests, foxes have dens, but Christ and His followers may end up being homeless because they take a stand that is non-politically correct or non-theologically accepted. 

3.  to another, Christ said, "Follow Me."  But he said, Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.  It wasn't as if this man's father had just died and the funeral would be in a few days.  Of course, you will stay for the funeral.  In this case, the man meant that his father was already ageing and the only socially acceptable thing to do was to look after his father's estate.  

Then Christ retorted with, Leave the dead to bury their own dead. He meant something like this: let those who are interested in estates and material things look after each other but you don't have time for that you go and proclaim the kingdom of God. 

4.  another also said, "Lord, I will follow You, but first permit me to say farewell to those who are at my house.  I have some social engagements I must first look into, then I will follow you.  Just one more Saturday night in the bar, then I will turn my life over to You.

Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.  You have started ploughing in my field.  If you look back now, the furrow you plough will not be straight.; you don't belong on my team!

I live in a farming community and every few years "we" have a ploughing match.  The contestants may choose to use horses or tractors to pull the ploughs.  This contest is a big deal; it is all that the farmers talk about for weeks on end.  The local papers and the radio give us all the details we could possibly ask for. 

The contestants who sign up give their all to winning first prize.  If they are serious about winning they do not get boozed up before the contest begins. They do not look around to see how many people are watching.  They do not compare their furrow with that of other contestants.  Their aim is to plough straight and at the right depth.

What a huge difference Christianity would make in this world if all of us who call ourselves Christians would be as dedicated to Christ as these ploughing contestants are to winning first prize!