Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?

 And when Jesus saw great multitudes about Him, He gave a command to depart to the other side.  Then a certain scribe came and said to Him, "Teacher, 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 another of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father."  But Jesus said to him, "Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead."

Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him.  And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves.  But He was asleep.  Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, "Lord, save us!  We are perishing!"  But He said to them, "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?"  Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.  So the men marveled, saying, "Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?"

- Matthew 8:18-27

In earlier readings, we've just finished chapters 5-7 in Matthew, otherwise known as the Sermon on the Mount.  Yesterday's reading, coming just after the Sermon on the Mount, was as follows:  When He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him.  And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean."  Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed."  Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.  And Jesus said to him, "See that you tell no one; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."  Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, saying, "Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented."  And Jesus said to him, "I will come and heal him."  The centurion answered and said, "Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof.  But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed.  For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me.  And I say to this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and to another, 'Come,' and he comes; and to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."  When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, "Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!  And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.  But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness.  There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."  Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you."  And his servant was healed that same hour.  Now when Jesus had come into Peter's house, He saw his wife's mother lying sick with a fever.  So He touched her hand, and the fever left her.  And she arose and served them.  When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed.  And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:  "He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses."

  And when Jesus saw great multitudes about Him, He gave a command to depart to the other side.  Then a certain scribe came and said to Him, "Teacher, 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 another of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father."  But Jesus said to him, "Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead."  My study bible tells us that the term Son of Man refers to the Messiah (see Daniel 7:13), expressing both His humanity and divinity.  Here, He's referring to His humanity -- but elsewhere, especially later in His ministry, Jesus uses this term to reveal His divinity (for example, 25:31-33 describes His authority as Judge).   It adds:  "Jesus is not negating the command to honor parents.  He means that nothing ought to be more urgent to us than the things of the Kingdom.  Those who ignore heavenly priority are spiritually dead."  Among monastics, these commands regarding attachment to possessions and even to blood family are taken particularly seriously.

Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him.  And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves.  But He was asleep.  Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, "Lord, save us!  We are perishing!"  But He said to them, "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?"  Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.  So the men marveled, saying, "Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?"  My study bible notes here:  "Jesus' mastery over creation is another powerful sign that He is the Messiah and is divine.  Commands to the sea and waves cannot be issued by a mere human being; but only by God.  Jesus was asleep because He was truly fatigued and needed the rest.  For in His Incarnation He assumed all the natural and blameless passions of humanity, of which sleep is one.  His inactivity intensified the disciples' fear, giving this miracle a greater impact.  The image of Christ and the disciples in a boat is traditionally used to depict the Lord and His Church.  God permits storms, and delivers us from them, so that we can see His blessings and protection more clearly.  Jesus, rebuking the storms, reminds us that He puts an end to the tempest of our souls."

Jesus puts His commands into action immediately following the Sermon on the Mount.  In yesterday's reading, He enacted several healings, depicting that He is God with us, who took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses.  He is love in action.  In today's reading, we get a different profile of the fulfillment of commands from His teachings in the Sermon on the Mount.  Today, He shows His detachment -- not only His capacity for mastery over the wind and the waves, but mastery of His own very human side of His emotions, cares and concerns.  This isn't like some sort of crazy superman who never feels a thing.  Jesus, on the contrary, feels quite a bit as we do, and we know, for example, His sadness over Jerusalem and the destruction He knew was to come after His death, as well as His weeping with His friends as they mourned their brother Lazarus.  In these depictions of Jesus' emotion, we can perhaps understand them as yet more emphasis on His being "God with us" who shares our burdens and infirmities.  But He encourages us to great courage, despite our passions, emotions, attachments.  He encourages us to the discipleship which He embodies first in Himself.  He shows detachment from possessions; He has "nowhere to lay His head."  In His mission, and among those who would follow, He encourages the counsel of discernment over what is truly necessary and what has priority:  "Let the dead bury their own dead."  In crossing over the sea, it is clear the disciples are moving into "new" territory, out of familiar terrain and life.  Yet He encourages the antidote to the fears that come with storms in our lives:  faith.  All of this is in the cause of mission.  Once again, as we have noted earlier, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus does not promise us a perfect life, free of storms and difficulties.  Rather He promises to us that He is with us in a life of faith, and that "following Him" is a way to be "like Him" through the storms of life.  We get yet another instruction very pertinent to monastic life, going back to the earliest desert monastics in the first centuries of Christianity, and that is the power of prayer to help us in our struggles and difficulties, particularly over our own stormy emotional states -- such as the kind of fear that hinders the courage of mission.  And this, I believe, is very important to take from today's reading.  We deal with many modern problems such as anxiety and depression, and these are widespread concerns in our world, but we seldom hear about the power of prayer -- Christ's presence with us -- to help us through times when we may feel particularly burdened by cares and even seemingly irrational fears, catastrophic thinking, that the difficulties of life may bring to us.  Life is uncertain.  Change is difficult to handle.  We are uncomfortable with uncertainties that overwhelm us.  But the power of prayer goes a surprisingly long way to help us combat these enemies of forward movement and true perspective in our lives.  This is what "prayer warfare" (as some would call it) is really for:  for the times when we feel overwhelmed, when our courage fails us, when fears amount to catastrophic freezing of our ability to move forward and look ahead.  Just as prayers and community help us through illness and infirmity, so we must encourage ourselves to pray and call upon those whom we trust to pray with us when we feel ourselves burdened by attachments that hold us back from God's future for us, that bind us to a past we may need to leave behind, and the fears and anxieties that paralyze our ability to move ahead, to look ahead, to find His perspective for us.  Prayer and faith are weapons against this type of oppression, that which is mental and emotional.  Remember His help and strength are with us through prayer and faith --  in all our struggles, internal and external.

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

Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and 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 but One, that is, God. You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery,' 'Do not 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 things I have kept from my youth." Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, "One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me." But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

Then Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, "How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!" And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, "Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God! 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." And they were great astonished, saying among themselves, "Who then can be saved?" But Jesus looked at them and said, "With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible."

Then Peter began to say to Him, "See, we have left all and followed You." So Jesus answered and said, "Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel's, who shall 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

In yesterday's reading, we read that Jesus had traveled to Judea, to Jerusalem. He was disputing with the Pharisees when they asked Him a question, to test Him, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" Jesus said that an easy or simple divorce was provided for men by Moses "because of the hardness of your heart." He taught that marriage is about love, a relationship made in sacrament. He said, "Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate." Then someone brought little children to Him, that He might touch them. When His disciples tried to keep them away, He said, "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it."

Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and 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 but One, that is, God." Still in Judea, we have another important question. How do we inherit eternal life? But first, Jesus' focus is on one thing - it is God who is good. I think this is an important understanding. He turns the young man toward the relationship with God, this comes first in answer to all questions. My study bible says that Jesus is speaking as a human being, not denying His goodness, but focusing the man's attention on God. We each must cultivate that prime relationship to answer the questions in our lives.

"You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery,' 'Do not 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 things I have kept from my youth." Next, Jesus focuses on the Law as given by Moses. These are the commandments of God, given through the greatest prophet of the Jews. He is in Judea, and begins with Moses in answering the questions posed to Him, as He did in yesterday's reading.

Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, "One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me." But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. I love that we learn that Jesus "loved him." I wonder what He loved about the young man: we can see his devotion, and his deep care of the commandments of Moses. And, I believe, his sincere seeking must be a part of what prompts Jesus' love. At any rate, we are taught by learning of Jesus' love for the young man, that he is of good character and heart, and Jesus responds with true teaching for his best understanding. "One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me." Perhaps the one thing this young man lacks is an understanding of the reality of the kingdom that is there present. Jesus' answer invites him to think of life as a sort of exchange, where the real presence of the kingdom in our midst is alive and well. Life isn't only about following commandments, but realizing in that relationship of a spiritual kingdom that all that we do and say in the world is interrelated with another reality in which we also participate. At any rate, this kind of transcendence or detachment is extraordinarily hard for this young man to comply with as Jesus has put it, and he goes away "sorrowful, for he had great possessions." It is a lot to give up, a lot to transcend, to see past, and this sacrifice in exchange for the riches of the kingdom reaches deep down into this young man. My study bible says, "The command to sell all is for this man, or for any other whom Christ may call in this particular way, but should not be construed as a universal requirement." In other words, this is the young man's vulnerable spot, the place where he needs repentance, or "change of mind." All that we have is to be used for God's purposes - but Jesus is not rejecting ownership of property.

Then Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, "How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!" And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, "Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God! 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." And they were great astonished, saying among themselves, "Who then can be saved?" But Jesus looked at them and said, "With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible." A hard saying, and the apostles are astonished. But this teaching is about the seduction of wealth, its illusion of providing all there is for us, our identity, and its grip on the heart. To "trust in riches" is to be beholden to what we own, so that it owns us. And wealth, unfortunately - the love of money - is a very seductive power in the world; it may be what we are prepared to have in exchange for our souls. Jesus is teaching that detachment - the ability to use what we have for God's purposes, to put God first in all our dealings in life - is possible even from such a great temptation as vast wealth, with God's help. "With God all things are possible." This is why, we're reminded, He first steered the young man to God, to faith in God who is transcendent of his wealth. Jesus has said (in a few readings past, as He addressed an illness that even His disciples could not help) "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." Here, the "illness" is the great attachment to wealth, a deep temptation, a weakness. The demonic possession of the boy in the earlier reading, and this young man's identity so bound up with his property, have something in common. But with the help of faith, "all things are possible." We recall the father's cry in the earlier reading, and it might well have been the young man's in today's reading, if he had not turned away in sorrow: "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!"

Then Peter began to say to Him, "See, we have left all and followed You." So Jesus answered and said, "Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel's, who shall 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." My study bible says, "Discipleship is radical self-denial, a total offering of oneself to God. This implies readiness to give up dear possessions or even relationships that stand in the way of following Christ . . . That disciples will receive earthly rewards a hundredfold now in this time is not an absolute promise: countless saints and martyrs were not so rewarded. However, God has a way of returning and multiplying earthly blessings along with persecutions to faithful men and women according to His will." I hope I may be allowed to testify here to my own fortune in life: I have been blessed, along with what we might call "persecutions" if I may use that word. (It wasn't always so, however.) I am greatly blessed in the loving home I have in life, and my marriage (see yesterday's reading). Of course, Jesus' words in these verses constitute another radical teaching on detachment, and humility.

With the past several readings, the disciples are learning about detachment, and the necessary humility for their work as servants in the kingdom. "But many who are first will be last, and the last first" creates for us an important understanding of the answer to the dispute among the disciples (about who would be greatest in the kingdom) that Jesus was responding to in Monday's reading. Since then we've read about Jesus teaching them to receive the "little ones" as if they are receiving Him and the Father who sent Him, about other groups casting out demons in Jesus' name, about the supreme importance of caring for the "little ones," about care and love in the relationship of marriage - especially toward the weaker partner, and today about detachment from possessions. Jesus' messages are taking the disciples (and us) further and further into what it means to take up their crosses and follow Him, and what it means to have humility - to be able to give up the things that are necessary in order to embrace life in the kingdom, even as we are a part of the world. Over and over again, we are taught that it is up to us to live this life of the kingdom in our world. It is not something that belongs to another place, another life, but the here and now, and must be lived out as it is in our midst, it is among us and within us. Its realities permeate and live even through ours, even though it turns the "prince of this world" upside down, and stands those "worldly" values on their head that teach us otherwise: that rank and position are all, that wealth comes before other concerns in life, that power is always coercive. Jesus asks us, as He asks the apostles and the rich young man, to put God first, before everything else - and this sets down all other relationships in their right place. It gives us perspective - and this is the detachment, the humility, He looks for. We are to let go of all else that stands in the way. So today, my question is, where does that relationship with God put you? And what does it say you might need to let go of, that has a firm grip before it?

With God all things are possible

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, 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." When the disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, "Who then can be saved?" But Jesus looked at them and said to them, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

Then Peter answered and said to him, "See, we have left all and followed you. Therefore what shall we have?" So Jesus said to them, "Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first."

- Matthew 19:23-30

Today's reading takes us further into the territory of detachment and faith - what it is to practice the kind of humility that gives us repentance of the most profound type. We have read (in yesterday's reading) about the young man with many possessions, who has followed perfectly the Law all of his life. In order to be perfect, Jesus told him, he should sell what he has, give to the poor, and he "will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." But the young man "went away sorrowful," we are told, "for he had great possessions."

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, 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." When the disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, "Who then can be saved?" But Jesus looked at them and said to them, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." As in the recent reading on marriage and divorce, the disciples react to this hard saying by remarking on its difficulty! Previously, they remarked that it is better not to marry, given Jesus' teaching. Today, they respond to the teaching to the young man with many possessions by asking, "Who then can be saved?" So, Jesus' deep teachings on detachment, humility and the cultivation of relationship are difficult even for the disciples, and they express for us (especially Peter, as is frequently the case) our own reaction to these teachings, so that Jesus may answer.

My study bible has a note on the whole of today's passage: "Various interpretations have been suggested for the impossible image of a camel going through the eye of a needle: e.g. that the word was not camel, but 'rope'; or that the eye of a needle was a city gate through which the camel might barely squeeze. (The Talmud uses a similar expression, 'for an elephant to go through the eye of the needle.') But whatever the phrase refers to, it displays the difficulty of salvation for those who are attached to riches. The disciples and others give all will receive a hundredfold (v. 29) in the Kingdom." I agree with my study bible in the sense that this saying is meant to convey extraordinary difficulty, because of the responses of the disciples. We are told that they were "greatly astonished." Their question implies that given this saying, perhaps no one can be saved. And Jesus' reply also implies the impossibility in the worldly sense, or point of view: "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." We are at the point of a strange paradox: Jesus says that his teaching is impossible for a mere human being to achieve through personal effort alone. This saying is possible only with God's help: "with God all things are possible." So, we are entering into territory here where the personal relationship with God becomes a requirement for the teachings of Jesus. Without this "walk with God" we cannot cultivate the necessary detachment for the great devotion to the kingdom that he asks of his disciples, his followers.

Then Peter answered and said to him, "See, we have left all and followed you. Therefore what shall we have?" Peter is the first to point out that the disciples have "left all and followed you." He asks, "Therefore what shall we have?" -- he wants to know what is gained in exchange for such a transfer of allegiance, attachment. I think it's of tremendous importance that the gospels teach us about the disciples' worldly, emotional perspective -- their "great astonishment" and their doubts that anyone can follow these difficult teachings. We also have Jesus' replies. Peter speaks for all of us to come, and asks the questions we, too, would ask.

So Jesus said to them, "Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." The disciples are taught -- as was the young man -- about the "treasures in heaven" that await them. They themselves are to sit in exalted places in this kingdom, when the judgment is to come. I think that for many people, this would not only seem like a reward that is not necessarily compensatory - and also the fact that it is a promise for something in the future may be an element many people discount in favor of reward in the here and now. Moreover, this promise is one that is believed in faith. It is not something physically proven to them. Speaking for myself, their faith demonstrates in itself the possibilities that come "with God," with God's help. As are the apostles, we are transformed in the presence of God, through faith and relationship. This union, this faith, transforms us: the things of God become as treasures to us. This change is what is represented most profoundly by the Greek word for repentance, metanoia - which means, literally, "change of mind." We change, we are transformed with God's help. That is why "with God all things are possible." Of course, to hold this position in the judgment is a tremendous spiritual honor reserved for the apostles, who have responded with faith to Christ's call.

"And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life." This promise, however, is to all of us - to all of Christ's followers who learn to practice this sort of detachment. At least, that is the way that I read it. There are many ways of leaving everything behind, of practicing detachment. It is not necessarily so that all of us leave homes, property and families behind in a literal or physical sense. But to do so in a spiritual sense is something that faith will compel us toward. This may be a lifetime process of learning to cultivate detachment, to put the kingdom - and faith - first, so that all is in service to the kingdom. Every choice we make may be one in which we "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness," and in this way we learn to practice the detachment that leaves all behind for this kingdom. We are told in the teaching on Solomon in all his glory that we should seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and "all these things shall be added unto you." Here, "a hundredfold" represents a similar teaching. Faith, a walk with God, also gives us an appreciation for the treasures of the kingdom and their great worth to us, an internal feeling of joy in that beauty.

"But many who are first will be last, and the last first." This saying occurs in other parts of the gospels as well, and it is used in the sense of the cultivation of humility among the disciples. Surely we can see for ourselves, that they who come first will perhaps wait the longest for their reward - to see the day of the judgment. They will also suffer martyrs' deaths, they will give up much more for the sake of the gospels once Jesus' earthly life is over, and after the coming of the Spirit. And many saints and martyrs will also do the same. Today, we have the benefit of many structures of the church, the dissemination of information and teachings, institutions and so much more that has been established to support the faithful. But these, "first," were those who accepted in faith to establish this beginning of the church in faith, and who walked with Christ before the Spirit was given upon all, before all that we have now. It remains, however, a great teaching on humility in the hierarchy of the church and the nature of authority as Christ wished to convey it to us. They who will sit in judgment must be "last of all" - they will serve all.

So, these teachings on a radical kind of humility remain with us and continue to teach us what to be as models of faith. Everything goes into service for our faith. We are to learn the type of humility that aspires to serve all in ministry to faith. We know the tremendous difficulty - Jesus calls it "impossible" - this conveys. Are we to be stoics who face all out of our own energy and capacity? No, this is not his teaching here to us. We are to walk with God in faith, and "with God all things are possible." It is not our own strength alone that gives us the capacity to have faith, and to change and transform in that faith. This is what is given to us via grace. It is still our choice that facilitates, that opens the door to the connection to the work of the Spirit. But we merely have to open the door and God makes things possible in us. These are not teachings that ask of us tremendous feats of our own strength. But they are teachings that set us down in a place where we are to understand the depth of change from one sort of "worldly" reality to another, a heavenly reality which is given to us, and in which we are allowed, through relationship, to participate. We grow through detachment (to all sorts of things and ways of thinking) into deeper faith. How then do you experience the help of the Spirit today? What ails you that you need to let go of - which new form of humility will help you to heal as a spiritual person, to change? What new detachment is necessary for growth and healing, and the deepening of one's life in this kingdom? Turn to God in prayer and ask, and help for it all will be there. This is the spirit of mercy that Christ teaches - and in our detachment and humility we are healed. To experience the beauty of the things of heaven is to be transfixed by that beauty and to experience the joy of it and its uplifting reality in our lives. Mercy is God's medicine that makes all things possible.

If you want to be perfect

Then the little children were brought to him that he might put his hands on them and pray, but the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven." And he laid his hands on them and departed from there.

Now behold, one came and said to him, "Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?" So he said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments." He said to him, "Which ones?" Jesus said, " 'You shall not murder,' 'You shall not commit adultery,' 'You shall not steal,' 'You shall not bear false witness,' 'Honor your father and your mother,' and 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' " The young man said to him, "All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?" Jesus said to him, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

- Matthew 19:13-22

Our recent readings have focused on humility, and the importance of relationship -- just how we are to relate to one another. These readings have focused on order and right-relatedness in the church, among his followers, between the hierarchy and the "little ones" in the church, and on marriage and relation of men to women. We extend this today in the first verses to the "little children" who are brought to Christ. From there, we have a teaching on "goodness" - and from there we will go to the subject of wealth and detachment. All of this is an extension of his teachings on how we are to relate to one another - on the basic and extraordinarily profound equality among all who are in this kingdom, and how nothing should stand in the way of that realization.

Then the little children were brought to him that he might put his hands on them and pray, but the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven." And he laid his hands on them and departed from there. My study bible notes, "Little children are given 'equal opportunity' to live in the kingdom of heaven (v. 14), for their humble openness accepts God's gifts. There is nothing about them, including their age of immaturity, to keep them from the Kingdom. Therefore children, like adults, participate in the Kingdom through baptism, chrismation, communion, confession, and anointing with oil for healing." Jesus has previously spoken of humility and relationships - exhorting the disciples to remember to treat the littlest ones among their members (meaning the humble in stature who come to them to be members of the church) as if they are welcoming Christ himself. He has taught them to remember that "in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father in heaven." He has spoken to the men of their hard-heartedness toward their wives, that Moses granted an easy form of divorce for this reason, but that the spiritual purpose of marriage is love and care. Today he reaches out to the least powerful, the little children, and embraces them in the fullness of his teaching to the disciples. There is no barrier of power, status or rank that keeps anyone from this kingdom, and inclusion in the teachings of love and right-relatedness!

Now behold, one came and said to him, "Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?" So he said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but One, that is, God." My study bible says that "the young ruler sees Jesus as a man only, a Good Teacher of the written Law, not as God. Jesus answers him accordingly, Why do you call me good? (v. 17). Jesus instructs him to keep the commandments, demonstrating the connection of virtue to salvation. In saying, No one is good but One (v. 17), our Lord rejects the worldly view that he is merely 'a good man,' at the same time teaching that goodness is in God alone." There are many ideas in this note that are worth pondering. The first is an understanding of the leap we are taking into notions of relatedness. Jesus has emphasized over and over again in the teachings on relatedness (and right-relationship) the inclusion of all - even today, to the little children. There is a tremendous sense of equality expressed in all of these teachings, as Jesus extends to the disciples the notion of proper respect for all persons, especially in the ways in which we relate to one another. Here he takes a tremendous leap, and extends even to himself - in the person of Jesus - this equality. Jesus teaches that "no one is good but One, that is, God." All "good" is measured by this yardstick, even Jesus himself. His humility extends to this tremendous leveling in the eyes of the gospels and his teachings on love and how we are to relate to one another.

Then, my study bible says, Jesus "exercises the duties of goodness by opening the treasures of heaven to the young man, offering himself as the guide to them. In doing this the Lord reveals himself as God." "But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments. He said to him, "Which ones?" Jesus said, " 'You shall not murder,' 'You shall not commit adultery,' 'You shall not steal,' 'You shall not bear false witness,' 'Honor your father and your mother,' and 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'" I find this an interesting concept - Jesus is like God - as God, he opens up the treasures of heaven to the young man, and thereby "exercises the duties of goodness." We receive the reality of God, but also the example in Jesus of what it is to embody goodness. And he will go further in the next teaching, in its fullness.

The young man said to him, "All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?" My study bible says on this verse: "Formal observance of the Law does not equal fulfillment of all the commandments of God. Indeed, saying that one has kept the letter of the Law can create a false satisfaction about virtue. Salvation does not depend upon external things, whether they be many or few, great or small, but on the virtues of the soul -- faith, hope, and love -- the reward of which is salvation. These virtues the young man still lacked." So we are once again here in the midst of a teaching about humility. Even Jesus has said that only God is good, when he was called "Good Teacher." So it is in the exercise of true virtue -- that is, of being like God, that we encounter true goodness, we practice it. This requires tremendous humility and detachment.

Jesus said to him, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. My study bible says here: "God acts in cooperation with the human soul. To save the unwilling would be compulsion, but to save the willing is a show of grace. Perfection is voluntarily to sacrifice all and to follow Christ for the cause of the Kingdom. The Kingdom of God does not belong to sluggards, but to those who want to be perfect." A hard saying, indeed! And yet, elsewhere, Jesus has told us to "be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect." Certainly this entire passage is an example of how we are to be like God. As we are made in God's image (as quoted from the Old Testament in yesterday's passage on marriage), so we are to strive to be "like God" if we wish to be "good." In order to do that, it seems, we need the humility of detachment. It is not in our outward modeling that we are "perfect" but rather it is in an inward reality that asks of us to be our focus. This is how we seek the kingdom first. What is good? Who is good? What is goodness, what is perfection? These are the questions Jesus opens up for us today in this teaching.

Many times I find that I must detach from someone or something - which may be precious to me, which the world may label "good" - in order to find real virtue, the true gold or true "treasures of the kingdom" as my study bible refers to them. We remember that we are to store up treasures for ourselves where neither moth nor rust destroys nor thieves can break in and steal. It is this type of detachment, that couples us with the necessary quality of detachment, that will allow us to both see and experience what is truly good. It is for this reason that Jesus gives this young man the particular teaching he needs here. We are asked to be in a living relationship. Jesus is not telling everyone (indeed, he does not do so) that they must give away all the possessions they own in order to achieve this. Rather, this young man is being given the lesson he needs - which he has asked of Jesus - that in order to be truly good, truly perfect, he needed to detach himself from the model of rank and appearance via possession. (I have also known those who make a great show of piety via penury, as if that were a "possession" too.) Counting and storing up our good deeds according to the Law, therefore, can be likened here to storing up possessions of wealth. It is in the practice of true goodness that we are to excel, and that demands an exceptional capacity for detachment (and therefore humility) in order to honestly view our true virtues, our living relationship with God - or how we are really like God in this living, cooperative relationship of love, faith and hope. This young man has practiced virtue in upholding the Law, that is true. But to be perfect is a different layer of understanding, that requires he strip away the things he relies on to teach him that he is good, in order to see the reality of virtue that is not defined by outward show. Jesus himself will be crucified as a criminal - he will defy the temple authorities and upset the status quo. He will not make a show of extraordinary power to "prove" he is Messiah as the temple authorities demand. These are not the "appearance" of virtue, and yet in him they are the embodiment of virtue. We cannot judge by appearance, or by what we collect. We live in relationship to God - and we are like God when we practice true goodness, the power of living faith, of acting with open heart, detached from appearance, in - if possible - all humility. I find that today humility is not such a great virtue in the common culture. Perhaps this has always been a worldly problem, and remains so today. How are we to strip away the things we hold important as appearance, and practice detachment? This teaching remains as tough for us today as it was for the young man then.