“Jesus looked at him and loved him.” Mark 10:21
Several weeks ago the text in our Lenten journey took us to the story of the sinful woman who washed the feet of Jesus with her tears (Luke 7:36-50). (I wrote about her in a blog entitled: Response to Love which you can access here.) This past week’s text led us to the encounter between Jesus and the rich young ruler (Luke 19:28-44, Mark 10:17-31, Matthew 19:16-30).
The sinful woman and the rich young ruler...could there be two more different reactions to an encounter with the same Man? One came to Jesus, responding with abandon, making a public spectacle of herself and exposing herself to ridicule. She took the only asset she had, her bottle of perfume, breaking it (never to be used again) to pour on his feet, washing His feet with perfume and tears and drying them with her hair. She gave all the she had in response to the love and forgiveness she had seen in Jesus...she willingly lay down her pride, her shame, her resources, all of who she was.
But the rich young ruler, he too came to Jesus. Rich in money, rich in morality. Rich in dignity and confident in his own abilities and goodness. “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus responded with the second half of the 10 Commandments...the commandments that govern how we are to treat others. “All of these I have kept” the young man responded. I honor my parents and respect their wishes, I give money to the beggars sitting at the gate, I have never killed anyone, never stolen from anyone, don’t speak unkindly to people. I treat everyone with kindness, dignity and respect. I serve in my local synagogue each and every week and visit all the widows and orphans, taking care of their needs. I help my neighbor if I see him struggling to get his donkey out of a ditch. I am characterized by being a good, kind, and compassionate person who is faithful to my synagogue and the teachings of the rabbi. So, given all that, is there anything I still lack?
“Jesus looked at him and loved him.” I love thinking about what it would look like to look into the eyes of Jesus. I think about what the woman at the well saw...what did she see when she looked into His eyes. What did the sinful woman see? What did Nicodemus see that night on the rooftop when he questioned Jesus? What did Peter see when Jesus looked at him across the courtyard after his betrayal? What did he see when Jesus came to him after the resurrection and restored him? What about the woman caught in adultery...what did she see when she looked up into the face of Jesus?
I think they all saw what was there for the rich young ruler to see...love. Forgiveness. Grace. Peter (and so many of these other people) saw love and that love is what broke his sinful heart leading him to repentance. But the rich young ruler didn’t see it. Why? He didn’t see his own need for love and forgiveness. He had reduced the law to something he could achieve. He couldn’t see past his wealth...his monetary wealth and his moral wealth. So Jesus, out of love for Him, seeking to help him “see” brought the weight of the law and put it on the shoulders of this young man. “Sell everything you have and give it to the poor...then come follow me.” This really isn’t about the money. This text isn’t saying that Christians need to live lives of poverty to earn eternal life. Jesus is getting deep into the core of this young man by exposing the hidden depths of his heart...the idolatry that is in him. He couldn’t even keep the first commandment - “You shall have no other gods before me.” Jesus is exposing the idolatry in his heart, seeking to reveal to him the impossibility of saving himself by something he could “do.” Jesus, out of love for this young man, sought to expose his sinful heart.
And the young man walked away, deeply grieved, yet unwilling to lay down his gods for the true God that stood before him. Unwilling to lay down his meager treasures for the real Treasure who loved him. Instead, he walked away, and Jesus let him.
Two stories….two responses...two results. In which story do you find yourself? In the story of the woman, who felt the weight of her own sin and saw the love and forgiveness in Jesus’ eyes and responded to him in total abandonment? Or do you identify more with the rich young ruler, who really just wanted something to add to his life to make it more complete. We don’t want to lay down the idols of our lives, our passions, our identities, our pursuits….we just want to add Jesus to them. The one received eternal life. And the other walked away from it.
Do you see Jesus for the Treasure that He is? Can you let go of all the perishable treasures you cling to as gods...relationships, identities, wealth, dreams, religion, etc.? Can you see Him: see the grace, and love and forgiveness that is there in His eyes and that was displayed on the cross...and cast off everything to follow Him? The cost is not too great...because Jesus is Himself is the Treasure that is of greatest value.
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