Jesus in stereo today! One look is of indignation and another is one of love.
Jesus, indignant? That caught my attention. So much so that I went and looked up the Greek root word, etc. “Much grief” is one way to think about it.
He is indignant because they are keeping very small children from him, which is to say, they don’t think Jesus should waste his time with them.
Jesus sees the children’s trusting welcome of him into their lives.
Unlike the previous episode where Jesus is having to pass all sorts of tests, these wee little ones, have no such tests. It must be a welcome break for him.
So too the man who, running up to him, kneels down, and implores him with a question.
This fella isn’t testing Jesus. He seems to really want to know about eternal life.
The text makes a point to say, “Jesus looking at him, loved him…”
Wow! He has gone from indignant to lovingly looking at a person who is genuinely seeking eternal life—life with God.
Jesus knows what this man’s barrier is (we each have our own) and tells him to stop making wealth his god. The young man departs discouraged.
I don’t think Jesus has given up on this young man. Jesus looked straight at him and LOVED him.
Of course, this chance meeting is not an accident. God ordained it before the world was formed. It allows Jesus to correct the false teaching of his day that “if you are wealthy, then that means God is blessing you.”
To be clear: everything good is from God. Yet the people of Jesus’ day would look at poor people and conclude God was cursing them—and conclude wealthy people were blessed by God (independent of how they got their wealth).
Jesus turns it upside down and says it is perhaps hardest for the rich to enter the kingdom!
Verse 24 notes their amazement. Jesus piles on, calling them “children” (you know like the kids they earlier tried to keep away from him). He says “Children…” offering the famous “camel through an eye of the needle phrase”. The result? They go from being amazed to exceedingly astonished.
I am wondering which of the three you most identify with. Are you scratching your head trying to figure out Jesus and his teaching? Are you like a child? Can you picture him looking at you with a loving gaze?
Imagine for a moment, Jesus looking at you, smiling, and loving you.