What’s the thing that’s holding you back?

There’s a burning question on everyone’s lips. Jesus is talking about this wonderful kingdom of love and light and justice, where everything is just as it was always intended to be and what everyone wants to know is this:

How do I get in? How can I be a part of this?

It’s not just the sick and the possessed who are seeking out Jesus. Crowds are following him everywhere, eager to find out more that this Jesus and this revolutionary new world order he’s describing. It’s not just those with sad, unfulfilled lives either. It’s people like Nicodemus, who’s one of the spiritual leaders of the day – read about his encounter with Jesus in How do I get into this kingdom?  And it’s people like the young man in the account we’re looking at today: people who have it all and yet still know that deep down, they really don’t have it all at all.

This young man is successful. He has all he could wish for. He’s rich. And still that is not enough.

He’s in good health. He’s not in need. He hasn’t come to Jesus like so many are coming to be healed or fed. And still that is not enough.

He’s a good guy. A really good guy. And still that is not enough.

He’s someone we might describe as a godly young man. he plays by the rules. He doesn’t put a foot wrong. And still that is not enough.

We can see plenty of examples in the media and all around us today who have it all and yet still seem to be desperately unhappy. It’s as if those of us who don’t have it still believe that money and possessions and success and celebrity believe deep down that more of those things will make us happy and fulfilled (that’s why we spend so much time and energy chasing after these things), but those who have them all know the reality that these things do not satisfy in themselves. And then what’s left for them to chase after?

This young man himself knows all that he has is not enough. That’s why he’s here asking Jesus how he can be a part of his everlasting kingdom. He knows something is missing in his life and he has a feeling that something is Jesus.

Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, ‘Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?’

‘Why do you ask me about what is good?’ Jesus replied. ‘There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.’

‘Which ones?’ he enquired.

Jesus replied, ‘“You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honour your father and mother,” and “love your neighbour as yourself.”’

‘All these I have kept,’ the young man said. ‘What do I still lack?’

Jesus answered, ‘If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’

When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.’

When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, ‘Who then can be saved?’

Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’  Matthew 19:16-26

You can also find this account in Mark 10:17-27  and Luke 18: 18-27.

Maybe he was relatively satisfied with his life before Jesus came on the scene. Why wouldn’t he be? By conventional standards, he had all he could possibly want. But Jesus gives him a glimpse of something more, something he knows money can’t buy. What he wants is ‘eternal life’. We can make the mistake of thinking that ‘eternal life’ is something that we get at the end of life and we turn Christian faith simply into a guaranteed ticket to heaven when we die. There’s so much more to it than that! Jesus describes it here as ‘entering life’, did you notice that? That’s more like it! It’s about living life to the full in the here and now. Yes, this will carry on for the whole of eternity, but it can start now. We can start living a kingdom life now, no longer living by the world’s standards but being set free to live by in the way God created humans to live from the very beginning of time.

And it’s not just about playing by the rules, even the rules that have been established by God for His people to live by since the exodus from Egypt all those years before right up to this point. Being a good person is not enough. Living a good life is not enough. It’s about digging deep and finding the thing that you are clinging to the most, the thing that you love most in the whole world, the thing that you hold more dearly than God Himself – and being willing to sacrifice even that for God.

For this young man (and for a whole lot of other people throughout human history), that thing is money. Money has a way of creeping in and taking a hold of your soul. People obsess about money – how to make it, how to invest it, how to spend it, how to make more. It’s the thing that often brings out the worst in people – worrying about not having enough or succumbing to the greed of always wanting more both create arguments and fierce ambition and corrupt practices….The more people have, the less they are willing to share. It’s theirs. They earned it. They deserve to keep it all.

That’s why one of the early Christians, Paul, says warns the people about money in one of his letters.

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.  1 Timothy 6:10

If you have lots of money, it’s going to be tough for you to enter into this new life that Jesus is offering. Not because Jesus has a downer on rich people and makes it hard for them. It’s because money takes such a hold in people’s lives that it’s hard to let go of it and put your trust in God instead of in your money. And maybe Jesus isn’t talking just about the world’s super rich here. We are all rich in comparison to most of the people in the world right now. It’s worth remembering that. It’s tough, but not impossible. Nothing is impossible where God is concerned.

Maybe money is not your thing. Maybe there’s something else in your life that is holding you back from really jumping into this radical new lifestyle that Jesus is inviting you into.

Maybe it’s how you look or your job or your skill or your fitness or your family or your popularity…Maybe it is financial security for the future or your wardrobe or travelling the world. Maybe it’s your good reputation or your role in the church.

What is the thing that you feel defines you?

What’s the thing that you’re not ready to let go of?

What’s the thing you’re not prepared to risk losing?

That’s exactly the thing Jesus may be asking you to consider relaxing the tight hold that you have on it. You may be feeling that that’s impossible. But nothing is impossible with God, remember. And who am I to say what God will actually ask you to let go of? It may not be as clear an instruction as the young man in this account received. It’s about the willingness to let go of whatever it is, if God asks that of you – that’s what’s important here.

There is a cost to entering into this best life. We’ll look into what else Jesus has to say about that tomorrow. But if something is worth having, then there is always a cost. It’s about finding the faith to believe that what you are seeking is worth the cost. This young man couldn’t bring himself to do that. He wasn’t prepared to give up all that he had worked to achieve. He walked away from the best thing that could ever have happened to him in the whole of his life.

And he went away sad.