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Morning Devotion for the Season after Pentecost

November 21, 2022

Invitatory

Give thanks to the Lord, and call upon his Name; make known his deeds among the peoples.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.

Reading: Luke 18:18-22

A certain ruler asked [Jesus], “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”  Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery. You shall not murder. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness. Honor your father and mother.’ ” He replied, “I have kept all these since my youth.” When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “There is still one thing lacking. Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”



Meditation – Peter Vanderveen

Spoiler alert: the answer to the ruler’s question is: “nothing.” That’s the short version. Quick, decisive, and unencumbered by complications. I sometimes wish that Luke had simply left this encounter at that. It would have gotten everything right. 

But the Bible (far from being the endless store of lessons we have come to expect it to be, pedagogy at its worst) is much more playful. Jesus might logically have made significant inquiries into what this man had in mind when he asked about “eternal life.” What does this entail? In what way can life be truly eternal? Or did he really mean just life without any end? And is this even imaginable? And if so, can it possibly be desirable? If it’s for forever, wouldn’t you want to know? These subsequent questions might have opened up a fascinating conversation. (And isn’t it a bit strange that even for us, too, eternal life is something we presume or expect or chase after as the great promise of religion without ever wondering what in fact it is or might be?) 

Instead, however, Jesus shifted the focus, asking about an entirely different topic – something that was purely incidental to the man’s concerns. He asked about goodness, with the immediate caveat that neither he nor anyone else – not even the ruler – could qualify. Not now, not ever. Goodness, Jesus prodded, is a quality that applies only to God. This, too, could have begun quite a conversation. It could do the same now. It should. But Jesus merrily rolled on, as do we. He reminded the ruler of various stipulations of the law. Just a few. It might have been Jesus’ way of gently pressing his point. Goodness sets a high standard – which makes the ruler’s confidence in reply laughable. He hadn’t heard a word of what Jesus had said. He was, rather, singularly intent only on having his own standing confirmed. It was a conceit that Jesus then ripped away from him by requiring an impossible task – the impossibility of which we rarely examine, just like the nature of eternal life and the exclusivity of goodness to God alone.

When this text is read as if Jesus is offering a bit of moral instruction (as is often done), both the comedy and the tragedy of his exchange with the ruler can be easily missed. We’re often inclined to believe that the message here is that we, like the ruler, must try harder to be good. We must try really, really hard to prove our commitment. And Jesus serves us, then, in the same manner as a Peloton coach, urging us on. There is a deep comedy, however, to the cluelessness of our self-assessments. And the tragedy of this is that it blinds us to the true nature of God. God is not critically examining us and our every action, eager to judge, and even more eager to reward or condemn. Quite the opposite. God wants us to see him and to be enthralled by his goodness and his faithfulness and his limitless dedication to us.

Inheritance is not a measure of recompense, giving to someone what they deserve. It’s a mark of indelible relationship, which can only be received as gift. The ruler could see only himself and wanted Jesus to reflect his image back to him. Jesus asked him to look to try to see God instead. The same holds true for us.

The Lord's Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven,

    hallowed be thy Name,

    thy kingdom come,

    thy will be done,

        on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

    as we forgive those

        who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

    but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,

    and the power, and the glory

   for ever and ever. Amen.