Daily Devotion for Lent 2015, Day 25

Daily Devotion for Lent

Wednesday, March 18, 2015, Day 25

Mark 10:13-31 (NRSV)

Jesus seems to have it backwards again.

Children over the rich?

In that day, people were seen as rich because they had earned God's favor.

When Jesus declares the difficulty of the rich to enter heaven, this was a head scratcher for sure.  It was more of a given that the rich would naturally enter heaven.

If we look at some of the commandments Jesus lifts up, the man is proud to share that he has kept them all.  However, there is one of the ten that Jesus didn't mention: idolatry.

It is almost as if Jesus is wondering, "Do you really keep all of these?  Let's see if you have any gods before the one true God."  He asks him to give all of his things away and then to come and be a disciple.

He couldn't do it.

We get so attached to our things!

This life and death struggle over treasure is more a part
of our lives than we would like to admit.

I think we imagine that the magnetism of Jesus would have made it nearly impossible to resist following him.  But there were many who were angry at his teaching.  Here's one who holds Jesus in high esteem yet can't follow through.

I think this story in particular makes us nervous because we may wonder, "what if that had been me?  What would I have done?"

What should we do today?

Prayer from Ted Loder:

O Eternal One,
it would be easier for me to pray
   if I were clear
      and of a single mind and pure heart,
   if I could be done hiding from myself
      and from you, even in my prayers.
But I am who I am,
   mixture of motives and excuses,
      blur of memories
         quiver of hopes,
   knot of fear,
      tangle of confusion,
         and restless with love
            for love...
Come, find me, Lord.
Be with me exactly as I am.
Help me find me, Lord.
   Help me accept what I am
      so I can begin to be yours.  Amen.




Prayer by Ted Loder from Guerrillas of Grace. 

Picture, "Who Shall Be Captain?" by Howard Pyle [Public domain] 1911, via Wikimedia Commons