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Columba Comments...
Short reflections written by members of our
congregation
11 October 2009
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Scripture: Mark 10.17-31
Exploration
What gets in the way of us following Jesus wholeheartedly? Family or
work responsibilities can take over our lives. But that is not the
reason the rich man was not following Jesus wholeheartedly. This man
was living a morally right life—not harming anyone, following the
commandments.
But that is not enough. Morality is about not doing
bad things—Christianity is about doing good things. With all his
wealth, what did he do for others? His wealth stopped him doing good
things. The solution—get rid of the wealth. Then he will be free to
do good things.
This is not a command for us to get rid of our wealth—it is a
challenge for us to get our priorities right, and deal with the
things that stop us doing good things. To follow Jesus is to do the
things he did.
Job has a bad time. First God allows him to experience horrendous
suffering, then his ‘mates’ demean him with poor advice. He comes
now to question God. This is a pivotal moment in the story where Job
realises he is powerless in the face of suffering and therefore
totally dependent on God.
Pain becomes suffering when we add the
question ‘Why?’ Suffering deepens when we get no satisfactory
answer. The institution of wisdom has nothing helpful to say in the
face of such suffering.
The Book of Hebrews is a sustained argument using Old Testament
texts for the superiority of Jesus and Christian experience over any
OT institution. Jesus replaces and fulfils the OT. The author in
today's passage encourages us to hold fast to our confession. The
argument is that Jesus is a better high priest than the OT
institution of sacrifice and high priest because he has suffered and
know what it is like, and was himself sacrificed.
Such arguments
probably don’t mean much to us today, but the superiority of Jesus
over modern institutions—wealth, education, status—does make sense,
as it did for the rich man, and as it would for Job in his
suffering. Handing all over to God in Christ is the only thing we
can do.
Questions for Reflection
- What does it mean to follow Jesus wholeheartedly?
- What gets in the way of you following wholeheartedly? What can
you do about these blockages?
- Does God allow suffering or inflict suffering? How do you
handle suffering?
- What would you say to a person who is experiencing suffering?
- How can you hand over to God your cares and concerns?
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