The Rich Young Ruler asks, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" and after a brief exchange Jesus tells him, "There's just one thing that you haven't done. Go sell all that you own, give the money to the poor, and then come and follow me."
The Rich Young Ruler walks away with his head in his hands. He is stunned. He is grieved. He is unsure of what to do next, because he has lots and lots of stuff.
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It is a challenging teaching from Christ this week. And it is quickly followed by another one.
Scripture tells us that as the Rich Young Ruler walked away Jesus turned to his Disciples (his closest followers, those had given up so much in order to quite truly follow him) and said to them "It is hard for wealthy folks to enter the Kingdom of Heaven." The Disciples are perplexed by this and Jesus continues, making things even harder, "Listen, it is hard for anyone to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. You'd have better luck stuffing a camel through the eye of a needle!" Everybody listening is now greatly distressed and they start asking each other, "Can you do that? Because I can't do that. And if nobody can do that then how can anybody be saved?"
Which seems to be the entire point of the teachings.
Jesus looks at them, looks at us, and says, "For mortals it is impossible; but not for God. For God all things are possible."
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So this week in worship (and on the Whiteboard as you can see) we're exploring what is impossible and what is possible. That is my version of a redesigned Mission:Impossible logo up on the Whiteboard -- a reminder that for us some things may be impossible, but glory and hallelujah we worship a God who makes all things possible! See you on Sunday.
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