"Teacher, what must I do..." Is it a test or searching for an accolade, or is it a genuine question of someone who was really interested in understanding the nature of humans and how we arrive in eternity? Is it a small snotty voice, or one that cracks because the individual has sat at the back of the room, quiet, the Spirit gnawing at his insides, until he can no longer help it and blurts out the question... "to inherit eternal life?"
Where the Psalmist communicates hope and assurance that the LORD will deliver, that it is the LORD's steadfastness upon which we depend, Proverbs raises a question, "You think you are doing it right, but are you?" This is indeed a wise question, but it is also a question that the Accuser has used to trick us into playing small, keeping quiet, and ignoring the voice of the Spirit. "I can't do that; what if I'm wrong?" "I can't leave everything behind to follow Jesus; what if it is the voice of the Accuser leading me astray with his attractive mask?" I wonder if it was the voice of doubt, the voice of uncertainty in which the young ruler asks his question.
He is asked to leave everything behind. He is asked to not doubt Jesus. He is asked to not look at everything he has come to trust as though an indication of divine favor. We cluck our tongues and look at the rich young ruler as though he is some sort of indication of the immoral, who refuse to give up their power, their pride, and their stuff to follow Jesus. I must ask: how many of us, if asked to leave everything, to sell everything, and become itinerant, would go home skipping and singing? "But Jesus, what about my children? What about my job? What about my..." and we quickly realize the rich young ruler is not a reflection of ourselves. Now, don't get me wrong: I am not saying that we have all been called to let go of the same things. I am not saying we are all called to live the lives of the itinerant ministers. What I am saying, though, is that I think the rich young ruler deserves a bit more understanding than what he receives in common parlance.
So often, we think ourselves wise, wiser than the rich young ruler, wiser than those bumbling Israelites lost in the desert, fashioning ourselves as the ones capable of steadfast endurance when all along, it is the LORD's steadfast endurance which gives us the courage to ask the question, "How can I be sure that you are with me?"
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