As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran
up and knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to
inherit eternal life?” 18 Jesus said to him, “Why do you call
me good? No one is good but God alone. 19 You know the
commandments: ‘You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall
not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your
father and mother.’” 20 He said to him, “Teacher, I have kept
all these since my youth.” 21 Jesus, looking at him, loved him
and said, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money[c] to the poor, and you will have treasure in
heaven; then come, follow me.” 22 When he heard this, he was
shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.
23 Then Jesus looked around and said
to his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the
kingdom of God!” 24 And the disciples were perplexed at these
words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how hard it is[d] to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It
is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is
rich to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 They were greatly
astounded and said to one another,[e] “Then who can be saved?” 27 Jesus
looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for
God all things are possible.”
28 Peter began to say to him, “Look,
we have left everything and followed you.” 29 Jesus said,
“Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or
mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the
good news,[f] 30 who will not receive a
hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children,
and fields, with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. 31 But
many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”
So may we fully accept and believe that You make beautiful
things out of dust, and out of us.
You are bringing about peace and beauty and wonder - through
us.
And you’ve commissioned us to be Your hands and feet.
You’ve given us the task to love the unlovable, to feed the
hungry, to clothe the naked, and to embrace those that are unlike us.
So while we stress over eternity, may we be reminded that
eternity begins now. Eternity includes
the present realities of this world.
And may we feel empowered and sent out from this place, to
forsake our own comforts and desires, for the deepest and darkest needs of
those that are last and least.
In the strong name of Jesus we pray, Amen.
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