Approaching Jesus, Correctly!

Approaching Jesus,  Correctly!  

                    

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The Rich Young Man - complete text is linked.

Mark 10:17-22   Remember- Mark is writing to the persecuted Christians of 65-70AD

17As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. "Good teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"18"Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good--except God alone.19You know the commandments: 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.' "20"Teacher," he declared, "all these I have kept since I was a boy."

Matthew 19:   Remember- Matthew is for the Jews as a bridge from the OT to the NT,  70-75AD
16Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?"17"Why do you ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied. "There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments."18"Which ones?" the man inquired. Jesus replied, " 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony,19honor your father and mother,' and 'love your neighbor as yourself.' "20"All these I have kept," the young man said.

As a Scoutmaster for 12 years and then a middle school teacher for 10 years, finding great teachable moments was often the best moments of my day.  Middle school students often asked good motivated questions but used the wrong words.  The teachable moment that came often involved the word 'can', meaning 'being able to'.  The conversations went something like this:
student- "Mr. Coggins, can I go to the bathroom?"  My immediate answer:  "I don't know." 

"But, Mr. Coggins, I have to go to the bathroom, can I?"
"I don't know."

"Mr. Coggins!, I really need to go, can I!!!?"
"Welllllll, I just do not know.  Are you able? Do you need help?  How do I know if you can even find the bathroom?  Do you need someone to hold your hand?"

Then, with a dumbfounded look, "Mr. Coggins, please let me go, I need to go now!!!!!!"

Then, another student would whisper, "Say, 'May I'."

"Ohhh, Mr. Coggins, may I go to the bathroom?"
me- "Of course you may, why didn't you ask me earlier."
And, they ran out of the room, presumably to the bathroom.

The wrong choice of words is often confusing, reveal misunderstanding of words, and reveal incorrect preconceived ideas of what one thinks they are really asking.

The simple student example shows their misunderstanding of the use of 'can' and the conversation taught the importance of clarity in the use of words.  The students, they always made it to the bathroom and through some slight embarrassment, they learned from the experience.  However, such is not the case for the Rich Young Man.

In reading the story of The Rich Young Man there is great insight on how to approach Jesus in prayer.  There are great meanings to be found in comparing and contrasting the reading of the two accounts in Matthew and Mark, but more importantly, discovering what the words of the story can mean for us.  

Much of the ultimate results of our life's experiences,

our Godly relationship, and resulting peace of mind

 is often based on our attitudes in the our motivations behind

 the thoughts we think, 

the questions we ask,  

the words we say, 

the things we do, and 

the prayers that we pray.

In the example above, if a student appeared before me disrespectfully demanding to go to the bathroom, my answer was often "no".   With a poor attitude you blunder into poor results.

The story of this man coming to Jesus is one of the great blunders of the Bible.   Every step of the way the man is completely out of step with what Jesus has to offer.  Why? His attitude!  His motivation was likely for a worthy purpose, but the question, his comments, and his body language betray and conspire to lead Jesus to know his heart.

First, consider what we can know about the man.  Likely he could be considered a good Jew.  Luke says he was a ruler (Luke 18:18),  he knew and claims obedience to the commandments (vs20),  from Mark we see him honoring and paying homage as he approaches Jesus (vs 17 ).  Finally, he was a man of wealth (vs22).  Our question then is what was his motivation in coming to Jesus?  What had he observed that made the man care about what Jesus could tell him?  Based on the placement of this story in both Gospels we can believe this event came quite near the end of Jesus' ministry.  Therefore, the man had been given opportunity to see Jesus's works, hear His words, and very likely came to believe that He was the Messiah.

The man comes concerned about eternal life.  This too, is our concern and why we submit to Jesus and the life He has for us.  Therefore, we can identify with this man!  We may not have all he had materially, but he, as for most of mankind, wanted to believe there is more to life than just existence, more to life than what we see, and more to life than the number of breaths we take.  People of nearly all faiths are concerned about eternal life.

The man's blunder in coming to Jesus is his attitude! The rich man has life, a good life and motivation, is earthly fulfilled, but still has an emptiness in his heart and this is his motivation in coming to Jesus.  This is the issue many people identify with, especially in western and secular societies, we have much, we have a good life if not a wealthy life, but many are still walking, breathing and living with an empty heart.  People do good works, but it is never enough; people try doing their best, but it is never enough; and people give much of themselves to many opportunities, but it is never enough.  So many people live a good life and keep asking themselves as the rich man did Jesus, "what must I do to inherit, to get, to stake my claim on life beyond this existence?"

People are motivated to have what Jesus gives, have the desire for salvation, desires to respond to Jesus’ "seek", as He commands us to do in Matthew 6:34.  But, just like the man in the story, people  often blunder living and asking the wrong question!

The man asks Jesus, "what must I do, what good thing must I do to inherit, to get eternal life."  The man's great blunder, and for many people their blunder, is the word "I".  For a true relationship with God, WE can do nothing in the manner the Rich Man asks.  He was right in being on his knees and head bowed in submission to Jesus, but he approached Jesus with the wrong attitude, and the incorrect words!

In our crazy world, God's world appears upside-down.  In God's world, love trumps hate, forgiveness over rules sin, everlasting life over comes death, and our approach to Jesus should not start with questions and a "I want" or "what can I do" attitude.  Rather, Jesus, tells us quite explicitly what we must do.  His whole ministry is the example of our behavior and his resurrection is the validation of his first and all other commands to us, "Repent, the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand".   In the Rich Young Man’s emptiness, in our emptiness without God, what we seek is not something we "get" or inherit.  In our homage to Christ, our love and submission to God, in our acceptance of the Holy Spirit and in our humble attitude, we simply go to Jesus in prayer and living in the words, “Lord forgive me, for I am a sinner".  In penitence, our real communications with God begins without confusion or misunderstood words, and quite correctly.  

In God's seemingly upside-down world, let not your "I do" attitude be your blunder as it was in the Rich Young man.  Living with a penitent heart in God's will is truly good for us in setting righteous attitudes and authenticating our prayers, resulting in peace of mind and the eternal riches of a Godly relationship that only God can provide.

Thanks Be to God,
TB2G

 lonnie

© lonnie coggins

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Publication  0094


intro

HOW WE ASK FOR SOMETHING OFTEN DETERMINES WHAT WE RECEIVE.  Click for a discussion in this message about how we should approach Jesus in our prayers.   Please share the message on your Fb page as you like, and if you like, click the FB 'Follow' button to have notifications of these publications.  For other messages like this, visit my FB page, or on FB visit-"A Daily Thought Group".

http://lonnieadailythought.blogspot.com/2013/01/approaching-jesus-correctly.html