Mark 10:28-31
Have
you ever noticed something called “selective deafness? It is most often found
in teenagers and husbands. I hate writing this, since I was both a teenager and
I am a husband! Let me describe the symptoms and see if you have it, or if you
know someone who does.
Selective
deafness occurs when someone hears only part of what is said, either through a
conscious choice or inattention. You can tell selective deafness is happening
if they remember some part of the conversation, usually the parts that
positively affect them, and not hear other parts of the same conversation,
usually those parts that contain some obligatory action on their part. They
hear only the positive items and leave out any negative demands.
Peter
seems to have suffered from selective deafness. He is present for the whole
conversation with the rich man and his desire to be part of God’s Kingdom. He
hears Jesus’ one stipulation given to this man, that he divest himself of all
his money, and then come and follow. He hears about the impossibility of
entrance to God’s Kingdom when wealth has your heart. And he hears about the
impossible being made possible with God. And the one piece he latches onto is
the request by Jesus to the rich man to leave all his wealth and follow.
Peter
thinks it is about leaving things, not about God’s provision. If not having
things was key to entrance into God’s Kingdom, some countries, because of their
rampant poverty, would have many Kingdom-bound people while others would have
few. It isn’t about the things.
Jesus’
answer shifts the conversation in His answer. He says that those who line up
with Peter’s concern, those who have left everything, will receive abundance in
this life. What a strange answer for Jesus to give. I thought wealth was the
problem, and Jesus says those who leave all that stuff behind in pursuit of Him
will get it all back. And not only that, they will get it back in an overflow
measured in terms that the best investors on Wall Street would be impressed.
But
Jesus throws in a couple of uncomfortable, perhaps parts that would be left out
if selective deafness were at work. And in modern Christianity, many people
suffer from selective obedience and selective deafness. Jesus says that will
the abundance that follows discipleship there will be persecutions. Notice that
Jesus said persecutions not persecution, plural not singular.
This
portion of the text gets so often pushed aside by modern churchgoers here in
the West. It is a regular part of the lives of millions of Jesus-followers
around the world who daily face life and death situations based on their
connection to Jesus. But here in the West, either our relationship with Jesus
hasn’t been salty enough to bring out the poison of sin in our culture, or God
has chosen to withhold persecution temporarily for the sake of His Kingdom. I
fear we are not salty enough!
What
have you given up to follow Jesus? That seems to be on the mind of the
disciples. They have heard about how impossible it is for anyone to get into
heaven on their own merits. The rich have to be willing to give it all up to
get in. Some give things up in hopes of getting it back in a newer more
expensive version. Some think they must only be willing to give it up in order
to fulfill what Jesus told this young man. Remember, He told this to a
particular young man. He might tell you something even more radical.