The Rich Young Ruler

In a post titled “The Formerly Rich Young Ruler” Halden Doerge of InhabitatioDei.com suggests that the Rich Young Ruler who leaves Jesus “sorrowful” and “looking sad” (Mk. 10:22) may actually have some redemption in the story.  You can read the whole post here for Doerge working out the implications of what I have represented here, but this is the part I really wanted to get your input on:

In a previous post about the story of the rich young man (Mark 10:17-21) I suggested that there’s no reason to think that the man did not indeed go away intending to do as Jesus commanded, by selling all his possessions and following him. In the comments someone suggested that there is a tradition that suggests Barnabas may be the rich young man in question here. I did some digging and couldn’t find much of anything on that point, but I did find another possibility that actually has support from the text of Mark itself.

Could it not be that the young man in question is simply Mark himself? I think we may catch a hint of this conclusion in Mark 14:51-52 where the narrative tells us that “A certain young man was following [Jesus], wearing nothing but a linen cloth.” This unidentified young man is generally thought — at least in all the commentaries I’ve come across — to be Mark.

Now, it could be that Mark just wanted to throw in some superfluous information by describing the nature of the young man’s (lack of) clothing, but given the intentionality that characterizes the narrative patterns of Mark I’m inclined to doubt it. Why tell us that the young man was dressed only in a sheet that he had wrapped around himself? Why make a point of the fact that he was following Jesus? Could it be that the complete lack of possessions, even clothing, his young age, and his description as actively following Jesus are meant to point us back to the story of the rich young man? Seems like a pretty valid connection to me. I don’t think there’s anyone else mentioned in the gospel of Mark who might qualify for this. Let us follow this line of thought. . .

Here are my questions: What do you think of this possibility?  Is Mark making purposeful connection or is this beyond the text’s intention?  Please add your own questions to this as well.

James 1 – Part IV

I remember trying to teach James 1:21-27 one time as a part of Bible study in high school having no idea what it was about.  It’s probably just as well there were only a couple people there that day.  Reading this passage again on Thursday I was stunned to catch James’ intention.  James lays it out pretty plainly.

So what does one see when they look in the perfect law that gives liberty?  Well, as he says, what else does a man see when he looks in a mirror but his own face?  James’ quarrel though is not with what a person finds in the mirror but with the passive (or willful) amnesia of those who peer in to the mirror.

James goes on to say that whatever a person sees in the mirror ought to be a sight which propels them out in to changed living, living which cares for orphans and widow and remains unstained from the world.   So again, what does a person see in the perfect law of liberty?

In James’ words, they will see “the message implanted within [them].”  In other words, the sight that propels those formed by Christ out into sacrificial life among the needy in the world–if they can remember what they have seen–is a clear vision of the identity they have been given, the inside job completed in Christ.

Each time I come to God, encountering him in Spirit and Word, I re-encounter myself in a new way which has the power to reshaped my life and call me back to faithfully living out my identity and life in Christ in a broken world.

James 1 – Part III

Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each one is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desires.  Then when desire conceives, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is full grown, it gives birth to death.  Do not be led astray, my dear brothers and sisters. All generous giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or the slightest hint of change. By his sovereign plan he gave us birth through the message of truth, that we would be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

Temptation finds its root in the desires of man’s heart, ultimately giving birth to sin and later death.  Our desires are broken.  This means that if we are going to be fixed, if we are to be healed, it is going to have to be an inside job.  A job well suited to the maker of our insides.

While desire and  temptation have their way with us, James tells us that the desire, (“his sovereign plan”) is also at work.  Contra to our death-bringing wills, his will “gave us birth”–a recreation–”through the message of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.”  We, having been birthed by the will of God are also made to grow up, so that we too might give birth.  Unlike sin’s grown up progeny, however, the full-grown offspring of the desires of God begets life.

James 1 – Part II

Now the believer of humble means should take pride in his high position.  But the rich person’s pride should be in his humiliation, because he will pass away like a wildflower in the meadow.  For the sun rises with its heat and dries up the meadow; the petal of the flower falls off and its beauty is lost forever.  So also the rich person in the midst of his pursuits will wither away.  Happy is the one who endures testing, because when he has proven to be genuine, he will receive the crown of life that God promised to those who love him. (James 1:9-12)

I’ve often wondered on James’ excursion into people of high and low means.  It has just seemed to come out of the blue.  Where does his discussion come from?  Here’s my guess.

Everyone is going through trials–rich and poor, but the rich man’s transience is being contrasted with the longevity of those who are refined by trials.  In his pursuit of money and riches, the one who pursues riches finds himself consumed and chasing a vision which cannot fulfill him or grant him life.

The one who follows Christ on the other hand, is settled on a truly life-giving source whose apprehension sustains and refines rather than consumes as riches do.

James 1 – Part I

Last Thursday I was reading James chapter 1 a bit and some things came together for me like they never have before.  It’ll probably take three (short) posts, but I’ll try to get them up here in the next couple days.

But if anyone is deficient in wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without reprimand, and it will be given to him. (James 1:5)

How I love the biblical conception of wisdom!  Integral in creating the world, key in man’s vice regent reign over God’s good creation in the beginning of time, distorted by man’s thirst for life apart from God, journeying through the Old Testament as the guide of daily relational dependence on the God whose law demonstrates our need for him to declare us righteous.

But what is the wisdom James encourages us to ask for?  Mostly I guess I’ve heard this verse quoted in the most global of senses.  ”Don’t know what to do?  Ask God for wisdom?  He’s the giver of wisdom.”

While I don’t have any qualms with God being the source of all wisdom–the only real source for wisdom (Gen 3)–I do think James is referring to a certain wisdom, which should be discerned from the context.  What wisdom is he referring to?  The wisdom to know our  one’s surroundings as James redefines them:

My brothers and sisters, consider it nothing but joy when you fall into all sorts of trials… (James 1:2)

While wisdom can be applied in every situation (as opposed to law’s direction in limited settings), James’ interest is in directing his readers to the one who can help them know the value of their trials as the producer of endurance leading to the perfection and completeness of the afflicted.

Need wisdom?  Ask God for it.  But if you are experiencing trials, and you cannot count them as joy, then James encourages you to approach the only one who can enable you to know them as joy.