Don’t Walk Away From Jesus, but if You Do, He Still Looks at You and Loves You

So Jesus makes a beautiful offer to the earnest, moral young man who came to him, seeking a spiritual life: Come, follow me. Remarkably, the young man claimed that he has kept all the commandments from his youth, including the command to love one’s neighbour as oneself, a statement Jesus does not challenge.

The challenge Jesus does offers him, however, the man cannot accept—to sell his vast possessions, give the money to the poor, and follow Jesus encumbered.

He leaves, grieving, and Jesus looks at him, loves him, and famously observes that it’s easier for a camel to squeeze through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to live in the world of wonders which is living under Christ’s kingship, guidance and protection. 

He reassures his dismayed disciples, however, that with God even the treasure-burdened can squeeze into God’s kingdom, “for with God, all things are possible.”

Following him would quite literally mean walking into a world of daily wonders, and immensely rich conversation, walking through Israel, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan, quite impossible to do with suitcases and backpacks laden with treasure. 

For what would we reject God’s specific, internally heard whisper or directive, a micro-call? That is the idol which currently grips and possesses us. 

Not all of us have great riches, nor is money everyone’s greatest temptation—it can be success, fame, universal esteem, you name it…

But, since with God all things are possible, even those who waver in their pursuit of God can still experience him in fits and snatches, find our spirits singing on a walk or during worship in church, or find our hearts strangely warmed by Scripture, and, sometimes, even “see” Christ stand before us. 

     For Christ looks at us, Christ loves us, and says, “With God, all things are possible,” even we,  the flawed, entering his beautiful Kingdom.  

My memoir: Rosaries, Reading, Secrets: A Catholic Childhood in India UK USA

Blog: anitamathias.com

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My book of essays: Wandering Between Two Worlds (US) and UK

Chapters

• 8:05 Scripture passage. Matthew 19:16-26
• 10:49 Scriptural meditation begins

Transcript

Don’t Walk Away From Jesus, but if You Do, He Still Looks at You and Loves You

It’s a beautiful offer: Come follow Jesus on a life of divine

guidance on faith-challenging and exciting adventures.

Chasing ambitions, strutting our stuff exhausts us, but the excitements of

knowing the ever-fresh, surprising Jesus—those are inexhaustible. That’s the

magic part. Success, making money—that ego-driven slog is the boring part!

There is a cost to following Jesus, of course. We have to

move in the direction he moves, and do what he tells us to.

While he was on earth, Christ was active, energetic, roaming

through Israel, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan. Following him will

mean movement and challenge. But we can’t walk behind him 

laden with suitcases and backpacks stuffed with our treasures.

What would you reject Jesus’s micro-calls on your life for?

That is the idol that currently grips and possesses you.

I hear him tell me to become fitter, declutter my house,

and then move. And when I neglect these imperatives, 

an idol has taken priority: my podcast and writing, alas.

So, I must surrender daily, balancing Jesus’s call to

health and peaceful housekeeping with the call to write.  

What do you hear him calling you to sacrifice to follow

him? Do it. Don’t go away grieving. Nothing is worth

the sadness, the second-bestness, of not choosing Jesus.

I have decided to follow Jesus. But I waver. But for us, who

struggle to relinquish our idols of glory, achievement, whatever, 

but still yearn for the peace of Jesus, there is yet mercy. Jesus

says a camel can more easily squeeze through the eye of a needle

than the treasure-burdened experience God’s peaceable 

kingdom, but adds that “With God, all things are possible.”

So even we, conditioned from youth to strive, to achieve and succeed,

Can still, in fits and snatches, find our spirits singing on a walk or

during worship in church, or find our hearts strangely warmed by

Scripture, and, sometimes, even “see” Christ stand before us. 

Christ looks at us, Christ loves us, and says, “With God, all things 

are possible,” even we, the flawed, entering his beautiful Kingdom.  

Thank you, Jesus.