Perspective: Tethers on Earth

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Tethers on Earth

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Truly I tell you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven.  Again I tell you, 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."

Matthew 19:23-24 (NRSV)

Ruin my life, the plans that I've made
Ruin these hours for my own selfish gain
Destroy the idols that have taken Your place
'Til it's You alone I live for, You alone I live for

From "Ruin Me" by Jeff Johnson

In the Gospels we read that Jesus, at one point in His ministry, begins heading toward Jerusalem.  One day, as Jesus and the Disciples are nearing the city, a rich man approaches Him and asks, "Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?"¹

Jesus replies, "If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments."  The rich man asks Jesus which commandments he needs to keep, and Jesus says to him, "You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; Honor your father and mother; also, You shall love your neighbor as yourself."²

The rich man says, "I have kept all these; what do I still lack?"³

Jesus then says, "If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me."⁴

The rich man walks away dejected, because he does not want to part with his wealth.⁵

Jesus spoke previously of "treasure in heaven" while He was teaching the Disciples.  He said, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal."⁶  Jesus taught the Disciples not to value material possessions that do not last but to instead value the things that truly matter.

Jesus then said, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."⁷  In other words, material possessions have a way of tethering us to the world as it is.

When the rich man walks away, Jesus says to the Disciples, "Truly I tell you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven.  Again I tell you, 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."⁸  The Kingdom of God, as I understand it, is the world as God always intended it to be.  It is the world we anticipate when we pray, as Jesus taught, "Your kingdom come.  Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."⁹

People who are wealthy are obviously doing rather well in the world as it is, so naturally they would tend to be less inclined to desire a different world, even a world that actually works as God intended.

When Jesus started heading toward Jerusalem, He began warning the Disciples that, when He reaches the city, He will be rejected, arrested, put on trail, sentenced to death, crucified, and finally resurrected.  When one of the Disciples objected to this revelation, Jesus said to all of them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me."¹⁰  Following Jesus will require self-denial and sacrifice.

The "eternal life" the rich man seeks is life in the Kingdom of God.  The Kingdom of God is the world as God intended it to be.  Seeking the kingdom means doing God's will by following Jesus' teachings and example, and following Jesus will require sacrifice.  If we truly want to experience life in the world God intended, we will need to sacrifice the things that keep us tethered to the world as it is.


Notes:

1. Matthew 19:16 (NRSV)
2. Matthew 19:17-19 (NRSV)
3. Matthew 19:20 (NRSV)
4. Matthew 19:21 (NRSV)
5. Matthew 19:22
6. Matthew 6:19-20 (NRSV)
7. Matthew 6:21 (NRSV)
8. Matthew 19:23-24 (NRSV)
9. Matthew 6:10 (NRSV)
10. Matthew 16:21-24 (NRSV)

Christ and the Rich Young Ruler was painted by Heinrich Hofmann in 1889.

Perspective: Speaking of the End Times

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.
Comments are always welcomed.
If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

Speaking of the End Times

After Jesus said these things, as they were watching, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight.  While he was going away and as they were staring toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood next to them.  They said, "Galileans, why are you standing here, looking toward heaven?  This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you saw him go into heaven."

Acts 1:9-11 (CEB)

There will be a day with no more tears
No more pain and no more fears
There will be a day
When the burdens of this place
Will be no more
We'll see Jesus face to face

From "There Will Be a Day" by Jeremy Camp

Do you remember when the idea of robots' wanting to kill all humans was just a joke on Futurama or the plot of bleak, futuristic action movies like those in the Terminator series?

Those were the days.

Within the last couple of weeks, following the public resignation of a very concerned researcher, a senior employee at a leading artificial intelligence research company admitted that there is a possibility that AI technology could reach the capacity to kill all human life within the next ten years.¹  Discussions about placing limits on AI research immediately followed.  The curriculum my Sunday school class uses for our weekly discussions is based on current events,² so, per the curriculum, this week's class discussion segued from the potential threat of AI research to eschatology or beliefs about the "end times."

Some Christians have constructed elaborate timelines of events that will take place before the end of this age, and they frequently consider how current events might fit into them.  Personally, I think that such frameworks are misapplications of Scripture, distractions from what matters most, and means of frightening people into obedience.

I was tempted, at first, to think the end times are not discussed very much in United Methodist Churches like the one I attend, but, as I prepared to lead the class discussion this week, I realized that, at my church, we actually speak of the end times a lot, though we might not realize it.  In fact, at least five eschatological statements are made at my church on a regular basis.  I suspect these statements or similar statements are regularly made at many other Mainline Protestant churches as well.

One eschatological statement is found in the prayer Jesus taught His followers to pray, which is commonly called the Lord's Prayer.  In it, we pray,

Thy kingdom come,
thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.³

Though we all realize that the world is currently not as it should be, with this part of the Lord's prayer, we anticipate a day when God's will is actually done in the world.

At my church, Holy Communion is observed monthly, but, at many Mainline Protestant churches, Holy Communion is observed weekly.  A second eschatological statement is found in the Great Thanksgiving, the prayer prayed primarily by the pastor as part of a Holy Communion Service.  At one point in the Great Thanksgiving, the pastor calls upon the entire congregation to "proclaim the mystery of faith," saying, "Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again."⁴  As we "proclaim the mystery of faith" during the Holy Communion service, we proclaim that there will be a "Second Coming," that Christ will return to earth.

A third eschatological statement is found in the epiclesis, the part of the Great Thanksgiving in which the pastor asks God the Father to "pour out" the Holy Spirit upon the congregation and upon the Communion elements.  The pastor prays,

By your Spirit make us one with Christ,
one with each other,
and one in ministry to all the world,
until Christ comes in final victory
and we feast at his heavenly banquet.⁵

With this prayer, a pastor proclaims that Christ's return to the earth will be a decisive victory against the forces of evil and that a great celebration will follow this victory.

A fourth eschatological statement is found in the Apostles' Creed, one of the creeds used by Christians to proclaim their faith at worship services.  In the part about Jesus Christ, the congregation proclaims,

The third day he rose from the dead,
he ascended into heaven,
and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty,
from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.⁶

With this part of the Apostles' Creed, we proclaim that judgment will come with the return of Christ.  Though a lot of people associate judgment with punishment, I like to think of judgment as Christ's setting all things right in the world.  If God's will is to "be done on earth as it is in heaven," then some things cannot be allowed to continue as they are.

Christ's setting all things right in the world will ultimately be good news for all people.  That said, for people who benefit from the messed-up state of the world, Christ's setting things right will be experienced as bad news or even punishment.

A fifth eschatological is found toward the end of the Apostles' Creed.  The congregation proclaims,

I believe in...
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.⁷

With this part of the Apostles' Creed, we proclaim that the Resurrection of Christ is just the first of many resurrections, that, like Christ, other human beings will be resurrected from the dead, never to die again.

Whatever trials and tribulations may come, we can hold on to the hope that someday all things will be set right.

Notes:

1. Robert Booth.  "AI could kill all humans in next decade, warn experts: but how seriously should we take them?"  The Guardian, September 9, 2026.
2. https://www.thewiredword.com/
3. One version of the Lord's Prayer printed in The United Methodist Hymnal.  1989, United Methodist Publishing House.  #895
4. From a Service of Word and Table I as printed in The United Methodist Hymnal.  p. 10
5. ibid.
6. From the Apostles' Creed, Traditional Version as printed in The United Methodist Hymnal.  #881
7. ibid.

The photograph of the sunrise over the Philippines has been released into the public domain.  The photographer is in no way affiliated with this blog.

Perspective: Overanalyzing a Simple Story

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.
Comments are always welcomed.
If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

Overanalyzing a Simple Story

Simon's mother-in-law was in bed, sick with a fever, and they told Jesus about her at once.  He went to her, took her by the hand, and raised her up.  The fever left her, and she served them.

Mark 1:30-31 (CEB)

I have seen the healing hand of God
Reaching out and mending broken hearts
Taste and see the fullness of His peace
And hold on to what's being held out
The healing hand of God

From "Healing Hand of God" by Jeremy Camp

In the Gospels, we read that, one day, Jesus visits the home of Simon, where the disciple's mother-in-law is bedridden with a fever.  The family asks Jesus to help her, so He goes to her bedside and heals her.  When she rises from her bed, she begins serving Jesus and those who are with Him.  That evening, many of the townspeople bring to Simon's home their loved ones who are either sick or possessed by demons, and Jesus heals all of them.¹

This simple story is found in three of the four Gospels, and, though all three versions are mostly the same, there are some differences worth noting.

In the Gospel of Mark, the writer notes that, when Jesus casts demons out of people brought to Him, He refuses to let them speak because they recognize Him.²  In Mark's Gospel, there is a recurring theme that scholars sometimes call the "Messianic Secret."  Repeatedly Jesus forbids anyone from saying anything that might lead people to think that He is the Messiah, the long awaited leader who would liberate the Jewish people and restore Israel to its former glory.³  The reason, I suspect, is that people have certain expectations for the Messiah which Jesus does not intend to meet.

In the Gospel of Matthew, the writer suggests, regarding the miracles Jesus performed that day, "This happened so that what Isaiah the prophet said would be fulfilled: He is the one who took our illnesses and carried away our diseases."⁴  Throughout Matthew's Gospel, the writer suggests that the things Jesus does or the things that happen in His life fulfill the Hebrew Scriptures, and one of the books the writer references most frequently is the Book of Isaiah.

In this particular story, the writer is referencing a passage from the Book of Isaiah known as the Song of the Suffering Servant.  In it, we read,

It was certainly our sickness that he carried,
and our sufferings that he bore,
but we thought him afflicted,
struck down by God and tormented.
He was pierced because of our rebellions
and crushed because of our crimes.
He bore the punishment that made us whole;
by his wounds we are healed.⁵

When a Gospel writer suggests that Jesus fulfills the Hebrew Scriptures, he is not saying that they predicted Jesus but rather that Jesus embodies the story of His people.⁶  Though the Servant Songs in the Book of Isaiah are commonly associated with Jesus, they are also thought to describe the people of Israel as a whole, the servant people of God.⁷

According to Matthew and Mark's Gospels, Jesus heals Simon's mother-in-law of her fever by either touching her hand or taking her by the hand and lifting her up from her bed.⁸  According to Luke's Gospel, Jesus heals Simon's mother-in-law by leaning over her and rebuking her fever.⁹  The Greek word translated into English as rebuke or speak harshly is epitimaō.¹⁰  Interestingly, the writer uses the same word to describe how Jesus speaks to the demons He throws out of the people brought to Him that evening.¹¹  The writer will use the same word later on to describe how Jesus speaks to a violent storm to make it stop.¹²

Jesus' rebuking illnesses and demons is a testament to Jesus' authority.  According to scholar N.T. Wright,

The strange thing about Jesus... is that he did what he did by simple commands.  No magic formulae; no (what we would call) mumbo-jumbo.  He just told the spirits to go, and they went.  That was what astonished people.  He didn't have to summon up stronger powers than his own; he just used the authority he already possessed in himself.  And... he did the same with "ordinary" diseases as well, like the raging fever of Simon's mother-in-law.¹³

Jesus is greater than anything in life that oppresses or troubles us.

When I study the Gospels, I like to compare different versions of the same story.  It reveals to me things about the different Gospel writers, and it draws my attention to things I might ignore otherwise.  It also reminds me that there are no throwaway details in the Gospels.


Notes:

1. Matthew 8:14-17; Mark 1:29-34; Luke 4:38-41
2. Mark 1:34
3. Wikipedia: "Messianic Secret"
4. Matthew 8:17 (CEB)
5. Isaiah 53:4-5 (CEB)
6. Peter Enns and Jared Byas.  "Pete & Jared Ruin Prophecy (Christmas Edition)."  The Bible for Normal People, Episode 289.
7. Wikipedia: "Servant Songs"
8. Matthew 8:15; Mark 1:31
9. Luke 4:39
10. Blue Letter Bible: "epitimaō"
11. Luke 4:41
12. Luke 8:24
13. N.T. Wright.  Luke for Everyone.  2004, Westminster John Knox Press.  p. 51

Christ Healing Peter's Mother-in-Law was drawn by Rembrandt in the mid 1600s.