18 A certain leader asked Jesus, “Good Teacher, what must I do to have life forever?”
19 Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? Only God is good. 20 You know the commands: ‘You must not be guilty of adultery. You must not murder anyone. You must not steal. You must not tell lies about your neighbor. Honor your father and mother.’ ”
21 But the leader said, “I have obeyed all these commands since I was a boy.”
22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “There is still one more thing you need to do. Sell everything you have and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me.” 23 But when the man heard this, he became very sad, because he was very rich.
24 Jesus looked at him and said, “It is very hard for rich people to enter the kingdom of God. 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
26 When the people heard this, they asked, “Then who can be saved?”
27 Jesus answered, “The things impossible for people are possible for God.”
28 Peter said, “Look, we have left everything and followed you.”
29 Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, all those who have left houses, wives, brothers, parents, or children for the kingdom of God 30 will get much more in this life. And in the age that is coming, they will have life forever.”
Read Luke 18:18-30 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!
In this passage, several things stood out to me. The one I want to focus on in this journal entry is the concluding remarks in verse 22:
“When Jesus heard this, he said to him, ‘There is still one more thing you need to do. Sell everything you have and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me.’” [emphasis/italics added by me]
The big idea that jumped out at me is that Jesus is inviting him to be a disciple, and since this invitation was later in Jesus’ ministry, this invitation could cause jealousy among some of the earlier disciples similar to the parable of the workers – since they all would receive the same reward. (Matthew 20:1-16)
The same could be said of us today. We are late in the world’s history, but we know that it isn’t too late for us to accept the invitation. We don’t know what ultimately happened after the leader returned home, but we can imply that he second-guessed following Jesus because of what Jesus asked him to do.
Today, Jesus is still inviting people to follow Him. The decision that matters most for us today is accepting the invitation and not focusing on when we are in history, the parable of the workers, or what others might think of our decision.
This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!
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