Lent For Everyone Reading Plan
This is Monday of the fourth week of Lent. The reading is Matthew 19, with a focus on 16-30. (If you want to listen, scroll to the bottom of that page for the audio links.)
Talking about the rich young man, Wright says “Jesus had seen, in this case and no doubt many others, that earthly riches form a lining of lead around the heart. They insulate you from God and from other people. They drag you down to be less and less the person you might have become. Here was this man, all eager and willing — except for the one thing that mattered.”
“When the man tells him he has observed all those commandments, Jesus gives him two more: sell your possessions and give the money to the poor, and come and follow me. In the place where we might have expected Jesus to speak about putting God first, getting rid of idols, and honouring God’s name, we have the command to get rid of money and to follow Jesus. . . Putting Jesus first and putting God first seem to be coming close to the same thing.”
All this is right in line with the discussion we’ve been having from Revelation 18 of Zion and Babylon (Nice lyrics here.)
