02.02 | Perfection
Matthew 19:16-20:16
“The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”’
Matthew 19:20-21
I grew up playing a lot of cricket.
Immediately that splits the readership. Those who love it, and those to who it is a total mystery. I’m familiar with this: it describes the vibe in my marriage.
Among the holy grail of achievements for the cricketer is the hat trick. Three wickets in three balls. It’s so rarely done, that when it happens, it makes headline sporting news (at least, in the parts of the world that take cricket seriously).
Today’s reading is a hat trick ball, picking up again on the same theme of the past two days and coming again at this to us from another angle.
Minimum standard? Or an invitation into a life of glory?
And it comes to us in the form of a rich young man.
He’s the kind of guy who’s got it all. Wealthy, privileged, likely educated, respected. Probably devilishly handsome. The kind of guy whose social media feed puts you in a dark place.
And he comes to Jesus with a question. It’s a good question. Maybe it’s the greatest question.
What must I do to have eternal life?
The question isn’t just about living forever. The Jews had a slightly different notion to that which we do. The question is more close to:
How can I have the kind of life that is found in eternity right now?
(Hence, the present tense of ‘have’).
Jesus plays the game he knows the young man is playing, answering truthfully within his line of thought: keep the commandments. They bring life.
But the young man pushes it farther. He wants Jesus’ affirmation on his already impressive credentials. Maybe at a deeper level, he knows that, despite not technically breaking any of these commandments, he still experiences lack. His life has a certain emptiness. Despite everything in his life looking so perfectly manicured and successful, he feels a gap.
To this moment, the game they’ve been playing has been that of attaining the minimum standard. Passing the test. Keeping the rules.
Jesus invites the young man into His new paradigm:
If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess … and come follow me.
There’s nothing in the Law about this. Jesus’ invitation is beyond the Law.
It goes so much deeper.
Come, Jesus says. Abandon everything that you rely upon, all that has made you feel successful and important and admired—lay it all down and place your entire life into the single pursuit of me. This —proximity to me at the cost of everything else—is where you find the kind of life that you most deeply seek. I alone will fill the void.
Jesus invites him beyond the rulebook into the arena of life in all its fullness.
And it centres on Jesus. The life of the eternal age is the restoration to glory and is life in His Kingdom. This is our invitation. Not to a spirituality of trying not to do too much wrong, but to a lifestyle of radical proximity to Jesus in order that our entire lives be reordered into the beauty and holiness of His endless life.
This is the invitation.
And it centres, always and eternally, on Him.
Reflect:
So often, coming further in means leaving something behind. Detaching it from the heart, and picking up a greater focus on Jesus as the only one who can fill those places of emptiness in the heart.
Is there something you need to leave behind today?
Pray:
Father in Heaven,
You invite me heavenwards,
And that thought alone is staggering.
I ask you today for vision—
That you would supernaturally open my eyes to see and feel and believe for
The kind of life that you invite me towards.
When I make it complex, help me to keep it as simple as following Jesus in each moment
And when the concerns of my life—
Of money, people, career, and reputation take over
Help me to put these aside,
With extraordinary freedom of heart,
That I may run in the path of your holiness,
You, who set my heart free.
In Jesus’ Name
Amen.
Old Testament:
For those also reading the Old Testament this year, your additional readings are here:
Exodus 19-20 | Proverbs 4:20-27