Right Or Loving, They Aren't Always The Same

​There's a story in the new testament about a fella who prided himself on knowing and keeping all the rules and laws and really just having his act together. And then he encounters Jesus.

In Mark chapter 10 there's a story of a rich young ruler who comes skipping up to Jesus, the guy is filled with confidence in his step. He then addresses Jesus - "Good teacher" (maybe the earliest form on earth of bringing the teacher an apple). But he says "Good teacher, what must I do to gain eternal life."

The first thing Jesus does is hand him is apple back. Jesus says, why are you calling me good? Only God is good.

I'm sure this fella was a little less skippy and confident at this point.

Jesus then tells him, sure, you've done a great job memorizing the commandments. Sure, you've known them and kept them since you were a child. That's quite impressive. Let me mark a big A on the top of your paper and you can take that home and show it of to your parents.

Now there is only one thing left for you to do. Jesus tells him:

“There’s one thing left: Go sell whatever you own and give it to the poor. All your wealth will then be heavenly wealth. And come follow me.”

The man did not skip away. The bible says:

The man’s face clouded over. This was the last thing he expected to hear, and he walked off with a heavy heart. He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and not about to let go.

When it came to knowledge - this man had it all. When challenged to love at all costs - "the man's face clouded over."

You know, looking at it in the context of the Goff quote below, Jesus was giving this man an opportunity to "get it." He was offering this man a chance to understand this isn't about how smart you are or what you know, this is about loving people at all costs. Jesus was telling him, OK, you've aligned your life with me based on what you know about me, but are you willing to love others based on the way I'm telling you they need loved?

We are all sort of at that point - Jesus asking us - and if not Jesus our neighbors and friends - are you willing to love others the way I'm telling you they need loved.

Jesus is telling us all - you know what you know about sickness.
You know what you know about who's to blame - the blue people or red people or something in between.
You know what you know about the best practices to put in place to curb the spread - which countries and states and towns and schools are doing it well, and which are doing it bad.
You all know what you know, Jesus is saying, and that's fine.

But...... and I always love when Jesus throws in a but....

There's just one thing left, now, he adds. Or maybe he's asking us: in the end will you wish you'd have loved people more instead of trying to prove them wrong.

We won't get very far in life on information alone. But even if we do - how far will that take the people around us who need us most right now?