April 8, 2015

The Rich Man’s Question – Part 2 of 7 – Good Teacher

Mark 10:17-31 [Matthew 19:16-30; Luke 10:25-37, 18:18-30]

God created humans inherently good, but we blind ourselves to goodness by justifying evil.  We mask sin with religious piety.  Jesus illustrated this problem by emphasizing the word “good.”

Very likely, one of the common sayings of the day was “Only God is good.”  However, Greek philosophy had intertwined with that statement to superimpose “perfection” ideologies.  How could the living God, perfect in all things, interact with dirty dusty humans?  Impossible, but there He stood.  In Mark 10:18, Jesus asks why the man called Him “good.”  If He was good, but only God was good, then Jesus was God.  No one heard the “absurdity” of that correlation.

Instead of merciful, the people saw God as an angry taskmaster.  Only perfect people could please such a deity.  Those deemed “less perfect” could not compete.  Such a God did not take care of the poor, the crippled, or the ill, so it was all right for the “blessed” to abuse them too.  Following a list of rules became more important then walking in God’s love.

In Matthew 19:21, Jesus implied the man could become “perfect.”  All he needed to do was change his identity.  However, it would be much simpler if the man simply followed God’s commandments.  The two produced exactly the same thing: humility.

**Does my religion trivialize goodness while it places perfection on a pedestal?  Do I follow a list of commandments to attain perfection or to appear clean?  Is my God so “perfect” He could not care about the small details?  Am I willing to change?

To be continued…

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