patent of peerage

A young man with great stuff comes up to Jesus and asks what he has to do to "possess" eternal life. Jesus first tells him, "You know the commands of God. Just keep them." But the guy knows that there is something missing, something more, something just out of his reach, so he tells Jesus in what must have been some desperation, "I have kept all of these since I was a boy." Without missing a beat, Jesus answers him that if he really wants to be perfect (that is, if he really wants to grow up) he needs to sell all his "stuff" and then he will "possess" treasure in heaven. But then it says the young man went away uneasy because he "possessed" great stuff.

Don't you despise this guy? Don't you imagine yourself watching him walk off and thinking "Sheesh. What a waste." Haven't you justified your own indoor plumbing, air conditioning, car(s), Internet service, phone line(s), credit card(s), sturdy home, life insurance, health insurance, auto insurance, fire insurance, meal plan, cable plan, book club, coffee allowance, Christmas spree, (must I go on?) by saying something like, "Well, see, this guy had a problem with money in his heart. And Jesus knew it. Jesus doesn't ask everyone to give up all their stuff, but this guy must have had a real hang up." I mean, don't you imagine Jesus kind of bowing his chest with a "You think that's something, huh? Keeping all those laws?" and then Jesus kind of turns to Peter and James and John and mumbles, "Get a load of this guy. What a poser." And then thing about trading all his stuff is not so much a real challenge as just a revealing question, like "If you were really serious then me asking you to give everything up wouldn't bother you." And then it's easy to assume this guy is spoiled rotten (unlike us). I used to imagine this guy walking off and the disciples all giving high fives. Either that or maybe two of them giving high fives and the other ten staring at the dirt wondering what just happened. Either way I had Jesus kind of gloating.

Or maybe you're in the "blessed" crowd rather than the "righteous" crowd. Like the first thing they have you chant in all these "Christian Financial Principles" rallies is "Jesus owns it all!" and then they tell you "...and you (not others) get to spend it for Him..." or something like that. It's really comforting to know that the reason I'm so rich is because I have been so prudent and wise in following God's principles, when others have been foolish and selfish and wasteful and (that's why they're poor in the first place and) not pleasing God.

If any this is you, you have totally missed what just happened.

Jesus was serious.

"For the young man to have sold all and followed Him would have been to accept his patent of peerage" says MacDonald.

I love that phrase. Patent of peerage. He offered him the chance to get in on His life, to bear His authentic mark, to live a life of privilege divine.

To follow Him.

To do like He did, and be included in His life. Regardless of how his life started, his life could've ended like Jesus' life.

The bible says this of Jesus: "You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich." This guy could have done the exact same thing. In fact, Paul and his companions believed they were doing just that. In a long list of ways they had poured their life out for others, they ended with saying they were "poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything." They were following Jesus. Same life story.

If I follow Him I will wind up where He is. I'll end up living like He lives, dying like He died, and being glorious like He is glorious. And we, too, like the young man in this encounter have the actual chance to follow Jesus. Later in the bible we are given this same offer:

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who...made himself nothing...and he humbled himself...
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name

It's not a command. We can walk away sad because of our great stuff. Jesus will not chase us down, mug us, and take our stuff away. It's an offer. Naw, it's a great offer.