Hard, not not impossible with Jesus!

Reflecting on Mark 10:23-31

"Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!" (Mark 10:24)

Why does Jesus say it is hard to enter the kingdom of God?
Isn’t it as easy as believing in Jesus.
Yes… and yet no.
It depends on what you mean by ‘believe’.
To believe is about more than just agreeing with some ideas.
To believe in Jesus is to trust in Him and His teaching.
It means to entrust ourself fully in His message and method.

Imagine an investor comes to you with an incredible offer.
Invest in her idea, and you will see your investment multiplied.
Do you believe her, trust her enough to invest in her idea.
To invest will cost you lots, but the reward will be greater.
You are confident that her idea works, that it is worth giving yourself to.
The person who invests themselves is the person who believes.

Jesus has an idea, a message that sounds amazing and extreme.
God’s gracious love is yours for free, if you want to live in that love.
The way of love, as modelled by Jesus, is the way, the truth and the life.
Kindness, compassion, generosity, forgiveness, patience, serving others!
This is how God invests in us, as seen in Jesus.
This is how God wants us to invest in Him, and in others.
Jesus invites us into a free and fulfilling way to live – in the way of love.
Do you believe in His message, enough to invest your life in it?
Enough to sacrifice your own self, for the sake of loving God and others.

This is the good news of the kingdom, a world that runs on gracious love.
This is what we lost when we turned inward, self-loving and self-serving.
This is God’s way of making this world ‘very good ‘ again.
By overcoming evil with good, by defeating hatred with love.
To believe this message is not just to accept it in our head.
To believe this message is to devote our lives to living it.
Jesus called His first disciples to this radical way of life.
They put their own ideas aside, and invested in learning the Jesus Way.
They made huge sacrifices, and eventually paid for it with their lives.
But they believed that the Jesus Way was the True Way to Life.
Or most of them did, Judas finally gave up on it.

So why does Jesus say it is hard to enter the kingdom of God?
Because it goes against everything we we naturally think.
His Way of love and life seems weak, foolish, ineffective, impossible.
Humanly speaking, living the Jesus Way will get you killed.
Yet it was the Jesus Way that ultimately triumphed over the cross.
He was not rich, He was not successful, He was not powerful.
But He was loving, generous, kind, forgiving, patient, merciful.
He invested everything for the sake of poor, struggling sinners.
And His investment paid off, and God rewarded His God-like love.

Loving like Jesus is not only hard for me, it is impossible.
I can’t get myself, or my nature, to cooperate in this extreme sacrifice.
Though I say I want to love like Jesus, I don’t want to suffer like He did.
In the moment, my gut reaction is still more selfish than selfless.
And I definitely do not have the guts to sell everything for the poor.
Sorry, the love of Jesus is too high, too far for me… IMPOSSIBLE!

The disciples were amazed at the radical words of Jesus.
“Who then can be saved?” (Mark 10:26)
Though Peter seems to think they were doing pretty good.
“Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow you!” (Mark 10:28)
Everything, except his arrogant self-confident it seems.
This is the same Peter who claimed he would never deny Jesus.
The reality is, to love like Jesus is impossible for us.
Humanly speaking we do not have the ability to love like God.
Which is why God became human in Jesus, to make it possible for us.
Jesus as a human did what no human has been able to do.
Jesus has reclaimed Adam’s position, a God-like human loving like God.
He is God’s kingdom restored, which was impossible for us to do.
Through Jesus, God makes possible what was impossible.

“With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” (Mark 10:27)

Jesus has shown us the power of self-giving, other-serving love.
Jesus is restoring God’s very good world through this radical love.
Jesus is inviting us to join Him in pursuing this radical love.
It is not easy, humanly speaking, but it is possible, divinely speaking.
Do you trust Jesus as the true way to life, and to live?
Do you believe His message and method, enough to invest in it?
Do you believe that with His help, you can make this world better?
Do you want this radical kingdom, and are you willing to follow Jesus in it?
It will be hard, but it is not impossible, if you admit your need for help.

PRAYER
Lord Jesus, I do not love like You do. This love is impossible for me. But it is not impossible for You. I choose the way of love. With your help I will struggle to live it more and more. And when I fail, I know that Your radical love has me covered, and I will keep moving forward in faith, because Your love will winin the end!