Jul 25 2013
The Converted Heart
The Rich Man and Jesus – An imaginative but possible rendering of Mark 10:17-31
The sound of running feet made Jesus and the disciples turn. It was a young man, finely dressed. He was full of energy and his eyes danced with enthusiasm. Looking directly into Jesus’ face he dropped to one knee and said, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” The disciples grinned, it was a warm sight. The man was obviously wealthy and successful and it was good to see him taking an interest in spiritual matters; so many who came to Jesus were poor and broken.
Noticing the Jewish tassels on the man’s cloak Jesus said “You know the commandments.” “Teacher” he replied “I have kept them since a boy.” Now it was Jesus’ chance to smile. Here was a model Jewish man, diligent in all matters, the kind of man every father would want for his daughter. More
Dec 12 2013
Do not store up treasures on earth
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth … Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or … what you will wear” (Matthew 6:19-34).
These two ‘do not’ statements uttered by Jesus have troubled Bible readers for centuries. Does ‘Do not store up treasure’ mean we should not save or invest money? Does ‘Do not worry what you will eat’ mean we should not budget for the future?
The Parable of the Talents gives another side to Jesus’ thinking (Matthew 25:14-30). In this parable the master congratulates the servant that invested his five talents of gold saying “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.” But to the servant that did nothing but hide his one talent of gold the master said “You wicked, lazy servant … you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.”
This parable strongly suggests that Jesus expects us to be diligent with any money we have been entrusted with, and that we should even invest some of it so that it gains interest. More