This is the twenty-fifth in a periodic series of reflections on Brian D. McLaren's everything must change. Quotations used by kind permission of the author, with page citations from the edition featured on the Emerging Church Reading List to your right.
“. . . consider the anonymous ‘rich young ruler’ who interviews Jesus. . . .”
As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. 19You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.”’ 20He said to him, “Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.” 21Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money* to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” 22When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions. 23 Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!”24
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“On the one hand, as a rich man he is profiting under the imperial system. . . . On the other hand, he is sincere and devout, a wholehearted keeper of the Jewish law. His life is a study in dual narratives. When he expresses interest in “eternal life,” he is not simply asking how he can go to heaven after he dies, as is commonly assumed. Although the question of how to go to heaven has been deeply important in Christian history, it was not a preoccupying question in Jesus’ day. The phrase “eternal life” (zoein aionian in Greek) would be better translated “life of the ages,” meaning a life that transcends “life in the present age.” It is, in other words, “life in the kingdom of God.” In fact, Jesus substitutes kingdom of God for the term later in the story. Jesus’ response . . . is not simply about a problem with materialism in the privacy of “his heart” that might keep him out of heaven, as is so often preached. Instead, it’s an electrifying call to defect from the imperial narrative and join Jesus in serving those who suffer under it” (p. 96).
I am reminded of the absolution following the Confession of Sin in The Book of Common Prayer: “. . . and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep you in eternal life” (p. 360). The phrase assumes that the members of the congregation already have eternal life and that “by the power of the Holy Spirit” they may keep it.
The authors of our Book of Common Prayer simply followed the lead of St. John in his Gospel:
“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life” (3:36);
“Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life” (5:24);
“Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life” (6:47);
and especially in the following quotation, in which having eternal life (now) assures the partakers of Jesus’ Body and Blood that the same Jesus will raise them up on the last day:
“Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day” (6:54).
O God, the author of peace and lover of concord, to know you is eternal life and to serve you is perfect freedom: Defend us, your humble servants, in all assaults of our enemies; that we, surely trusting in your defense, may not fear the power of any adversaries; through the might of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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