Possessive

Did you know that a lot of stories in the New Testament are not in chronological order? It’s because Jewish people were less concerned about order of events than they were about importance of events. 

In Matthew 19:13-15, there is a story Jesus tells his disciples about how the Kingdom of heaven belongs to children. Immediately after this story in verses 16 through 22 is the infamous story of the Rich Young Man. 

A quick synopsis. A rich man comes to Jesus and asks him what good acts he must do to acquire eternal life. Jesus responds that he must keep the commands God have given. The rich man then informs Jesus that he has already kept all of these commands, but sensing that Jesus isn’t finished, asks, “what do I still lack?” to which Jesus responds, “Go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” When the rich man hears this, he goes away sorrowful because, the scripture says, ‘he had great possessions.’ 

Why would Matthew choose to put the story of the children immediately before the story of the rich man? Here’s my thought.

What do children possess? Nothing. In fact, not only do they have no possessions, they are themselves a possession. They are property. Even in today’s culture, children do not have the same rights as an 18 year old adult. Now times that lack-of-rights by ten and you understand the culture of Matthew’s time.

But, to these children, to these possessions, belongs the Kingdom of Heaven.

And then the story of the rich man. He has everything he needs and yet it isn’t enough. Jesus tells him to give everything up and he doesn’t because of his ‘great possessions.’ Interesting contrast, don’t you think? 

And the question for our own asking is a simple one. Are we the child or the rich man? Not in terms of how much money we have, or how big our house is, but in terms of possessions. You see, the child’s identity is wrapped up in his father — because he is a possession of his father. But the rich man’s identity is wrapped up in the stuff he has accumulated.

The question before us is this: are we a possessor or a possession? 

The Kingdom of God belongs to those of us who are possessed by God, but for those of us who are busy doing the possessing; well, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for that person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.