seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Matthew 19:13 Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them.
14 Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” 15 When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.
16 Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”
17 “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”
18 “Which ones?” he inquired.
Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, 19 honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”
20 “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”
21 Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
22 When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?”
26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
27 Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?”
28 Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. 30 But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.
Thank you for all the discussion on divorce and redneck wife beater tanks. Hubby wears wife beaters all the time out here in Arizona.... but he would never lay a hand on me in anger. And I would never ruin his "coming home early" surprises. We are best friends; we have each other's backs. My mom was like Vrai's MIL... "you made your bed, now lay in it". My ex's family probably traces their ancestry back to Ham, the "fun" one of Noah's sons. Now back to today's verses. I know everyone loves little kids.... but not at work and not when the king is busy. I was raised in the church, and I was taught "children should be seen and not heard". Jesus wanted the children raised to Believe. He would have preferred, I think, that children learn by example with both parents showing them love and respect.
A good man wouldn't beat his wife, children, or slaves. It was the culture of the day that wives, children, and slaves were considered assets, not humans, not loved ones, assets. They weren't counted in the crowd, back in the days of Jesus. There were 5000 men at the first potluck.... women, children, and slaves were extra mouths, but they didn't count until it was time to pay taxes on them. How a man cares for his assets says a lot of practical things about him. After all Matthew, the author of this Gospel, was a tax collector. He saw the dollars and cents part of the government he was employed by before meeting Jesus. So, he would write about them as such. Jesus saw them as little humans to enjoy and respect; think puppies!!! The disciples saw children as inconsequential. They were there for adult work.... children could destroy a schedule.
And now the rich guy... He had a lot of responsibility. He couldn't just dissolve his empire at a whim. That would be like Gates or Trump saying they give it all up, shut down their empires and move to Bali. All their employees would be out of work!!! It would devastate the National Economy!!! Too much responsibility!!! Jesus and his crew would be long gone by the time the man got all the paperwork signed!!! His competition was not as respectful as he, and they would rape the economy without him there to balance things out. After all a good economy has checks and balances.... he couldn't just walk away.... people were "addicted" to the jobs and services and goods he produced. He was stuck being rich!!!
Poor little rich guy....
