“… [Simon Peter] fell down at
Jesus’s feet, saying, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” (Holy Bible: New American Standard Bible, Luke 5:8)
“… [A] man ran up to Him and knelt
before [Jesus], and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit
eternal life?” … Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, “…
go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in
heaven; and come, follow Me.” But at
these words he was saddened, and he went away grieving, for he was one who
owned much property. (Mark 10:17-22 NASB)
Our last
blog mentioned that new, old, steady, strained, and
broken relationships are a universal experience of the human condition. Perhaps we remember a childhood friend that
we’ve not seen or heard from in decades.
Those kinds of relationships are relationships in name only, with no
actual current association. In the above
scriptures, we meet Simon Peter and a nameless man, both of whom it’s safe to
assume are second-temple Jews[i]. Peter’s story happens before he is designated
an apostle (Mt. 10:2) and after he, Andrew, James and John had fished all
night, but caught nothing. Then by
listening to Jesus, they catch so many fish their boat begins to sink (Lk.
5:7). This makes Peter aware that Jesus
is someone important. Based on his
confession, it is likely he understood Jesus to be a holy person, possibly a
prophet of God.
On
the other hand, the anonymous man comes to Jesus seeking eternal life. This story appears in all three of the
Synoptic Gospels. We can see that he is
a religious person, saying that since his youth he has obeyed the commandments
(Lk. 18:20-21). However, he is not able
to part with his riches and turns away, not following Jesus. The man’s question regarding eternal life
reveals that he was influenced more by Pharisaic Judaism than Sadduceeic Judaism,
since they didn't believe in life after death (Mt. 22:23). All of this to make it clear, that this is a
person who knows there is a God and even has some right beliefs about Him.
It
could be stated then, that since their infancy, both Peter and this man had a
covenantal relationship with the God of Israel.
It seems that both had a genuine belief in God through their
religion. Both were called from an old
relationship into a deeper relationship, but what kept the man from answering
yes? Perhaps we could all reflect on our
relationship with God and ask, is it an old relationship, or even a
relationship in name only?
We
could continue surveying types of relationships with God from the scriptures.
Samuel or Enoch could be examples of a steady relationship. Moses or Elijah could be examples of
strained. The kingdom periods of both
Israel and Judah could be examples of broken, and to examine these would give
us great insight. However, starting next week, we’ll begin exploring how we
have relationship with God through communication, starting first with hearing
from God through His word.
1995. Holy Bible: New American Standard Bible.
LaHabra: The Lockman Foundation.
[i]
Second-temple Judaism is a designation for Jewish traditions between 538 BC and
AD 70, this was the time of the second temple.
It was constructed after the Jews returned from exile and was destroyed
by Titus Vespasian during the Jewish Roman wars.
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