Who gets the highest honour in the Kingdom of God? Jesus answered this question already in the Beatitudes and here are two encounters that demonstrate Jesus’ countercultural answer to this. The rich young man who came to Jesus was the perfect candidate in the eyes of most first-century Jews. He was law abiding and he was rich which meant, in their minds, that he was favoured by God. Naturally, everyone was therefore shocked when Jesus declared that this man was lacking what was necessary to enter the Kingdom of God. Who then can be saved? If not this model of Jewish piety, then who? Jesus had already given them the answer: “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” The door to the Kingdom is open to all, but it is very small, and you need to be very small to enter it. If you come walking on the stilts of self-dependence and pride, then you won’t fit through the door. You must come humbly and dependently. You must put aside inhibitions as a child does when it cries for its parents. You must be teachable and malleable like a child, not full of preconceptions and puffed up with theoretical knowledge. You must cast aside self-dependence and autonomy and be willing to be like a little child in relation to God. Only little children can know God as father. The rich young man was too self-dependent to know God. His pride made him too big to enter through the small doorway.
Ask God to dismantle your unhealthy self-confidence and lead you into a state of greater dependence and humility.
Read Mark 10:13-30
