In the middle of the Social Justice series for Indy Metro, this past week I engaged the passage of Mark 10:17-31. Actually this story about Jesus and a good outwardly moral, religious person engaged me first. I couldn’t seem to avoid it over the past month.

A couple of the takeaways for me from this man’s encounter with Jesus we’re:
Those so often Christian acts of justice and compassion end up modeling for the poor and marginalized a consumer lifestyle that happiness is in our possessions and stuff. “You don’t have this stuff, and you need this stuff to be happy. We have this and you don’t.” Often we end up perpetuating this attitude that TO BE ACCEPTED you must have these consumer goods, live in this neighborhood, and go to dinner at these places….

As Rich Christians (yeah, pretty much anyone reading this professing Christ as Lord), a great injustice we have to correct together is telling (through either actions or words) poor and marginalized people they’re entitled to live as we do because of Jesus, when Jesus shows us in this text we aren’t entitled to be living the way we do BECAUSE of Jesus.

And a warning that when you hear stuff these days like: “It’s your patriotic duty to spend in order to save the economy because America is a consumer based economy!” Consumerism is a religion in America that when we embrace says life is all about me…and following Christ daily is saying life is all about Him. As Christ followers we have to reject this so-called patriotic duty as Christians because the lifestyle of a Christian isn’t formed on the American economy but on Jesus Christ.

Perhaps, the most impactful observation for me from this encounter is Jesus reminding me that my arms can’t fully wrap around Him when I’m holding onto all “my” money and possessions.

May you allow this encounter to mess you up too…