WHAT IS HOLDING YOU BACK? (Mark 10:17-27)
The Very. Rev. Michael Mukhwana
Greetings to you all in the precious name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. I am sure you have been blessed in all sorts of ways through our mission, that is ending today. We thank God for His vessels, that were used of Him mightily, the Rt. Rev. Geoffrey Rwubusisi, Mr. Nicholas Kisakye and Mr. Paul Seguya. We also would like to acknowledge the great input of the Missions and Evangelism team, led by Rev. Canon Geoffrey Byarugaba. Well done team and may the Lord bless you.
In Mark 10:17 ff, we encounter a rich young man who was a genuine seeker, but would never pay the price of being Christ’s disciple. This young man wanted to be sure he would get eternal life, so he asked what he could do. He said he’d never once broken any of the laws Jesus mentioned (10:19), and perhaps he had even kept the Pharisees’ loophole-filled version of them. But Jesus lovingly broke through the young man’s pride with a challenge that brought out his true motives: “Go sell everything you have and give to the poor.” This challenge exposed the barrier that could keep this young man out of the Kingdom: his love for money. Money represented his pride of accomplishment and self-effort. Ironically, his attitude made him unable to keep the first commandment, to let nothing be more important than God (Exodus 20:3). He could not meet the one requirement Jesus gave – to turn his whole heart and life over to God. The man came to Jesus wondering what he could do; he left seeing what he was unable to do. If you can be honest when reflecting on this critical question: what barriers are keeping you from turning your life over to Christ?
For the author, it was: pride, alcohol, ungodly relationships, and a selfish desire to be great among my peers. Every time I look back into my life history, am grateful to Christ, who broke through these barriers, over 25 years ago; and gave me a fresh perspective to life. By His
grace I live a more sober, meaningful and God honouring life. I still have ambitions, but they are not self-centered ones, instead they are most of the time aligned to God’s over all purposes for my life, and that is exactly the difference when you know Christ in a personal way.
In 10:31 Jesus explained that in the world to come, the values of this world will be reversed!
Those who seek status and importance here will have none in heaven. Those who are humble here will be great in heaven. The corrupt condition of our society encourages confusion in values. We are bombarded by messages that tell us how to be important and how to feel good about ourselves; and Jesus’ teaching about service to others seems alien. The truth is, those who have humbly served others are most qualified to be great in heaven. In view of all these things, my prayer for the reader is this, that you may know the Lord in a personal way, and find significance in your relationship with Him, as opposed to qualifications, what you do or possess, the things that seem to define who we are in our contemporary world.
May the Lord guide you in all these matters, and break away from every bondage. May you know the blessings of the Lord in this seventh month.
The Very Rev. Canon Michael Mukhwana
PROVOST