Camels and Needles, the struggle with grief in our giving! “he went away grieved; for he was one who owned much” (Mt 19:22 NAS).
The grammatical structure of the Greek word for “grieved” helps us understand the importance of giving! (λυπούμενος), translated as grieved, sad, or sorrowful, often translated in our Bible in the past tense, is actually a present tense adverbial participle. Its relationship to the action of the main verb “went”, gives the idea of progressive action. This could be translated with “ing” or literally “went away grieving.” The nominative case identifies the emotion of grieving to the subject, and the passive voice flips the subject to receive (rather than initiate) the action. Wow, who would not be grieved if he walked away from the Son of God, because of the struggle with his possessions! Perhaps he did sell his possessions and came back, the text does not say what happened after he left, but the main point for the reader is the emotional struggle of the heart to their experiences in God’s command to give! Note the paradox, “sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven”; (Mt 19:21 NAS). The grammar makes the point clear, as an adverbial participle of “manner” the emphasis “refers to the emotion that accompanies the main verb” (Wallace 627).
With that said, Matthew is not saying it is wrong to have “much” but rather, be careful of the hold your possessions can have on your heart! To be clear, Jesus is not saying; simplify your life by giving to the poor, so you can be free to follow him. If we all did that, we would not be able to give much, there would be little treasure in heaven and we would not have much ability to help the poor! As a missionary who works with the poor, I can tell you, the poor would think you rather foolish to empty yourself of the resources God has given you to help them for a short term gift! Rather I believe Matthew is saying, be careful that the riches you have do not get in the way of following Jesus!
The real treasure in heaven is being present with Jesus on earth, and reflecting his love through your possessions to those in need! We do not give just because others are poor, we give because through our giving we connect to God, and through our witness of following Jesus, God connects to the poor! The main point being, our mission is to help others “follow him”, and our giving is one means to that end! God has equipped us with riches to do this. If we get hung up on our stuff, our ability to make this connection becomes harder to do, than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle! (Mt 19:24)
The grammatical structure of the Greek word for “grieved” helps us understand the importance of giving! (λυπούμενος), translated as grieved, sad, or sorrowful, often translated in our Bible in the past tense, is actually a present tense adverbial participle. Its relationship to the action of the main verb “went”, gives the idea of progressive action. This could be translated with “ing” or literally “went away grieving.” The nominative case identifies the emotion of grieving to the subject, and the passive voice flips the subject to receive (rather than initiate) the action. Wow, who would not be grieved if he walked away from the Son of God, because of the struggle with his possessions! Perhaps he did sell his possessions and came back, the text does not say what happened after he left, but the main point for the reader is the emotional struggle of the heart to their experiences in God’s command to give! Note the paradox, “sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven”; (Mt 19:21 NAS). The grammar makes the point clear, as an adverbial participle of “manner” the emphasis “refers to the emotion that accompanies the main verb” (Wallace 627).
With that said, Matthew is not saying it is wrong to have “much” but rather, be careful of the hold your possessions can have on your heart! To be clear, Jesus is not saying; simplify your life by giving to the poor, so you can be free to follow him. If we all did that, we would not be able to give much, there would be little treasure in heaven and we would not have much ability to help the poor! As a missionary who works with the poor, I can tell you, the poor would think you rather foolish to empty yourself of the resources God has given you to help them for a short term gift! Rather I believe Matthew is saying, be careful that the riches you have do not get in the way of following Jesus!
The real treasure in heaven is being present with Jesus on earth, and reflecting his love through your possessions to those in need! We do not give just because others are poor, we give because through our giving we connect to God, and through our witness of following Jesus, God connects to the poor! The main point being, our mission is to help others “follow him”, and our giving is one means to that end! God has equipped us with riches to do this. If we get hung up on our stuff, our ability to make this connection becomes harder to do, than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle! (Mt 19:24)
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