Mea Culpa! I realise rereading my last blog that I have expounded the reason Matthew tells the story of Jesus and the little children, but missed the story itself. Matthew shows that the magical world-transforming Jesus has time and love for little children. I don’t doubt that Jesus did this and that it was remembered as part of the joyful news.

TRANSLATION: MATTHEW 18:16

And –see this- a person came up to Jesus and said, “What good thing can I do to possess the Life of the Ages?”

He said to him, “Why do you ask me about the good? One only is good. But if you want to enter into Life, keep the commandments!”

He asked, “Which ones?”

Jesus said, “Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false evidence, honour your father and your mother, and love your neighbour as yourself.”

The young man answered, “I have truly kept all these, where do I fall short?”

Jesus said to him “If want to be complete, go, sell your possessions, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. And come, follow me.”

When the young man heard this teaching, he went away grieved, for he had lots of property.

Then Jesus told his pupils, “Amen I tell you, how difficult it will be for a rich person to enter the Rule of Heaven! I’ll say it again. It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Rule of God.”

The pupils were totally stunned to hear this. “So, who can be rescued?”

Looking at them, Jesus said, ” For human beings it is impossible, but everything is possible for God.”

Then Peter responded to him, “See this! we have left everything and followed you. What will we get?”

Jesus said to them, “Amen I tell you that those who have followed me, when everything is made new and the Son of man sits on his throne in splendour, you also will sit on twelve thrones pronouncing judgement on the twelve clans of Israel. And all who have abandoned houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake, will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit the Life of the Ages. But many who are first will be last, and the last, first.”

The Rule of Heaven is for the little children, but Matthew uses words of Jesus to remind his readers that children have no wealth. It is easy to sentimentalise the teaching about children, so its harsher side must also be seen.

The story comes from Mark’s gospel and is lightly edited by Matthew, especially by missing out Mark’s important phrase, “Jesus, looking at him, loved him.” In Mark the man’s refusal to follow Jesus is presented as something hurtful to Jesus. It is less so, in Matthew’s cooler version.

To possess the Life of the Ages, means to live in the Age to Come, when God will rule and goodness will flourish. Life is not just improved but transformed. you get this life by your own actions and by God’s grace: you are rescued into this life. To a business -like person however, it can seem a matter of piling up credits. There is just a hint that the rich young man sees it this way. He has been collecting credits, now where does he fall short?

Jesus’ answer is terrible and marvellous. Terrible for what it demands, marvellous for it is specific to this man now. For him, it’s not so much a matter of adding, but of subtracting: his wealth is preventing him from accepting the Rule of Heaven, he needs rid of it. Jesus is more concerned with the benefit to the rich man than the benefit to the poor. Jesus has no truck with “using your wealth for good causes,” argument; he sees wealth as a false God who keeps you away from the true one.

Jesus’ explanatory words to the pupils should be seen as regretful but they also use the joke about the camel. I think there’s a proverbial understanding here that the camel would have got through if it weren’t for its hump – which may stand for the rich man’s wealth.

The pupils are stunned because traditional teaching says that wealth is a blessing given by God to people who have done good things; so if they can’t get into the Rule of Heaven, who can? For Jesus, possession of wealth meant that such people were on the way to going wrong or were already serving an idol.

For those prepared to serve the true God however, there are rewards. Jesus has no reticence in speaking about rewards. The Life of the Ages is a life of enjoyment because it is the world made new, not destroyed. Genuine satisfactions are promised. But don’t start thinking you’ve earned it; if you do, you may be the last to receive it. The church has not been very good at teaching Jesus’ doctrine of heaven, because it might offend its wealthiest members.