Hi everyone,
A while back I noticed these markings on the stainless steel surface on our fridge. I was a bit dismayed as now that I saw them, I couldn’t unsee them. They stood out like a sore scratch on a stainless steel surface. I made a comment about it to my wife, and she said that it probably happened from when someone was cleaning it and used the wrong side of the sponge or something.
I didn’t believe it. I was certain it was caused by something more robust and abrasive, like sandpaper or a metal grinder. There is no way that the green side of a dollar store sponge could have made the marks that I saw. She was adamant in her assessment of what happened, but so was I. I was sure that someone intentionally scratched this fridge, because stainless steel cannot be scratched that easily.
Then she grabbed a similar sponge and rubbed it on her stainless steel coffee maker. And sure enough, there were markings left. Markings that looked suspiciously identical to the markings on the fridge. Perhaps that wasn’t a similar sponge after all, but the exact same one. And perhaps I don’t know as much about stainless steel as I thought I did.
So I guess I had no choice but to enjoy my large slice of humble pie, because I was totally schooled.
Here is a video of the readings for next week:
Ah, the rich man and Jesus. This story is not unfamiliar, and I think it’s one of those that make it into pop culture of our time. At least, part of it does. “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God” or something similar is quoted here and there, and we know exactly what it’s talking about.
There are always those who have more than us that irk us. There are those that seem better than us in different ways no matter how hard we work at it, and we aren’t really fans of them. There are those that are richer than we are and we yearn for ways to bring them down a notch.
And this text seems to do just that. The rich man, by all measures of the day, was a great man. Someone that people would easily look up to. Someone who others would want to be like. But Jesus brings him down a notch or two or several dozen. And we, in our comfortable 21st century armchairs, might even smirk a bit at hearing this man’s arrogance be crumbled down to smithereens.
Until, that is, we realise that we’re just like that rich man.
We are wealthy as well, in many different ways other than worldly riches. We have a lot to brag about. And every now and then, we might even think that we are better than others.
Better than those who aren’t as good as us. Better than those who haven’t worked as hard or learned as much as us. Better than those, like this rich man in this story.
How difficult a pill that is for us to swallow. How difficult it is for us to eat that humble pie. How difficult it is for any of us to enter the kingdom of God.
Fortunately for us though, with God, all things are possible.
Thanks be to God! Have a great week, everyone!
Photo by Daniela Castro on Unsplash