Flattery will get you everywhere, unless….
“Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” —Mark 10:17b
When I was fulltime teacher, I imparted upon my third graders the art of being a schmoozer. Hopefully, these kids I sincerely miss heard me and remember the adage told to me: Flattery will get you everywhere.
A successful business manager I know and admire takes this even further. “Sincere flattery,” he espouses, “gets you even further.”
It does. When you’re earnest with your compliments, and genuine with your praise…wow, things do happen. Doors do open. Red lights become green, hurdles lower.
But then there’s Jesus. And here’s the story. This swanky jet set, a have-it-all, saunters up to the leader of these misfit tradesman, though purportedly one of these travelin’ guys is a physician. Whatever. This rich young man wants something, or I should say he wants something else to add to the pile. Eternal life.
“Hey, good teacher,” he asks with a tone we can imagine, an inflection that says “I have power” and you…well…don’t. “Yes, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
To this question, gentle Jesus has an all-time classic retort. “Why do you call me good?”
Bam. The gig is up. The flattery that had worked over and over for the rich dude doesn’t work now. At all. Now what?
The question just asked is true for us, too. Now what? We can’t win Jesus over with flattery. Good works only get us so far, and by this I mean they do not—repeat—do not get us to heaven. So, really, now what?
Maybe the rich young man wasn’t swanky. Maybe he was earnest, hardworking, and a valuable member of society. Maybe life for him didn’t start on a silver platter and he really did pull himself up by the boot straps when, in fact, he could finally afford them.
If he really wanted to know about eternal life, and if he really wanted eternal life, I believe would Jesus have responded differently. Jesus would have been that Jesus, the one we all want. He would have been the loving one who gets that we’re not always so wonderful but His wonderful love for us wraps us tightly and the sin our lives is something we really do want to get rid of for good.
The question I ask myself is what did the rich young man mean by the adjective ‘good.’ I have a hunch he wasn’t honest, that Jesus and this ‘eternal life thing’ was something he could take or leave.
What is clear is that he didn’t want to work for it. What is also clear is that Jesus let him go. That’s right. Jesus didn’t chase after him. The story ends with a lost soul staying lost.
Yeah. Ouch.
You talk to Jesus. Are you sincere when you call Him good? If so, He won’t stop chasing after you. He just won’t. And sooner or later you’ll stop running away from Jesus, and start running toward Jesus, the good teacher.
And flattery won’t matter. He’ll know you by your heart because this is true: you gave your heart to Him.
PRAYER: Watch me when I try to butter you up, Jesus. You know it’s fake. I do, too. Help me in this prayer to continue to give my heart so that, with You, the sin in my life really is something I want to get rid of for good. Amen.
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