When You Hear Nothing, Look Out!

It's strange the things that stick with you. Years ago, I'd heard something about mosquitoes: only the females bite, and only the males "buzz." The conclusion I drew was, "When you hear nothing, look out!" It turns out, this mosquito fact is only partially true. Only female mosquitoes bite, but both sexes buzz. (Imagine that -- years before the internet, and still, misinformation found its way to the masses.)

I was reading Matthew 19:16-22 this morning -- "The Rich Young Ruler." I've often heard this preached as a warning against riches or religion, the mere checking off of behaviors to please God without a true knowledge of who He is and what He desires. But as I read this morning, a question came to mind. Let me just give you a synopsis of the encounter first.

A rich young official (probably holding a place of authority in the synagogue) approaches Jesus and asks what he should do to gain eternal life. Jesus replies by reciting five of the ten commandments, and substitutes the commandment about coveting with loving your neighbor as yourself (Leviticus 19:18). Jesus answers this young man with all the basics of our horizontal relationships, relationships with others. Many of the sermons I've heard sort of gloss over this point; discourses focus on the young man's desire to complete a checklist (religion) or hold onto his wealth (a reluctance toward sacrifice). And I know, Sunday morning sermons cannot go on endlessly in front of a host of fidgeting people checking their watches, but the question remained. Why did Jesus omit those first four commandments regulating relationship with God? So, I began searching and praying for the answer. (As I implied earlier, the internet is a wonderful resource, bringing libraries of information right into our homes, but there's misinformation as well. Whenever I seek to find answers, I pray throughout the process.)

Over and over, sermons talked about what was missing in this young man's life: devotion to God. And that's when it made sense to me. The reason Jesus omitted the commandments about passion for God, is because that's exactly what was missing from this man's life! When you hear nothing, look out! In Jesus' answer, there was silence where the need for a vertical relationship should have been. In this young man's life, there was silence where a vertical relationship should have been. The man never even questioned Jesus' omission. If he was such a law keeper, don't you think he would have mentioned those before he pressed Jesus as to what he was lacking in his life? Wouldn't he have said, "I have kept all these and even the ones you left out, but I still don't seem to have it"? Nope. No mention of them anywhere. He didn't have it, and Jesus was making that clear by leaving it out just as this young man had done. Sometimes we all need to pay attention to what isn't said.

How is your relationship with Jesus? What is missing from your life? This man had it all: power, money, good character, a Jewish background; but it was what was missing that mattered most. It was what he didn't hear that should have put him on the lookout.