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[[http://www.jesusnetwork.eu/de/doku.php/jn_de_2017_04_05|Deutsche Version]] [[Start|| Wiki Start]]
[[topics_collection_ix|| Topics Collection ix ]]
======Eternal life? ...======
Wednesday, April 5, 2017. What is the kingdom of heaven about? What is life about? What
is it that the New Testament wants to reach with us? When we read the Gospel of Luke,
we come to basic and deep questions. And Jesus touches them in vivid stories and the
passages which talk about life and death.
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**Inherit eternal life? ...**
The question of life and death is a basic, deep and important question for each and
every human being. It is clear that this question is brought to Jesus - and here is what
he says:
18 And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 19 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 20 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’” 21 And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.” 22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
(from Luke 18)
There are several very important observations here. First: Jesus is asked what people
need to do. And he answers with the 10 commandments. That is an important observation
by itself: our actions ARE important. We cannot just ignore justice. We cannot ignore
the commandments. We are asked to keep them - and the whole struggle of the people
of Israel in the Old Testament is about their justice, their behavior, their faith!
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**More ...**
>
The guy in the story claims to have kept all the commandments. That is remarkable again,
since if you look into your own life, you will probably find many points where you
did not keep the commandments. Jesus is not questioning his answer, but he is addressing
a different point.
Jesus says that it is not sufficient to keep all the commandments to inherit eternal
life. You need more: you need him, you need to follow Jesus. You need faith and you
need to put the kingdom of heaven into the center of your life. "One thing you still
lack". It is about what is treasure to us. It is about whom we follow with our life!
What is life about? We have asked it above. It is not only about following some
rules - even if the rules are important. It is as if Jesus would say: yes, it is necessary
to eat, but you have to drink as well, that is lacking. You cannot live without eating
and drinking. You need justice, but you also need spirit. You need action, but you
also need faith. You cannot build life on action alone, but without action you will
not be able to build it either. You need him - no way around it.
(Roland Potthast)
[[http://www.jesusnetwork.eu/en/doku.php/topics_collection_ix|... more texts]]