What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?
Matthew 16:26 NIVUK
Jesus here is making a beautiful, but searing, comment on His society at the time, and also ours.
When He said these words, Israel was dominated by the Romans. Roman politics had long been a den of intrigue, which often resulted in double-dealing, betrayal and, in some cases, death.
The Jewish authorities saw no benefit in rising up to overthrow the Romans, despite their vicious oppression, and every benefit in collaborating with them. This led to them behaving in a high-handed manner against anything or anyone that could potentially usurp both their authority and that of their Romans sponsors.
This all explains their galling arrogance towards Jesus and His followers (John 7:49).
It is to this Jesus refers: people who rise through the ranks, obtain power, position, finances and fame, and who quickly forget who they are and who they are supposed to be.
How many modern examples of this can we come up with? I would not like to mention them here. I would need a lawyer to defend me, without a doubt. But, suffice it to say that there are no shortage of examples.
Even nations often behave this way. They become wealthy – through fair means or fowl – and behave incredibly arrogantly towards their neighbours or other nations around them who are not so blessed.
They forget who they are. They forget who they were supposed to be.
Again, we are absolutely not short of examples.
There were many examples of shocking arrogance when people come to power. We see Saul, who offered unauthorised sacrifices to God and tried to cover it with a lame excuse instead of being faithful to God (1 Samuel 15:1-31). King David thought he could get away – quite literally – with adultery and murder (2 Samuel 11). King Uzziah did a similar thing – offering unauthorised incense to the Lord (2 Chronicles 26:16-20).
And that’s just a sample. Take a brief look through the history books of the Bible and you will see many, many more.
We haven’t even included Nebuchadnezzar’s famous humiliation (Daniel 4), the catastrophic end to Belshazzar’s illegitimate drinking session (Daniel 5) and Herod’s untimely demise (Acts 12:19-24).
And that’s without even going through the parables!
As we saw in our last meditation, Jesus taught that it is completely possible to have everything and yet gain nothing. Look at these words spoken by Jesus after the rich young ruler turned away from following Jesus:
Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, 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.’
Matthew 19:23-24 NIVUK
Jesus’ language in the verse we are considering is really stark. The phrase ‘What good will it be?’ can also be translated ‘What will it profit...?’ ‘To gain’ can also mean ‘to acquire’ – so there is a real element of business and accounting to these words. ‘To lose’ also means ‘to suffer damage’.
In other words, as I said before, it’s possible to have everything, but yet, at the same time, to have nothing. And that state occurs when we forget who we are, who we are supposed to be and what we are supposed to do.
The hard part for us to take is that the attitude that lies beneath those great sins of the past is something we all share. How easy it is to rise up the greasy pole of life and look down at others below! How easy it is to base our feelings of significance and self-worth on simply being ‘better’ than others!
How easy it is to fall into this trap!
Look at this priceless saying of Agur:
‘Two things I ask of you, Lord; do not refuse me before I die: keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, “Who is the Lord?” Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonour the name of my God.
Proverbs 30:7-9 NIVUK
There are times when God curtails our ambitions and plans. And when that happens, it’s frustrating and it hurts.
But what if God is doing us a favour?
What if He is preventing us from rising too high so we don’t forget who we are?
In that case, is it not a good thing?
Because losing our soul would negate everything we could gain.
Questions
1. Do you know of any examples where people have risen up to riches and power but have ‘forgotten themselves’? What can you learn from them?
2. Why can it be a good thing for our plans to be thwarted?
3. What is it that could cause everything we could gain to be lost? How can you guard against this?
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