Possible

Text: Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26).

When a rich young man approached Jesus and asked him, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life,” Jesus told him to obey the commandments. He named the following: “Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother, and love you neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 19:19).

This sounded very good to the rich young man because he had kept all of these. He went one step further and asked Jesus, “What do I still lack?” (v. 20) Jesus told the young man to “…sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me” (v. 21).

This part is what really made the young man think. This is the part he could not follow because he had many possessions and he was not willing to sell them and give to the poor. He was so attached to his worldly possessions that he was willing to give up his chances of spending eternity in the eternal kingdom of Almighty God.

Many people today are willing to hold on to worldly possessions and live worldly instead of giving God the praise and glory and start thinking about their destiny and start living heavenly. As Jesus’ disciples witnessed this event, Jesus told them, “I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man 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 a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (Matthew 19:23, 24).

When the disciples asked, “Who can be saved?” Jesus said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (v. 25, 26). When I read this, it is telling me that nothing is impossible if God is involved. Nothing is impossible when God is consulted. We can’t do many things on our own, but when we talk to God and we are sincere and it is His will, nothing is impossible. So in essence, all things are possible with Almighty God.

Prior to our Scripture reading, John the Baptist had been beheaded by King Herod. Jesus’ disciples were the ones who buried the body of John. After that chore was complete, they went to Jesus and told him about what had taken place.

The disciples were sad about what happened to John, but they felt it was necessary to tell Jesus. The disciples needed comfort just as we need comfort when a loved one is called home or we receive bad news concerning our health. This is the time we need to seek Jesus and tell Him what is on our mind and how we are hurting. We need to acquaint Jesus with what is hurting us or what is on our mind.

When we consult Jesus or call upon Him, we feel better because He now knows how we feel and He can give us the comfort we need. He is our Shepherd and we are His sheep. When something frightens the sheep and tends to scatter them, they need not be afraid because the shepherd will protect them.

We all like comfort. We are at ease when we have a right relationship with Jesus. Our comfort level is high when Jesus is a part of our everyday life. Our comfort is taken away from us when we take our eyes off Him and begin to live worldly instead of heavenly.

There were tears in the eyes of the disciples as they relayed the sad news of John’s death to Jesus.

“When Jesus heard what had happened, He withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place” (v. 13).

Whenever we are faced with death of a loved one, our heart is heavy. We feel as though a part of us has been lost. I believe this is the way Jesus felt, so to help matters, He wanted to get away from the multitude and spend time alone with His disciples. Although Jesus was saddened by the death of John, He did not dwell on His grief, but instead, He went on with His ministry.

When we face the loss of a loved-one, we tend to dwell on our loss. We actually feel sorry for ourselves. We know that our loved-one has gone on into the presence of the Lord.

Jesus wanted to withdraw for a while because of what Herod might do to Him. Upon hearing reports of the miraculous things Jesus was doing, he said, “This is John the Baptist; he has risen from the dead! That is why miraculous powers are at work in him” (Matthew 14:1, 2).