Throughout the gospels we find several instances where someone comes to Jesus with a direct request or question and His answer is, to say the least, indirect. A lot of times, as the saying goes, “it comes out of left field.” Why was that?

I think that, most of the time, the person asking the question asked the wrong question; and Jesus, who can see into the hearts of humanity, answered the right one. Maybe the person was afraid to ask the right question. Maybe the person asking had no idea what was truly important about the subject in question… they were the ones out in left field. And Jesus simply brought their focus back.

Let’s go through some of them (in no particular order) and see what we can glean from them.

The Rich young ruler (Matthew 19:16ff, Mark 10:17ff)

The question: Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

The answer: (a) Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. (b) You know the commandments…

The follow up question: But I have kept them all… What am I missing?

The final answer: (c) Sell all you have, give it to the poor – then you will have treasure in heaven – and then follow me.

Jesus is not here physically with us today but we still have questions, we still make requests.

Why do we pray? That seems like a silly question, doesn’t it? The reason most people pray is that we need something, we want something. But this encounter between Jesus and the rich young man makes me wonder how seriously we take that moment of prayer. Do we know who we are drawing near to, when we pray? Do we understand that He is the Almighty Father?

Here the young man approached Jesus, convinced that Jesus was good. That means, convinced that whatever answer Jesus gave Him would be good and right for him. There is nothing worng with that. And there is nothing wrong with the question he brought; it was not vain. Most of us would agree that it was an important question and that it demonstrated the right priorities in the heart of the young man. But Jesus, instead of answering His question, asks him instead if he truly understands what he has just said.

In a sense Jesus is replying: “If you believe I am good, and Good is the exclusive province of God – the Almighty – then you are telling me that any answer I give you will be absolutely binding on you. You will do it, without question.” I believe that, between the lines, Jesus is implying something that He would go on and say more than once to His disciples: “Count the cost… Are you really ready and willing?”

The young man thinks he is. He fearlessly counts off the commandments and says he has kept them all. Was he lying? I don’t think so. In Mark’s telling of the story, it says that Jesus, looking at him, loved him. And because of that love, Jesus tells him what He is missing.

And we know the end of the story: The young man turned around disappointed because he was rich and he was not ready to give all that up.

Why do I pray? Isn’t it to get an answer?

Yes. But the answer God will give me is not necessarily the one I think I want to hear.

It is, however, the good and right answer for me.

How do I know that? Because God is Good and He knows me through and through. And if I really believe that (and that must be why I am praying to Him), then whatever He tells me to do, I must obey.

Am I ready?

When you read the gospel, you find many people whose lives Jesus changed. He didn’t ask all of them to sell everything they had and give the money to the poor. Of one woman, all he asked of her was, “Go, and sin no more.” But giving everything up is what He required of this young man.

Can you imagine what kind of powerful ministry God had in mind for him? That it would take leaving every tie to the word behind? That it would take depending completely and absolutely only on God’s supply from them on? We will never know…

What about me? Am I ready to hear God’s answer and do whatever it takes?