CMP Review 2025-12-21

The Gospel of Luke tells about a ruler who came to Jesus. This young man was very rich, but he went away sorrowful.

In his book Pastor Pastorum, Henry Latham contemplates the scene: “The Apostles are ‘astonished exceedingly’ at our Lord’s severity, they had perhaps been pleased at the prospect of the accession to their community of a man who was rich and high in station and well spoken of on all sides.”

This explanation of the disciples’ reaction was new to me. But in Charlotte Mason’s poetic reflection on the passage, she too considers that the disciples may have thought that a rich young ruler would have been a prestigious addition to their company.

Latham also offers a thoughtful interpretation of our Lord’s response: “From this interview our Lord draws the moral, ‘How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the Kingdom of God;’ this is not a denunciation of the rich but rather a commiseration of them, owing to the peculiar and insidious temptations to which they are unceasingly exposed.”

Mason too does not wish to condemn the rich but rather show compassion to all persons who are created for eternal life. Read or hear her poem here.

@artmiddlekauff

🖼️: For He Had Great Possessions by George Frederic Watts