Hear of the rich young ruler
And of Zacchaeus,
They both determined
That they would see Jesus.
One was the scourge of the earth
The other, a nice chap
But they
both had a need
You can check out that fact.
Both accounts are recorded
In the Gospel of Luke
In consecutive chapters,
I found that quite cute.
In Luke chapter eighteen
Was the rich Pharisee
While in chapter nineteen
Zaccheus climbed up a tree.
One humbled himself
When he decided to climb up
While the wealth of the other
Became his bitter cup.
One is out in the open
The other chooses to hide,
One walks away from Jesus
At the other’s house he abides.
They both were rich
Of that, there was no doubt
But neither lived lifestyles
About which we could shout.
One of them kept the law
Or so he thought,
The other was a Publican
And made others distraught.
One came to Jesus
And asked a question of him
But on account of his wealth
He remained in his sin.
He had great riches
And in the end turned away,
He was exceedingly sorrowful
At what Jesus had to say.
The other though hidden
Heard Jesus call out his name,
His encounter with Jesus
Was surely not in vain.
He made restitution
Regarding what he had stolen
But the rich young ruler
Was not so emboldened.
Each had an encounter
Both of them with the Master,
One turned away
The other followed him after.
Their need was the same
But only one was satisfied,
The other was trapped in his wealth
And the Saviour he denied.
One of them went to Jesus
The other was drawn to him,
This one received salvation
But the other kept his sin.
One went to Jesus
With a longing to hear
That if he kept the commandments
There was nothing to fear.
What he heard at first
Made his heart feel glad
But what the Master said next
Made his spirit quite sad.
When Jesus told him
He must disperse of his wealth,
That was too much to give up
To acquire spiritual health.
There is a lesson right here
For the world at large,
If anything blocks you from Christ
Then you are guilty as charged.
Forsake all today
Remembering Christ left all for you
And just like Zacchaeus,
You can have eternal life too.
Stewart Russell © July 2019
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