Jesus and what he says about priorities

Jesus said a lot about priorities, both in saying what needs to be said and in doing what needs to be done. In many ways this gives us the key to Jesus' message. As an example, Jesus' encounter with the rich young 'ruler' (Mark 10:17-22) is not essentially about money, but about priorities. The young man lacked one thing, but the essential thing he lacked was not poverty, but the ability to make God the first priority in his life.

Later in the same chapter Jesus discovers that the disciples need to learn the same lesson as they are arguing about who is the greatest. Jesus so often reverses our priorities. We want revenge on our enemies, and he tells us to love them. We want to avoid even the first mile, and he tells us to go the second. He tells us that many of the things that are important to us are actually quite unimportant - and vice versa. So, it goes on. He breaks rules, though only for the benefit of people in need. The key to it all is getting your priorities right. He spends more time talking about the Kingdom than anything.

God's priority is the poor, and we are challenged to have the same priority. God gives priority to the poor as a way of trying to ensure that all people will get a fair share of the goodies. Some people gain an advantage through their wealth, their work, or their family. Some people, the poor, only gain even a rightful place through God's love. The church has to continue this bias to the poor as part of its following in the way of Christ.

We need to work at our priorities and do what we can to make them as close as possible to God's priorities.