Treaty Now (GWL 2019)
In Luke 18:15–30, Jesus welcomes the children and challenges the rich ruler. In one breath, he reveals who belongs in the Kingdom — those who come open-handed — and who struggles to enter — those who cannot release their privilege.
These scenes are not separate; they are mirrors of each other. The children stand for the powerless, the disregarded, those without position or protection. The rich ruler stands for those who have inherited control, wealth, and voice — and who cannotimagine a life without them.
When Jesus tells the ruler to ‘sell all you own and distribute to the poor,’ he is not merely speaking of economics. He is naming the spiritual barrier of privilege. He is saying that to follow him means letting go of the stories and systems that keep others beneath you.
Treaty Now
In Victoria, the journey toward Treaty brings this Gospel to life. Treaty is a spiritual act as much as a political one. It is truth-telling embodied — a call to the settler nation to see itself clearly, to repent of its comfort, and to make room for justice. It is an invitation to walk through the eye of the needle.
To engage in Treaty is to confront what we hold too tightly — the myths of discovery, the ownership of land, the assumption of moral innocence. It is to become like the children Jesus welcomed: open, vulnerable, ready to receive rather than control. Treaty invites us into right relationship with Country and with each other — to exchange domination for dialogue, ownership for belonging.
The Gospel insists that salvation is not an inward belief but an outward transformation. To ‘inherit eternal life’ is not to escape this world, but to live truthfully within it. Treaty calls us to do just that — to walk a new way, stripped of privilege, clothed in humility, reconciled to God and to Country.
‘What is impossible for mortals is possible for God.’ Through the courage to tell the truth and the willingness to let go, we may yet find ourselves passing through the narrow gate — into the wide Country of God’s justice, peace, and renewal.