Lacking In A World Of Plenty

Lacking in a World of Plenty

Mark 10: 17 – 31

We live in a world of plenty. I don’t think any of us living in the United States of America could legitimately argue otherwise, the frequent conversations centered around homelessness, poverty and food insecurity notwithstanding. Even the poorest among us are considered rich by the rest of the world’s standards.

There are, however, signs around us that indicate even in this world of plenty, there is still something lacking, and that is truly sad. Those indicators are not tangible things like food, shelter, clothing and transportation. They’re much more intangible—things like identity, meaning, purpose and fulfillment. Dare I even say, “Salvation?” You know? All things that money can’t buy.

According to recent data from the National Alliance on Mental Illness and other sources, about 1 in 5 U.S. adults — over 60 million people — experience mental illness each year, with rising concerns around depression, anxiety, and suicide. This hits young people especially hard: Generation Z, despite unprecedented access to information via smartphones, reports some of the highest levels of mental health struggles among generations. We’ve experienced it in our own family, and it is heartbreaking.

Life is not a matter of having enough stuff. It’s a matter of having the right stuff. We can go throughout our lives with much success, achieving status in our community, gaining financial security and all while being deeply sincere in our beliefs and our actions, and yet, we can still feel as though something is missing. That is a sad predicament, indeed!

Lest I paint too grim a picture, though, let me remind us that there is nothing new under the sun. We’re not the first generation to wrestle with the nature of “stuff” and its impact on our lives. I’m reminded of an encounter Jesus had on His journey to the cross. We find it in Mark 10: 17 – 31. There, a young man comes to Jesus with the existential question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Let’s read that encounter and see if we can discover what is lacking in his world of plenty.

READ MARK 10:17-31

This is an encounter that we find in the three “synoptic” Gospels—Mark, Luke and Matthew. It is when we put all three accounts together that we begin to get a clear picture of the young man. Yes, Mark only says a “man,” but Matthew makes the distinction that he is “young,” and Luke even includes that he is a “ruler” of sorts, so this has become the story of the rich young ruler.

I find it interesting that he was young, and like the young people of our day, he was struggling with a deep existential question. I chose to focus on Mark’s account because we are on a journey to the cross with Mark this Lenten season, and there is one detail that Mark gives us that I believe we must note if we’re to grasp the depth and meaning of the entire encounter. We’ll come to that detail momentarily.

What do we know about this young man? Well, from Luke’s gospel, we know he was rich. We assume it from Mark and Matthew because it says he had “great wealth.” Great wealth? From that, it is safe to assume that he had some measure of success in his life, although I suppose he could have inherited his wealth. Even if he did inherit it, we know that most children from wealthy families do pretty well on their own. Yes, they have a head start. Whether he inherited his wealth or was a successful businessman, his success brought him a measure of status in his community because Luke tells us he was a ruler, as well.

The Greek word appears 37 times in the New Testament and refers to a “leader,” an “official” of some sort—someone with administrative authority. It’s unlikely that a Roman official would approach Jesus with a religious question, so the rich young ruler was probably a Jewish leader in the local synagogue or perhaps even a member of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish court that dealt with religious issues in Jesus’ day.

Success? Check. Status? Check. I think we can also say he was sincere. According to Mark, the man runs to Jesus and bows before Him. This was not some Jewish religious leadership set up of Jesus. No, this is not how they operated. In Mark’s gospel, the Scribes, Pharisees and Sadducees just show up and start questioning Jesus (see Mark 2 and Mark 7).

Mark sharing that the man both ran and knelt indicate he was sincerely seeking wisdom and an answer to his question. But, we also learn of his sincerity in his keeping of the law. Listen to the conversation again:

17 As Jesus was starting out on his way to Jerusalem, a man came running up to him, knelt down, and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (That’s a sincere question)