One time a man was sent to prison. Sitting in his cell in the dark, he heard someone yell: “42.” The whole cell block burst into laughter, including the new man’s cellmate. Just as he was about to ask his cellmate what that was all about, another prisoner shouted out “67” and the whole cell block erupted into laughter again. After this happened a couple of more times, the man asked his cellmate what was going on. “Well,” said his cellmate, “we’ve all been in prison so long and we’ve heard all the same jokes so many times that we gave each one a number and when we hear the number, we remember the joke and laugh.” “Huh,” thought the new guy. “Can I try?” “Sure,” said the old timer. The new guy shouted out “56.” There were a few muted chuckles, so he tried another number: “13.” No one laughed this time. “What gives?” he asked his cellmate. “Well,” the old time said, “some people can tell a joke and, well, some can’t.”
The same could be said about the Bible, amen? Only, instead of calling out a number, all I have to do is call out “prodigal son” or “the rich young ruler” and you know what I’m talking about, am I right? Some of us have heard these stories so many times … like one that we’re studying today … and we just assume that we already know all there is to know about this particular passage but our familiarity, I’m afraid, can block us from discovering new and exciting aspects to stories and passages that we may have heard dozen or even hundreds of times … which is why I have been emphasizing that we approach Mark’s gospel as though we are hearing it the first time and … looking at or listening to Mark’s gospel as though it were the only gospel in existence or the only gospel that we’ll have hear in our lifetime.
Case and point. How has this man in today’s passage become known? That’s right … as the what? The “rich young ruler.” But if you look closely at the passage, all it says is that “a man” ran up to Jesus and knelt before Him and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Remember … we’re hearing this story for the first time. We don’t know he’s wealthy until later in story when he walks away in shock … and even then, we don’t know any more than that about him. All we know is that he is a man … that he is Jewish because of his claim to have kept the Law since his Bar Mitzvah … and he is wealthy. There is no mention of his age … nor any mention of his status in life or in the community … so why is he known as the “rich YOUNG RULER?” Because Matthew refers to him as a “young man” in his gospel and Luke calls him a “ruler” in his gospel. Matthew doesn’t mention the man’s status in his gospel and Luke doesn’t mention his age in his gospel … and they each had a reason for including the information about this man that they did … but over time, we’ve melded all three versions of this story into a single character known as the “rich young ruler” … and so, when we read any one of the three versions and we automatically think of him as rich, young, and a ruler or leader … which is why I really, really want you to just stick to Mark’s version of this event today.
As is typical of Mark … his beginning is simple and direct. A man runs up to Jesus, kneels before Him, and asks Rabbi Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. I’m not sure why Mark started out this story the way that he did but I’m glad that he did because he keeps the focus where it belongs … on Jesus and not on the man … because the question that the man raises should be one that we all ask ourselves: What must WE do to inherit eternal life … and so, when this man runs up and kneels before Jesus and asks the question, he does so in our place, understand? We want to know the answer too … or at least we should, amen?
I have read so many commentaries and heard so many sermons that try to delve into this man’s mind, his motivation. I’m not going to do that this morning because I don’t see any point in it when you think about it. If it were important for us to know why he was there, I think that Mark would have told us or God would have wanted us to know but it would have influenced our ability to relate to this man … or, more importantly, relate to the answer that Jesus gives … or severely limit it. For example, let’s say that Mark tells us that the man is deeply concerned about his eternal future because he gained his wealth from unfair business practices … well, we’re going to judge him one way. If Mark tells us that he was troubled because he was a deeply religious man and was concerned that there was some law he might be breaking unconsciously and thus risking his eternal future, again, we would look him differently. I can’t tell you the number of commentaries I’ve read and sermons that I’ve heard that try to delve into this man’s head and his motivations … and I have to wonder why. What’s the point? Does it matter why he’s there?
One time my flight was late and I missed my connection. I was stuck in a huge line in the middle of the night in the international airport in Philadelphia. Behind me was a gorgeous young woman. As we were standing there, some well-dressed businessmen … I assume they were businessmen … they could have pastors or mobsters, I don’t know … anyways, as they walked past the long line at the customer service desk, one of them spotted the gorgeous woman behind me and went over to her and said: “Excuse, but you don’t need to waste your time standing in this line … just call the main number for the airline you want to use and they can hook you up” … and he and friends walked off. “Oh,” I thought. “Yeah, they tell her because she’s gorgeous” and I started to get a resentment when God leaned over and whispered in my ear: “Yeah, but you heard what they said, right? So get on your phone, dummy.” In other words, it doesn’t matter why that man ran up and knelt at Jesus’ feet. What matters is that we get to hear Jesus’ answer to the question: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”
What must “I” do to inherit eternal life? Remember … the other question that we’ve been dealing with is: “Who is this man?” Clearly, this man sees Jesus as a great teacher and hopes that Jesus can give him an answer … and Jesus does. The man’s question actually holds the answer, believe it or not. “What must I do to ‘inherit’ eternal life?” (Mark 10:17). What do you have to do to inherit something? Do you have to work for it? Do you even have to earn it? You literally have to do nothing. An inheritance is based on my relationship with another person. What I “inherit” comes from another person. It is a gift from another person. Think about it. The wealth or the money or the property that we receive in an inheritance is not the result of our own work but the work of another … it is the fruit of the labor of the person who is giving us the inheritance … follow me? My parents have worked hard all their life. When they die I will inherit their property … their property … the fruit of their many years of labor. The only thing that I did was be their son … just as the eternal life that this man thinks he can earn is a gift from God that he will “inherit” … not because of who he is or what he’s done but because of Jesus’ hard labor and sacrifice on the cross.
And the only way that we can inherit “eternal life” is after we die but until that time comes, we inherit something else … a good life. Have you ever thought about that? My life is an inheritance from God. I didn’t do anything to be born. My life wasn’t created by me. It was created by God and given to me by God and the Law and the 10 Commandments were not designed as a test or a way for us to earn our way into Heaven. The 10 Commandments were designed to help us live the best possible life that God has given us, amen? Notice anything about the commandments that Jesus lists? He lists the ones that have to do with our human relationships … our relationship with our family … our relationship with our neighbors … our relationships with the world at large … and the man is living proof that the commandments are meant to help us get the most out of this gift, this inheritance.
Did the man kill anyone? Not that we know of. Did he steal or rip people off? Did he cheat on his wife? We don’t even know if he had a wife. He could have committed adultery with someone else’s wife, I guess. Bear false witness or lie in a court of law? Apparently not. Honor his mother and father? At least that’s what the man professes: “Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth” (Mark 10:20) … and because he has kept the laws and followed the program that God has laid out for him and for us, we learn at this point that he has been blessed … with wealth … but more than that. I mean think about it. When you or I live by Godly principles, we might not be rich, our lives might not be perfect but they’re a whole lot better than if we don’t live by the Godly principles as they are laid out for us in the Owner’s Manuel … amen? I don’t know about you, but I can personally attest to the difference between living with Godly principles and not.
Remember … we’re hearing this story for the first time. When the man says that says that he has kept all the laws, we would expect him to have a blessed life and one of the ways that God would bless the faithful and the obedient would be with wealth … be it gold and land or livestock or what have you. This man has kept the law and so it comes as no surprise to the Disciples, nor should it come as a surprise as to us that God would bless such a pious, faithful, religious man. I mean … that’s the point of being pious and faithful and religious, right?
And what Jesus is trying to get this man to understand is that there is so much more to being pious and faithful and religious. It’s not about being blessed with wealth or a good life. If that is our goal, if that is our reason for being pious and faithful and religious, then we miss the much, much bigger picture and sell ourselves short … and the saddest part is that we won’t even know it. And this is what happens to this man.
“Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth” (Mark 10:20). When he says this, Mark says that Jesus looked at him and loved him. In the Greek, Mark says that Jesus gave him a piercing look … a look that sees right into a person’s heart. Jesus looked into this person’s heart … with love … not judgment … not to find his weakness … but to find out what the deepest desires of his heart was. At this point, we should be sitting on the edge of our seat, straining, listening intently. What is Jesus going say?
Now, again, listen closely to what Jesus says. He starts our by saying, “You lack one thing” (Mark 10:21). One thing. Do you hear a put down in Jesus’ word? The man said that he had keep all the commandments and he’s had a pretty good life because of it. In his mind, the only thing lacking is the reassurance that there is more to this life than wealth or comfort and that’s why he came to Jesus. If he has everything that he wants or needs, then why come to Jesus? There is just this one thing … what must he do to inherit eternal life. So when we hear Jesus say, “you lack one thing” … well … that’s pretty good. That’s excellent, in fact. He’s done everything 99 percent right. He has kept all the commandments … and he only lacks one thing. I mean, I have to tell you, I probably lack more than one thing, amen?
As I said, we should be sitting on the edge of our seats, straining to hear what that “one thing” is. With bated breath, we wait. Yeah? Yeah? What is that “one thing”? “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me” (Mark 10:21). [Pause.] What?
Typically, we interpret the man’s reaction as one of idolatry. “When [the man] heard this,” says Mark, “he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions” (Mark 10:22). Is it really about possessions? Nicodemus was wealthy. Jesus didn’t ask him to get rid of all his possession. Joseph of Arimathea was wealthy. Jesus never told Joseph to sell everything that he had and give the money to the poor. In fact, their wealth was a blessing and helped Jesus and His followers. So, why ask this guy to sell all of his possessions and give the money to the poor? Because he too attached to his wealth? Because he had made an idol of his wealth or his status or his power and it had blinded him to that fact?
I personally think that that is too narrow an understanding of what Jesus is offering the man. The man has kept all of the commandments and he has reaped the benefits of doing so. But Jesus is offering him the one thing that he is lacking … the one thing that drove him to kneel at Jesus’ feet … the one thing that his heart and soul desires more than anything … a relationship … but not just any relationship … a relationship with God. “Your heart … your soul lacks one thing … me.”
Let me ask you … what would you give to stand in the very presence of Jesus, God Incarnate, right now? To have Him look at you with love? We’d give anything, of course? At least I hope you would. I know that I would. But remember, we know something that neither the man nor the Disciples or the crowds following Him have yet to figure out … even though Jesus has given them a strong indication. “Why do you call me good?” Jesus asks the man. “No one is good but God alone” (Mark 10:18). This used to confuse me. Maybe it confused him, I don’t know. Was He saying that only God is good and He is not God therefore don’t call Him “good”? Why wouldn’t I call Jesus “good”? But then again, I know in my heart and soul that He is God. If we were the man or the Disciples or one of Jesus’ followers, we wouldn’t know that yet. We’re still struggling to understand who Jesus is. “You call me ‘good,’” says Jesus but only God is “good” and somehow the man doesn’t understand that calling Jesus “good” was, in fact, the right thing to say because Jesus is good because God is good and He is God Incarnate, amen?
Jesus looks deep into this man’s heart and offers him the one thing that he is lacking … the one thing that his heart and soul desire the most … a relationship with the Living God … and when Jesus makes him the offer, he walks away. He walks away from the very thing … the one thing … the thing that he got down in his knees and asked for … and when it is offered to him, he walks away … not because of his love of money or possessions … oh, that may be a possibility … but more so, I believe he walked away because he just didn’t understand what is being offered to him … and he is not alone.
Peter and the other Disciples are there too … and their reaction is pretty much the same as this man. Remember, Mark said that the man was shocked and went away grieving. Jesus then turns His attention to His Disciples who have been watching this whole thing and says: “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” (Mark 10:23). And the Disciples’ reaction? Mark says they were “perplexed” … they were confused … they were disturbed. And, as if what they had just seen and heard wasn’t disheartening enough, Jesus doubles down: “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:24-26). Now they are not only perplexed, they are, in Mark’s words, “astounded” and begin to ask themselves, “Then who can be saved?” (Mark 10:26). “For mortals,” says Jesus, “it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible” (Mark 10:27).
Okay, let’s pause here for a moment. “For mortals it is impossible.” If you are the man, then Jesus’ answer is very disheartening because Jesus has just told him … a mortal … that there is nothing that he can do … so what’s the point? What’s the point of following the law or keeping the commandments if keeping them doesn’t save me? Doesn’t guarantee me eternal life?
Remember, he asked Jesus what HE must “DO” to earn eternal life and Jesus basically tells him that there’s nothing that HE can DO … that it is impossible … impossible for the man but not impossible for God … and this is where he loses out … because he doesn’t see Jesus as God. He sees Jesus as just another man. A gifted man. A man who, through the power of God, has done some pretty incredible things … but still a man … a rabbi … a great teacher full of wisdom … but still a man … a man who just told him that the only One who give him eternal life is God … and Jesus is not God … or so he thinks … and so he just walks away. I’m not a hundred percent sure that his issue was money or his love of money. If he knew that Jesus was the Son of God … if he knew that Jesus was God Incarnate … that Jesus could do what he couldn’t do … that He could do the impossible … then I don’t think that he would have had any trouble selling all that he had and giving it to the poor so that he could be with his heart and soul’s desire … now. Right now! The granting of eternal life might be impossible for mortal men but not for Jesus, in whose presence he kneeled. The desire of his heart and soul was right there … and he walked away.
Peter’s reaction is exactly the same as this man. “Look, we have left everything and followed you” (Mark 10:28). In other words, look at we’ve done. We’ve done more than this man. We have, in fact, given up everything to follow you. We’ve earned it, haven’t we? And yet you say that it is impossible for us to earn our salvation, to earn eternal life. So what is the point of all this … keeping the law … obeying the commandments … even giving up all that we had … even though it wasn’t very much compared to this guy … if there isn’t some reward in the end?”
Those hearing this gospel for the first time would be agreeing with the man and with Peter. What is the point of keeping the law or obeying the commandments if, in the end, it doesn’t pay off? But it does pay off. In the case of the man, it pays off in that he has had a blessed life. We obey the law, we keep the commandments because they were given to us by God, who loves us and wants the best for us and keeps nothing from us. Jesus called His Disciples “children” in verse 24. Children obey their parents … sometimes to avoid punishment … but, in reality, they should obey their parents because they love them … because they know that their parents love them and want what’s best for them … to protect them from the things that could hurt them. God provides the law because He loves us. He gave us His commandments to protect us. And like a parent, God loves us, His children, so much that He is willing to give us, His children, everything … including His life … which Jesus again repeats in verses 38 to 41.
The last time that Jesus told His Disciples what was going to happen to Him, Peter rebuked Him and then Jesus rebuked him back: “Get behind me, Satan. For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things” (Mark 9:33). And again, the same thing is happening here. Their minds are on human things and not on divine things.
When Jesus tells the man to go and sell everything so that he will have treasure in heaven … what do you picture? Gold? Jewels? Crowns? What is the “treasure” in heaven? Isn’t our treasure Jesus? Isn’t our treasure our relationship with Jesus. Isn’t our treasure time – an eternity in Heaven with Jesus, the most precious treasure in all the universe?
We tend to think of Heaven as a reward for a job well done … a reward for a life lived well … a reward for keeping the laws and the commandments … but isn’t the real goal … the real treasure God Himself? We keep the law because we know that the law was given to us by a loving God. We obey the commandments as a way of showing our trust and faith in the One who created us and when we do, we experience the blessings of life. We don’t do it to get blessings but to be blessings, if you know what I mean … and in exchange for being a blessing, God takes care of us. “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake” … for whose sake? For Gordon’s sake? So that I can get a “go-straight-to-Heaven” pass? For God’s sake! “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children of fields for MY SAKE and the sake of the Good News” … and what is the Good News? That God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone … EVERYONE … who believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the would might be save through whom? Through Jesus. “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible” (Mark 10:27) and then He tells the Disciples what HE must do to earn us eternal life: “They were on the road going up to Jerusalem” … you know, on their way to the place where He, “the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn Him to death; then they will hand Him over to the Gentiles; they will mock Him, and spit upon Him, and flog Him, and kill Him; and after three days He will rise again” (Mark 10:33-34). He gave up everything … a throne in Heaven … the adoration of the angels and heavenly beings … His “treasure” in Heaven … to come to this wretched ball of dirt … and give us everything so that we could have the deepest hope of our hearts and souls … eternal life with Him. But for now, says Jesus, those who leave house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for His sake and for the sake of the good news will receive a hundredfold now in this age … houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions … oops! What was that? Did He mention “persecutions?” In this age we will be blessed with houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and fields … and persecutions … but in the age to come … we will receive the real treasure … that moment when we stand or kneel in His presence like that man did and we see Him look at us with love like He looked at that man. What would you give for the moment? What would you give to experience that moment for all eternity? More importantly, what did He give?
How many people out there are searching for the same thing that this man is? How many people out there have a longing in their heart and souls like this man did? And how many, when they encounter Christ, do like this man and simply walk away?
As author and song writer J.D. Walt observed: “No one has any claim on the Kingdom of God. In fact, it’s impossible for anyone to enter the Kingdom of God on their own terms. … In the end,” says Walt, “this is not about divesting oneself of wealth but entrusting oneself to God. Wealth, like nothing else,” he says, “can get in the way of this, which is precisely why our wealth must be entrusted to God – whatever that means and whatever it takes.” Like the man in today’s scripture lesson, we hear that and we are overwhelmed and dismayed but in reality entrusting ourselves to God “whatever that means and whatever that takes” should be the easiest thing in the world. A piece of cake. “Sure, Lord! Take it all. You gave it to me in the first place. And what I have now is nothing compared to what I will receive in Heaven.” What better person to entrust our wealth, our lives, our heart and soul to than God, amen? And the return? Eternal.
