The Challenge And The Call Series

I remember when I used to answer every call that came in on our telephone with a sense of excitement and anticipation.

In the days before caller ID, spam calls, and scam offers, answering the phone was always a bit of a mystery. You never knew who might be calling. And of course, you always hoped the call would be for you. But that wasn’t always the case.

Now there isn’t an “our” telephone anymore, just “my” phone or “your” phone—and these days, I decline as many calls as I accept.

If you call me and I don’t recognize your number, there’s a pretty good chance you’re going straight to voicemail. Don’t take it personally; it’s me, not you.

In fact, if my phone doesn’t recognize your number, you might even get a message asking who you are and why you’re calling before my phone rings. And if there’s no reply, that’s fine with me.

Through September and October, our series has been “The Call,” and Deborah, Rob, and I have taken you down the path of various individuals in the Old and New Testaments who answered God’s call on their lives. We’ve looked at Peter, Matthew, Paul and Esther as well as the 7 deacons.

But in our scripture this morning, we come to the only account in the Bible where someone was called to follow Jesus, and said no.

It’s a familiar story, and it’s often referred to as The Story of the Rich Young Ruler, probably because it’s a story about a rich young ruler. Let’s pick it up in Mark 10:17 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?”

The first thing we discover about the man was that He was Curious

The story begins by tell us, as Jesus was starting out on his way to Jerusalem.

If you know the timeline of the Jesus story, you know that this is not just a trip to Jerusalem; this is the trip to Jerusalem.

This is Jesus' final trip to Jerusalem. This trip to Jerusalem will lead to the cross on Golgotha and then finally to an empty tomb.

And Jesus’ trip is interrupted by a young man who comes and kneels down in front of Him, asking the question that was weighing on his heart.

Somehow, somewhere the young man had heard about Jesus. There was something about what he had heard or seen that led him to believe that Jesus had the answer to the questions that many of us ask. Is this all there is? What happens next?

In the 1971 hit song Imagine, John Lennon begins with these words,

Imagine there's no heaven

It's easy if you try

No hell below us

Above us, only sky

Imagine all the people

Livin' for today

But most of us either can’t imagine that, or don’t want to.

Instead, the rich young ruler asks the question most of us wonder about. That is, unless you are a committed atheist. If you truly believe that there is no God, then the answer to the question, what happens next? Is: Nothing!

But the question that has weighed heavily on the minds of the rest of humanity since the dawn of time is, is this all there is? And if it isn’t, then what is next?

So, the young man comes to one who he thinks may be able to answer the question.

And this wasn’t just idle curiosity. There is a sense of urgency here and more. We are told that he comes running up to Jesus and then kneels down in front of him.

In order to really capture the magnitude of the what of the story, we need to know the who of the story.

And like many of the stories in the gospels, we find various details in each of the accounts.

It’s Matthew who tells us that the man was young, and Luke who tells us he was a ruler,which many commentators take to mean a religious leader.

All three tell us he was wealthy, but Luke expands on that and tells us that not only was he rich, but he was very rich.

A rich, young, religious leader. Not someone you’d picture coming and kneeling in front of Jesus.

Alexander Maclaren writes, “There were courage, earnestness, and humility in this young ruler’s impulsive casting of himself at Christ’s feet in the way, with such a question.”

We are far enough along in the story that the religious establishment that this young man was a part of, had already decided that Jesus had to die.

And throwing caution to the wind, he seems to forget his social and religious standing and comes and fall before Jesus, as my sister would say, “In front of God and everybody,” and asks Jesus, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”