The Rich Man's Choice

Whatever it is that keeps us from loving God with “all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our might” by consecrating or committing ourselves completely to following Christ wherever He leads; is also what threatens to keep us from entering the kingdom of God, let alone experience the full richness of its beauty. This is why Jesus tells his disciples that it’s “easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

But how could we possibly give it all up, if need be, to follow Jesus? The disciples ask as much in vv. 26-27 where we read, “They were greatly astounded and said to one another, ‘Then who can be saved?’ Jesus looked at them and said, ‘For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.’”

We should be just as dismayed as the rich man and the disciples. But Jesus comforts them, and if the rich man had stayed long enough, he too would have been comforted by the words “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.” All things are possible! Only by trusting in God’s grace and allowing the Holy Spirit to guide our steps can we possibly hope to enter God’s kingdom. But that grace is freely available to all who put their trust in Him. That’s good news! It means it’s not up to us to muster the strength needed, because there is no way we would be able to without God’s help. But we serve a powerful God who brings life to the dead and strength to the frail, and that includes all of us.

THE HOPE

In the remaining verses, Peter, never one to stay silent – even when he probably should, pipes up in v. 28. Here we read, “Peter began to say to him, ‘Look, we have left everything and followed you.’ Jesus said, ‘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 and for the sake of the good news, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. 31 But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.’”

Jesus encourages Peter and the other disciples by telling them there is nothing they have given up that will not be restored one hundred-fold. The “age to come” won’t be defined by the scarcity, the frailty, the selfishness, and the fear of loss we experience today. Not only will all things be restored and made new, but we will be restored and made new. But with that restoration comes a reversal, an upheaval of the old order of things, the very order which fueled the cycle of scarcity and sin in the first place. And many who took comfort in their deeds, their wealth, or their reputation, will find themselves saved by the skin of their teeth, by God’s grace alone, if they are saved at all.

As Paul writes in 1 Co. 3:12-15, “Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— the work of each builder will become visible, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each has done. If what has been built on the foundation survives, the builder will receive a reward. If the work is burned up, the builder will suffer loss; the builder will be saved, but only as through fire.”