In today’s passage a man runs up to Jesus with the question,
“How do I get to heaven?” It is a sincere question but Jesus gives an answer
that surprises him and amazes everyone around him. “Sell everything and follow
me.” Jesus gives him the full treatment. Understandably, some of us hear that
and wonder if Jesus went too far. Some of us wonder if Jesus was asking too
much.
The curious thing is, the bible tells us that Jesus said
this out of love. Verse 23: “Jesus looked at him and loved him.” In order for
this man to get to heaven, Jesus explains that he would need to turn away - not
from his badness - but from his goodness. Not from his weaknesses, but from his
wealth. It is a surprising answer because many of us have never heard that
before. It is a loving answer because it reveals the truth about who we are and
who Jesus is.
I want us to notice three things from our bible passage
today.
1. A good man
2. A rich man
3. A God who does the impossible
1. A good man
The first thing I want us to see
is that this man is genuinely good. He approaches Jesus respectfully and
earnestly, bowing before Jesus and calling him, “Good teacher”; the way we
might address someone as “Professor” at the university. Yet the question he
puts before this teacher is not academic but personal. “What must I do to
inherit eternal life?”
“Trust in God and you will be
saved!” That’s what Jesus should have said. “Follow me and receive eternal
life.” That’s what we expect Jesus to have said. Strangely, Jesus gave none of
those answers. Instead, Jesus asks him to consider a different question.
“Why do you
call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good - except God alone.”
Mark 10:18
Jesus is saying that “goodness” is absolute, not relative.
Put it another way: goodness is digital, not analogue. There is one standard of
goodness and it is God alone. Now why does Jesus seem to go off on this
tangent? Well, here’s this young man coming up to Jesus acknowledging him as a
good teacher, meaning he saw Jesus as a capable teacher, a gifted speaker, a
moral guru. Jesus points out a flaw with that approach. You are thinking
about eternal life which is an good thing and an important thing to be thinking
about. You want an absolute answer but you have posed a relative question:
‘What can I do?’ You are looking for five ways to improve yourself. You are
searching for ten steps to maximise your happiness. Unfortunately, that
approach won’t bring you any closer to heaven. It won’t bring you a step closer
to God.
The clue lies behind the word “inheritance”. The man asks,
“What can I do to inherit eternal life?” When a person dies he leaves behind an
inheritance for members of his family. So, a father leaves behind his property
to his sons and daughters as an inheritance. Do you see the flaw in the young
man’s logic? He calls eternal life an inheritance and yet wants to know what he
can do to gain this inheritance. The simple answer is you can’t do anything!
You are either in the will or you’re not. You receive your inheritance by
virtue of a relationship, not by virtue of your effort.
Here is an intelligent young man who is monumentally deluded
with the idea that he can do something to gain eternal life as an inheritance.
Jesus immediately identifies the reason why: it is his goodness. This man is
good, moral and upright. And Jesus’ next question is designed to show him that
his goodness is not enough, even for God.
“You know the commandments:
‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false
testimony, do not defraud, honour your father and your mother.’”
“Teacher,” he declared, “all
these I have kept since I was a boy.
Matthew 10:19-20
This guy is the real deal. When he says to Jesus, “I’ve kept
all the commandments,” I believe that he has sincerely tried. He isn’t boasting
of his accomplishment saying, “I’ve been doing this since I was a kid,” but
rather, the young man is giving a sincere answer to Jesus’ question, “I’ve been
good.” I must say, I have great respect for a guy like that. He is the kind of
guy you would want as your friend. In fact, he is the kind of guy you want as
your Prime Minister. He doesn’t lie, cheat or steal. He is honest and
respectful to his parents. He is sincerely and genuinely good.
What is more, this young man is obedient to God. The
“commandments” that Jesus lists are taken from the Ten Commandments in the
bible: Ten rules of conduct set by God himself. Every good Jewish boy knew
these rules and obeyed these rules. Now, I doubt a Muslim would have any
problems with these rules. I doubt even an atheist would have any problems with
these rules. Jesus intentionally chooses five of the ten commandments - leaving
out the ones that have to do with loving the one true God - and including only
the ones which have to do with loving your neighbour. Do not murder. Do not
commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not lie. Do not cheat. Respect your parents.
All of these commandments are the ones you do. Remember the young man’s
question back in verse 17: What must I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus
is saying, “Well, do this, this, this, this and this. Obey the
commandments.” The young man answers, “All of these I have done since I was
a kid.” Yet even as he says this, don’t you hear the frustration in his voice? I’ve
done this, I’ve kept these commands. Yet why do I feel as if something is
missing. Do you sense a lack of confidence? Please tell me: What else
must I do? Do you hear that longing
for something else he needs to be able to do? Jesus does.
2. A rich man
Jesus looked at him and loved
him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to
the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad because he had great wealth.
At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad because he had great wealth.
Mark 10:21-22
I recently led a bible study on this passage with a group of
teenagers. I asked them, “What if Jesus said to you, ‘Give away everything you
have, everything that is of significant value in your life - your iPod, all
your nice clothes, all your money - even your university degree?’” To which one
girl cried out, “NooooooOOOOoooo!!!! That’s too much. That’s cruel. That’s
unfair.” The natural reaction to such a bold request is shock. Surprise. After
all, that is the reaction we see from Jesus’ friends, who were “amazed” and
then were “even more amazed” by Jesus’ words.
Jesus looked around and said
to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”
The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how
hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to enter the
eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
The disciples were even more
amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?”
Mark 10:23-26
“If this guy can’t get into heaven, who can?” the disciples
were saying to one another. Here was the ideal candidate: A Cambridge graduate,
successful in his career, responsible with his money, generous with his life,
obedient to God’s law. If Jesus was turning away such talent, what chance do
the rest of us have?
The disciples were amazed, as we ought to be amazed with
such a radical request. Yet, notice that wasn’t the response of the young man.
He wasn’t shocked, he wasn’t amazed. In fact, I wonder if he was surprised by
Jesus’ call to sell everything he had. Instead the bible tell us that his
immediate reaction was sadness. Jesus told him he lacked one thing. Just
one: To give his money away. He approached Jesus in all eagerness and
anticipation. He turned away in sadness and depression.
What was the turning point for the young man? His wealth.
Verse 22: “He went away sad because he had great wealth.” Jesus tells his
disciples, “How hard it is for the rich” - the wealthy, those who have money,
status, possessions in this life - “to enter the kingdom of God!” Now Jesus
isn’t saying that having lots and lots of money is bad. Nowhere does he imply
that this young man obtained his wealth through ill-gotten gains. If anything,
it is remarkable that this man was so young, so moral and at the same time,
so wealthy. It means that he used his money for good. It means that he earned
his money responsibly by working hard. Remember his answer about the
commandments - he never stole, lied or defrauded anyone. Meaning this: Jesus
doesn’t have any problems with wealth per se, but what Jesus does here is
expose a side-effect that comes from having abundant wealth: we become attached
to our wealth. The more money we have, the more likely we are to define our
identity by the our money. The more wealthy we are, the more likely we are to
measure our goodness against our wealth.
For all his willingness to obey the commandments, to strive
to greater heights to serve God and love his neighbour - for all his goodness -
there was one thing the rich young man was unwilling to do. He couldn’t let go
of money. The King James Version of the bible reads, “He went away grieving.”
That is insightful. You grieve when you lose someone you cherish. You grieve at
the loss of someone you love. Just the thought of giving away all his wealth
made him mourn. Again, we are not talking about a greedy businessman who lied, stole
and cheated his way to success. Whatever the circumstances this young man
received his fortune, he got it honestly and he used it generously. But
somewhere along the way, money become more than just money to him. It became a
source of his identity. His money became the means of his morality.
I wonder if this might be true of you as well? We apply for
the grant with the biggest funding not simply because it would useful to have
more money for the project is it? It’s because more money means we are worth
more; more money means our work is more significant. And when the economy
forces us to take a pay cut or when that unexpected bill leaves us with less in
the bank - we feel less secure. We might even feel angry and betrayed. Some of
us wonder if God is punishing us by taking away our money.
That’s what Jesus means when he says, “It’s hard.” It’s hard
to let go of money. But notice, Jesus doesn’t simply say give up everything and
cling to nothing. He isn’t advocating a life of abstinence and poverty. Look
again at what he says to the young man.
Go, sell everything you have
and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come follow
me.
Mark 10:21
He is challenging the young man who is eager to gain eternal
life, “Would you let go of all your wealth in exchange for heaven?” More than
that, Jesus is saying to the young man, “Would you be willing to lose all your
wealth in order to follow me?” That’s a hard thing to do. In fact, by the end
of our passage we find Jesus saying to his disciples, it is impossible for us
to do.
3. A God who does the impossible
Jesus looked at them and said,
“With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with
God.”
Mark 10:27
Earlier on, Jesus looks at the young man and tells
him to sell his possessions. And notice here, Jesus does the exact same thing: he
looks right at his disciples. There is a connecting thought here - Jesus
looks at him; immediately Jesus turns and looks straight at them. The disciples
are wondering how God can save anyone if the demands are so impossibly high.
Jesus is about to answer that question. It is the same answer he gave to the
rich young man.
The question they ask is, “Who can be saved?” If you read
verse 27 on its own, Jesus’ answer sounds almost dismissive, “All things are
possible with God,” as if to say, “God will make a way. Somehow, it will
happen.” But if you see the connection between the this answer and the one
previously given to the rich young man; if you see that Jesus is using the rich
young man as a picture of how God will do this impossible thing - we see that
the demand which Jesus placed on that young man to give up all his riches is a
demand that Jesus himself has fulfilled.
Why does it say that Jesus looked at him “and loved him”?
Because Jesus looked at the young man and saw a reflection of himself. At this
point in his life, Jesus was barely over thirty. He was in the prime of his
life. The bible contends that all throughout his earthly existence, Jesus never
sinned, not even once. Jesus claimed that he came to fulfill God’s law in its
entirety - he met every requirement, he never broke a single rule. More than
that, Christians believe that Jesus is the eternal Son of God, who left the
gaze of angels, who left the glory of his Father to come to earth to take on
human flesh. Jesus is the ultimate rich young man who gave up a heavenly
inheritance in order to enter our poverty. The bible says,
For you know the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor,
so that you through his poverty might become rich.
2 Corinthians 8:9
Jesus was the ultimate rich young ruler who gave up all
privilege, who sacrificed all wealth; who, on the cross, gave up his life so
that we would receive his reward; so that we would gain eternal life. God was
doing the impossible in Jesus Christ, he became a man. He humbled himself as a
servant. He died to take our punishment. And he rose to give us eternal life.
“Who then can be saved?” That is the question Jesus was
answering. The answer is not the one who gets wealthy. It is not even the one
who gives up his wealth. Jesus is saying the one who is saved is the one who
receives salvation as a gift - as an inheritance - through Jesus’ death. Who
receives wealth through his poverty. For our sakes, Jesus Christ laid aside his
majesty, took our debt of sins and lavished us with his reward, his acceptance
and his love.
In Jesus Christ, we see the truly righteous man - who
fulfilled all of God’s law. We see the truly rich man - who left his wealth to
enter our poverty. And in Jesus Christ, we see God doing the impossible -
saving sinners at the cost of his own Son, by giving him up on the cross.
In love, Jesus looks at us and calls us to exchange our
lives for something infinitely more valuable than all the treasures of heaven.
God offers us the gift of himself. With man this is impossible. With God all
things are possible through Jesus Christ.
