And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and
knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit
eternal life?” 18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me
good? No one is good except God alone. 19 You know the
commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear
false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” 20 And
he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” 21 And
Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go,
sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in
heaven; and come, follow me.” 22 Disheartened by the saying, he
went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.23 And Jesus
looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those
who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!”
Mark 10:17-24
A very familiar passage, The Rich
Young Ruler. He has become
representative of so many kinds of people.
He is the example of the person who has lived his life legalistically. He is the person who is sincere and sincerely
wrong. He is most often, the man who
loved his wealth more than he wanted eternal life. I found myself reflecting on his encounter
with Jesus.
Here is a person who wants to be
sure that he has done what is necessary to have eternal life. He makes it plain to Jesus that he has tried
to live by the law. Even before his
bar-mitzvah he was already trying to keep the commandments. His entire adult life he has lived according
to the teaching of the rabbis. Still, it
seems he finds himself still unsure of having eternal life. Maybe he came to Jesus because it was
possible that Jesus could give him something additional to do. Maybe he was trying to cover his bases, as it
were. Or maybe he had an uncomfortable
spiritual sense of shortcoming. After
all, he had tried to keep the law but he knew he had not done so perfectly.
One thing really convicted me when I
thought about this. Jesus looked at the
man and loved him! I realized that this is not the kind of
person I am naturally attracted to. He strikes
me as being privileged and self-righteous.
He is also extremely wealthy. I
confess that I have a tendency to look down my own self-righteous nose at
wealthy people who seem to have it all together. But Jesus loved him! And he loved him with agape love! Who do I think I
am to judge people whom Jesus loves?
When the rich man dejectedly walks
away from Jesus’ offer it is easy to feel superior and justified. “See?
He just couldn’t give up his wealth to follow Christ!” Jesus teaches his disciples, “How difficult it is for those who have
wealth to enter the kingdom of God!”
Why is it so hard for the rich to
enter the kingdom? It seems that Peter
understood. In verse 28 he says, “We have left everything to follow you!” Yes, that is what is required. For Christ we give up this world and
everything in it. We die to this
world. We shun the things of the world
in order to embrace our Lord. As long as
we have attachments to the world and its things we will not be able to be fully
attached to Jesus and his kingdom.
Why do I feel so self-righteous in
comparison to this poor man who came to Jesus?
When I look at myself I see far too many worldly attachments. Jesus was speaking about most of us in
America when he said how hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom. I need to listen and wait on the Lord to put
his finger on the attachments that may be hindering my journey with him.
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