Jesus Demands
For Meditation
In these verses we hear a well-known story, one that is told in three of the four Gospels, about Jesus’s encounter with a rich young ruler. This young man, who is not only wealthy, but also an upstanding, moral and religious leader in his community, comes to Jesus asking how he can inherit eternal life. And Jesus's response turns the tables on him, and to everyone’s shock who is watching, as he tells the man to give up everything he has.
One the one hand, this is a story about money. It's a story where we see the power money has to blind us from spiritual reality and Jesus is trying to wake us up. On the other hand, this is a story about grace. Jesus is calling this man to recognize that he cannot save his own life and can only be saved through a miraculous work of the grace of God.
So this is a story that challenges us on multiple levels. First, it challenges us to recognize that we all have idols in our lives that prevent us from seeing clearly. Especially for those of us who live in the West, money is one of those great and powerful idols that blind us from true spiritual reality. Secondly, we see that Jesus wants to bring us to a place where we can recognize that we are truly in bondage, and need to throw ourselves on to him to receive this miracle of grace that he so generously wants to give each of us.
In preparation for worship, ask God to open your eyes to see your true need for his grace.
Mark 10:17-31
17 As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’”
20 “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”
21 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.”
22 At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.
23 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”
24 The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 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.”
26 The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?”
27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”
28 Then Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow you!”
29 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel 30 will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. 31 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”