As we know from reading stories about Jesus, people are constantly questioning him as he goes about the countryside preaching and teaching and healing. It is kind of natural for people to have questions. People want to understand things better. They have their own particular interests to clarify. They have a need that they know Jesus can address. I suspect many of us today still have questions for Jesus.
As we noted last week, one of the groups that frequently questions Jesus is the religious scribes and leaders. The Pharisees are primarily interested in making sure everyone is acting in the way they are supposed to act. Want to know how you are supposed to act? Well, look at what scripture says. If it doesn’t address exactly your concern, let’s figure out what comes closest and go from there. Following God for them as described in the Gospels is an either/or situation. Either you are doing what scripture says or you aren’t. There is no concern for nuance or the reason why certain rules are as they are. According to them, our purpose is not to ask why but simply to follow the rules as we find them. Maybe you have met people like this. There are people like this both within and outside of our churches.
Because Jesus tends to not always follow the exact letter of the Law, opting instead to consider the purpose of the rule, the Pharisees are suspicious of him. As we saw last week, they often question Jesus in order to test him. They aren’t looking to understand better. They are looking for Jesus to admit he doesn’t follow the Law so that they can have a reason to denounce him.
On the other hand, this week we continue reading Mark 10 and find a man who approaches Jesus with a very different question (Mark 10:17-31). Following his encounter with the Pharisees and then his blessing of the children, Jesus continues down the road. A man runs up and kneels before him. “Good Teacher, what must I do to obtain eternal life?” Unlike the Pharisees, this man acknowledges Jesus as a teacher with authority. He wants to learn from him. “What must I do?”
As we saw last week and will continue to see over and over, Jesus responds first with a question of his own. In this case, Jesus is actually getting in a bit of a dig at his disciples. “Why do you call me good? Only God is good.” In two sentences, Jesus identifies himself with God and points out that this stranger has recognized this where his disciples have not. Then Jesus points to the commandments (mostly). Most of us are familiar with the Ten Commandments, so you may notice that Jesus adds in an extra thought here that is not in the list we find in either Exodus or Deuteronomy. In the midst of his shortened list, Jesus adds in “Don’t cheat.” Other modern translations say “You shall not defraud.” This seems like an odd addition at first. This isn’t part of the Ten Commandments.
But we must remember that Jesus has a specific reason for answering the way he does. Jesus is speaking about the kingdom of God and what it looks like. Just as T’Challa’s father in Black Panther says, “it’s hard for a good man to be king,” Jesus is suggesting that it is hard for a rich man to get that way honestly. Jesus is making the case that too many of the rich get that way by cheating others out of their own earnings. They take more than they should, short their workers on their wages, accept bribes, refuse to pay for services rendered. Jesus is in effect reminding him to be careful how you make and maintain your wealth.
My guess is that this man has the look of someone who is well off, something affirmed in the verses that follow. But at this point, we simply have context clues to go on. We must consider that this man comes running up to Jesus. We touched last week on the disciples’ gate-keeping. As we will see again as time goes on, the disciples have a tendency to try to manage who has access to Jesus, and Jesus has already berated them more than once about who they show deference to. Last week, we saw that they had no problem allowing the Pharisees to approach Jesus, but they wanted to keep the children and those who were bringing them away. Something about this man’s appearance obviously suggested to the disciples that it was okay to let him approach Jesus.
Jesus is obviously responding to the same cues that the disciples have responded to. Something about the man in front of him, whether it is his clothes or his demeanor, has suggested that he is a man of substantial means.
Oddly, this man does not bat an eye at Jesus’ inclusion of this extra commandment. He responds simply, “I’ve kept all of these things since I was a boy.” He implicitly includes the new commandment in the response. He basically says, “I have done all that is required and more.” And Jesus is moved by his response. Jesus looks at him and loves him. Does he love him for his honesty? For his devotion? It is difficult to say with any certainty, but Jesus felt affection for this man who wanted to know what he must do and has apparently lived a life devoted to what the commandments say.
But Jesus is not done. He takes it one step further. One thing remains -- sell all that you have and give the money to the poor. The man is heartbroken at these words and leaves unfulfilled. He owned many things and could not imagine giving them up.
It reminds me a bit of the interaction between Luke and Yoda in Return of the Jedi. After previously cutting his training short, Luke returns to continue learning from the wise Jedi master. "What must I do?" Yoda responds that there is nothing else he can teach him; he has all that he needs. Perhaps a bit like the man who has kept all the commandments, Luke responds with awe, "Then I am a Jedi." But exactly like Jesus, Yoda perks back up. Not so fast. "One thing remains..." Yoda gently chides him, reminding him that becoming a Jedi is not only about himself, not about simply checking off items on a training list; it is about what he does with it. "Are you prepared to potentially lose all that you hold dear for the betterment of others?"
After the man sadly leaves Jesus and walks away, Jesus looks around at the disciples. I can imagine them all staring at him in disbelief. He goes on to explain how unlikely it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom. Now the disciples are truly shocked. It is their turn to ask a question. “Who can be saved?” Jesus’ response is a mini encapsulation of the entire gospel. “For humans it is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Jesus is making two points in his answer today. First, Jesus is in some ways trying to shift the man’s self-centeredness toward the needs of others. As we consider the interaction and the man’s response, we see that everything was about him personally. “What must I do to gain eternal life?” I’ve done all that was required of me. The man is asking only for himself, and his responses are also about himself alone. Jesus tells the man that he must deny himself. “Sell all that you own, and give the money to the poor.” Stop trying to take care of yourself alone. Turn your selfish focus around. Give your devotion to God and care for your neighbor.
But, second, just as last week’s answer was not exactly about marriage and divorce, this week’s answer is not exactly about money. For this particular man, the presenting issue was his wealth, but Jesus is suggesting that anything that gets in the way of our acceptance of God is a problem. I think for once the disciples actually recognized this. “Then who can be saved?”
“It’s impossible for human beings….” None of us has the power to save ourselves. Not one of us in this room today or watching online can save ourselves. We cannot buy our way into the kingdom. We cannot do anything to earn our way in. The kingdom of God is not some merit badge where we complete a few tasks and then sew it on our uniform. The kingdom of God is only possible because of our relationship with God.
Remember I said that Jesus’ answers always give us a glimpse of the kingdom. Jesus is reminding us that the kingdom is not about personal gain. Through our relationship with God, we want all people to win. We want everyone to be included. That is the reason he answers this particular man the way he does. Turn your selfishness around. Stop worrying about how you individually can achieve the kingdom of God. Instead, figure out how to make the kingdom present here and now in the lives of those around you.
We all know how difficult that can be for us. I suspect we all have things in our lives that can get in the way not only of our relationship with God but also with making the kingdom present in the world by loving our neighbors. For this man, it was the possessions that he was attached to. “He could not imagine a life without his possessions. He could not...imagine his worth without them.”
What are those things for us? What are the parts of our lives that we cannot imagine ourselves without? How do these things get in the way of our love of God and our love of others?
Like this man and even the disciples, how do we assign worth in our world? And how does that get in the way of our love of God and our love of others?
“It’s impossible with human beings, but not with God. All things are possible for God.”
Jesus points us to hope. There is nothing we can do to earn our way into the kingdom, but God will make a way. No matter what we assign worth to, no matter how good we are, no matter how rich we are, it does not earn us a place in the kingdom. On the flip side, no matter how bad we are, no matter how poor we are, no matter that we turn our backs on God or others, God still reaches out, offering us hope and a way home. It is God that invites us in. It is God that makes a way possible. It is God that shows us the way.
As we continue to ask what we must do to gain eternal life, let us remember that Jesus tells us the answer is not about some distant future and it is not about some sort of individual sense of salvation. The kingdom of God is meant to be lived in here and now. And the sign of the kingdom is that love of God and love of neighbor come first.