
Mark 10:17-31
As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" 18 Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. 19 You know the commandments: 'You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.'" 20 He said to him, "Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth." 21 Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, "You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." 22 When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.
23 Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!" 24 And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them 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 They were greatly astounded and said to one another, "Then who can be saved?" 27 Jesus looked at them and said, "For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible."
28 Peter began to say to him, "Look, we have left everything and followed you." 29Jesus 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, 30 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."
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his book, The Cost of Discipleship, makes the argument that Jesus had to not only suffer for our sins but had to be rejected. He states that Jesus could have just been a martyr simply by dying for the cause. And by that very fact, all the “sympathy” and “admiration” of the entire world could have focused on his passion story. However, Jesus was also rejected by the very people he came to help. He writes, “It could have been viewed as a tragedy with its own intrinsic value, dignity, and honor. But in the passion, Jesus is a rejected messiah. His rejection robs the passion of its halo of glory. It must be a passion without honor.” (Bonhoeffer 1995)
Now imagine the rich man who Jesus turns away. Do you think he feels much honor? Have you ever felt rejected by anyone? A first crush, a boss, a friend, or a family member. It hurts, especially when you have done right by that person. The rich man had kept the commandments since his youth, but he was found unworthy. The betrayal he feels is undoubtedly overwhelming. I have heard many sermons about the rich man where the preacher says, “He walked away grieving because he could not do what Jesus asked.” This is not what the scripture says. It says, “went away grieving, for he had many possessions” (v22). Call me an optimist, but I would like to believe that he grieved because he understood the assignment. Stay with me as I explain my optimism.
Jesus follows this interaction with a lesson for his disciples about how hard it will be for a rich man to get into heaven. Of course, the disciples are confused because, in their world, wealth is considered a sign of blessings from God. Traditionally, a King such as David would be the wealthiest person, and, of course, David was called a man after God’s own heart. I believe that Mark told these two passages to show us the same assignment Jesus gave the rich man. When we accept Jesus as our savior, we will have to grieve our old life because, from now on, it will not be the same.
Your life before Christ becomes something that you must let go of. The thing you held on to that defined you, that gave you purpose. That idol in your life must be surrendered so that Christ can occupy that space. For some people, it is easy; they accept Christ, and from that moment, they are on fire! They come to church, they come to Bible study and church events, they volunteer to visit, and they tell everyone who will listen just what Christ has done for them. But others of us must take time to grieve, and we even run from God, or at least we try. Eventually, we come to the understanding that Christ never rejected us; Christ has been with us all along. That time of grieving, when we believed we were all along, is like the poem “Footprints in the sand.”
So I said to the Lord, “You promised me Lord, that if I followed you, you would walk with me always. But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life there have only been one set of footprints in the sand. Why, when I needed you most, you have not been there for me?”
The Lord replied, “The times when you have seen only one set of footprints is when I carried you.” (Stevenson 2013)
Have you ever felt that God did not understand you, or have you ever thought that you have nothing to offer God? If you have ever felt like you were not loved, well, I want you to think about what Jesus endured. He was rejected and mocked, and still, he cried, “Father, forgive them.” (Luke 23:34). How can I believe that Christ did not reject the rich man, that he just sent him to deal with the assignment? Well, it’s easy because the disciples ask Jesus if a man can’t go to heaven just because he’s rich, or keeps the commandments, or is just a charming person, then, “Who can be saved?” Jesus replays with the best line in the bible. “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; For God all things are possible.” (v.27)
For God, all things are possible. We have a hard time understanding that God can send you away to grieve the loss of your old life while carrying you during your lowest time. God can set you on fire inside the church, use you to the limit of your spiritual gifts, and do amazing things through you for His glory. For God, there is no limit, no set of parameters, and no box we can put God into so that we can feel comfortable.
The famed astrophysicist Neal deGrasse Tyson writes in his book Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, “The universe is under no obligation to make sense to you.” (Tyson 2017) I believe we can take that sentiment and apply it to theology and say, “God is under no obligation to make sense to you.” If God were, then by the very thought, God would not be a supreme being. I believe, with every fiber of my being, that the Holy Spirit is working right now in the lives of so many people who want to seek God in ways that we do not know or comprehend now. That is why I believe that the rich man, surprised, went away and grieved his old life. I choose to believe he, then, did what Jesus told him to do. He put away his attachment to his possessions, the things that separated him from God, and then he took up that cross and followed Jesus.
We are so bombarded by information about the bad. We are told so often that “they” do this and “they” do that. For far too long, preachers have preached fear tactics to scare you into obedience, with the fear of “going to hell,” and good Christians, who don’t know any better, follow the lead and point their fingers at others, just as the preacher pointed at them. This is not what Jesus did; this is not what Jesus taught. Jesus was better than all of that. He taught us to be humble. He taught us not just to follow the commandments but to live the commandments. We, the Christians, the followers of Christ, must be the servant leaders, not the accusers.
Christ suffered for us; His very followers rejected him; He died the most horrible death imaginable, yet upon his return, he sought no revenge; he asked for no retribution. He said, “Peace be with you.” (Luke 24, John 20) Jesus had let go of his earthly life in his resurrection. He did not allow the evils that were put upon him, the denials by his closest disciples, the humiliation before the masses, and his murder by his own government to cause hate to enter his heart. He was above the earthly troubles. I encourage you to go back and read the Gospels. Especially in the passion stories, where we see the frustration in Christ’s words. (Mark 14:32-50, Matthew 26:36-56, Luke 22:39-53, John 18:1-12)
Jesus suffered and was rejected so that we would never be. When we live in Christ, we have that burden carried by God. We have a promise of salvation. The Greek word σωζω (sozo), which means save, is, in Greek, a literal physical removal from danger. In lay terms, God will pull you out of your mess. (Kittel, Friedrich and Bromiley, D.LITT., D.D. 1982) Today, we tend to think in terms of the spiritual, but the Greek meaning is very much a physical salvation as well.
Are you ready to let go of your old life? Are you prepared to follow Christ? Your old life belongs to the world, to the possessions, to the idols that defined you. Your new life in Christ belongs to God, to Jesus through the Holy Spirit. When we come to that realization, nothing can hurt us anymore; our treasure is in heaven, and our salvation is secured. God has literally pulled us from harm and saved us from suffering and rejection!
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. AMEN. AMEN. AMEN.
Works Cited
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. 1995. The Cost of Descipleship. New York: Touchstone, an imprintt of Simon & Schuster. P.87
Kittel, Gerhard, Gerhard Friedrich, and Geoffrey W. Bromiley, D.LITT., D.D., . 1982. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Vol. VII. X vols. Grand Rapids, Michigan: WM. B. Eermans Publishing Company.
2022. "NRSVue." NRSVue Holy Bible with Deuterocanonical/Apocryphal Books of the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
Stevenson, Mary. 2013. Footprints in the Sand. Accessed October 12, 2024. https://thebottomofabottle.wordpress.com/2013/03/23/footprints-in-the-sand-by-mary-stevenson/.
Tyson, Neil deGrasse. 2017. Astrophysics for People in a Hurry (Astrophysics for People in a Hurry Series). New York: W. W. Norton & Company. Kindle Edition.
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