"What Might Get in Our Way" (Mark 10:17-31)

As we’ve said many times, the Gospel of Mark (especially the middle chapters) is about discipleship – how is it that we can truly follow Jesus in the post-resurrection era, or more to the point in today’s text – what can get in the way of our journey toward and with Jesus? Let’s see!

(1) Let’s look at it first from the rich man’s side of the story.

There was a certain rich man; well of course we only find out that he was ‘rich’ at verse 22. And we never find out his name … why … because he didn’t come to follow Jesus, but instead returned to obscurity! This rich man though was clearly interested in religion, the spiritual life and Jesus (which of course makes the outcome all the sadder). We can see this deep interest in that the rich man anxiously ran up to Jesus, and having reached him, knelt down before Jesus in obvious deference and respect. This rich man addressed Jesus as “Good Teacher”, suggesting that he was ready to learn from one likely to have the correct answers.

This rich man’s search focussed on how he would gain “eternal life” (and this would refer to fullness of life under God’s reign in the present as well the after-life). And so he obviously was, despite his wealth, discontented with his life, possibly recognising a spiritual void. When he was confronted with some of the ‘ten commandments’, this rich man, no doubt honestly from his own perspective, was able to say that he had abided by such commandments from his youth; indicating that from the time in his early life when he was able to start making decisions for himself between right and wrong (traditionally 13 yo for a Jewish boy), he had largely made good decisions. He knew the Hebrew laws well and had been able to keep to them; but also sensed that there was more to it than just obeying rules. And indeed there was!

When this rich man found out what that extra step he needed to take was, he was none too pleased; in fact we read that he was “shocked”, and that he went away “grieving”, for he had really desired ‘life’, yet could not bring himself to follow Jesus’ instructions. In his mind hope had been dashed, and he probably now felt worse than he did before approaching Jesus on the road; but this disappointment he had brought upon himself! This man had been given the opportunity to experience the day-by-day companionship of Jesus, and he had knocked it back.

Would this be like those people these days who are “shocked” when they find out that Christianity is not really about conforming to rules, nor about living in a so-called ‘Christian’ country, nor even about doing charitable acts, but completely about accepting and following a person … Jesus Christ (especially when they then hear that following Jesus means making significant changes). ‘Give up my possessions … and give all the proceeds to the poor … no way!’ Give up all the security and status my possessions bring to me and follow someone else’s agenda … no!

We could concede that this would be a frightening concept for the habitually rich person – becoming impoverished (at the same time as assisting others out of their poverty – turning the tables on himself it would seem). But wasn’t there a greater loss at stake? There was, and this man was going to suffer it, and it caused him to grieve! Such is the power of the things we cannot give up for those things that would be better.

(2) Now let’s look at this incident from Jesus’ side.

Jesus was heading off down the road when a man came rushing up to him. This man knelt before him, called Jesus “Good Teacher”, and asked a significant spiritual question. Now, whereas there was nothing really wrong with this form of address, it was important that this enquiring man was directed toward a response to God … the source of all goodness. It was probable that this man only saw Jesus as a learned teacher, not the Son of God. And there could be no mere human explanation of such a deep spiritual concept as “eternal life”, so this man needed to be directed to God (the author of life). This is the likely explanation for the curious verse 18. Jesus is not implying that he is in any way imperfect or less than good, but only that the focus here must be on God (who made the covenant with Israel, from which the commandments derive, and the promises of grace proceed).

Having established that God lay at the centre of all life, Jesus went about leading this rich man toward truth. Jesus first laid out some of the traditional Old Testament laws – from the more socio-ethical elements of the ‘ten commandments’; although “you shall not defraud” per se is not actually one of the ‘ten commandments’, but is included elsewhere in OT Law, and you can see why it was included by Jesus here – when we see how connected this man was to his material possessions. Financial dealings were likely to be a point of vulnerability for this man. If someone was rich it was likely they had defrauded the poor in some way somewhere to have become so wealthy. Yet Jesus heard this man honestly say that he had not infringed these commandments of old at all.

For Jesus this was a good start. From here Jesus would be able to move the conversation from where this man currently was in his religious thinking, toward where he needed to be. And Jesus looked upon this man with love (v.21)! This is a beautiful expression of the feelings Jesus has for those who are so close, yet have not fully found relationship with him. As one commentator puts it, this man is “fertile ground”. It was only because he loved this man so much, and truly desired relationship with him, that Jesus brought such a difficult challenge to him. For unless this man could fully respond to the challenge of giving up everything, there would always be too much baggage between him and the actual embracing of “eternal life”.

But we read that the rich man chose his possessions over Jesus, and so Jesus had to endure this rich man walking away unchanged. It wasn’t enough for this man just to conform to some rules – the real way to eternal life was through a change of heart as to what was important. And it’s not about following rules, but about following a person; and in so doing, making the discovery that this person Jesus truly is God (the source of all goodness)!

As an aside, we might note that Jesus did not say for the man to give his possessions directly to the poor, but rather sell his possessions and give the proceeds to the poor. Why would this be the case?? If we give the poor our possessions we are presuming what their needs are, providing them with second-hand stuff which was bought through our own preferences and life-style, and thus in a way maintaining a dominant position over them. Monetary gifts either to individuals (when appropriate) or to aid agencies, allows for needs to be addressed in the most locally appropriate, personally helpful and communally effective ways.

(3) Then we look at this incident from the view of the witnesses – the disciples.

This gospel text of course was written to challenge those already involved in the early church. Were these ones fully given over to Jesus in every aspect of their lives? We see this question put often as Jesus talks specifically to his disciples about the deeper meanings of the incidents they have just witnessed.

The disciples were “perplexed” at the words of Jesus (v.24) – that it was so very difficult, according to Jesus, for the wealthy to participate in God’s Kingdom. They were possibly already confused through Jesus expecting the rich man to give up so much. This was because wealth was considered at the time to be evidence of God’s blessing, and here Jesus was making it seem much more of a curse. [Also poverty was seen to be a judgement over sinners.] Here again was an overturning of conventional expectations. Living within a culture it is so easy to adopt the prevailing cultural norms, and even, if we’re self-deceptive enough, make the bible adaptable to such norms. We should be attentive to how Jesus in the Gospels overturns such accommodation.

In view here was the cultural acceptance that wealth was good. It was actually a curse for this rich man, because he had become so attached to his wealth, it had become so much a part of him, it defined him so closely; so much so, that when the greatest opportunity ever came to him, he had to pass on following Jesus so that he could keep his wealth.

"Watch your thoughts ; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny."

The disciples might have seen this great challenge to give up all possessions as putting up a barrier to gaining faith (whereas in reality it was the only path for this man to find faith). Strange that the disciples would feel this way, as they had given up everything themselves to follow Jesus; yet perhaps in their minds, ‘everything’ in this case was a lot bigger deal than ‘everything’ in their case. Yet the more deep-seated the problem is, the more drastic the remedy might have to be!

The Christian life will always be about making good decisions according to the right priorities! We know that the major issue here was that this rich man couldn’t see life beyond his possessions; however there could also be here the thought that wealth is always built at the expense of the poor. No greater example of this has been the recent prevalence of growing CEO salaries (and pay-outs) at the same time as bulk job losses in the same company. The rich man was not asked to destroy his possessions, or put them out for the council hard rubbish collection (which would have been wasteful); but rather to take proactive (and possibly repentant) action in selling them and returning the proceeds to the poor. This would not only work towards breaking this man’s addiction to wealth, but also promote a new heart understanding and practical response to the plight of others.

Plain and simple … it is impossible for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. Yet this would still be easier to achieve than someone with so much baggage and ego to be able to enter into truly following Jesus. Jesus needs his followers to be humble learners who travel light. We need to be able to follow Jesus’ leading at a moment’s notice, unencumbered by other expectations and worries. What might get in our way? Jesus says to us, ‘Deal with it – then come and follow me’.

We could see this as an impossible task, give up, and go away grieving like the rich man did. Or, we could just believe that the God, who makes what seems impossible actually turn out to be possible, can indeed help us. Many people come to “Search for Life” courses completely weighed down by their various addictions (to alcohol, pornography, work or negative behaviours of various kinds), such that they feel all hope is gone. But it is when they begin to understand how much God loves them, and the alternative power God has to transform them, that the destructive power of these addictions starts to break down. “Who then can be saved?” Everyone who allows God in! Indeed we have to make ourselves bare … to allow God to do what only God can do! The ones who can be humble and open enough to receive what God has to give them, and commit their lives to the cause of Jesus … will be saved, and will be blessed.

Not to say everything will be easy – not at all. The formerly rich man will have to live in a totally different way. Any formerly apathetic person will have to deal with purposeful expectations. The proud authorities will have to become humble servants. And because of this, there may be opposition, such as the original disciples experienced in the first century. Jesus seemed to suggest that persecution was inevitable, and so if there wasn’t any sense of persecution, might it be that we would be taking things too easily?

In conclusion ...

And so what was missing in this rich man’s mindset? What stopped him gaining “eternal life”?? Yes, he had an addiction to money and possessions; but he seemed to also have a spiritual disquiet which led him to make enquiries of Jesus. This man may have nearly been ready to deal with his addiction, but he didn’t quite trust enough that a full-on relationship following Jesus would more than adequately compensate (in some way or another, according to verse 30, a hundredfold over). These blessings will likely become evident in the new community being formed around the Gospel.

As Francis J Maloney writes, “Ultimately, it is not what you have or do not have which matters – it is your preparedness or lack of preparedness to be open to the strange ways of God; and anyone who is prepared to risk all for the sake of Jesus and the Gospel will reap their reward (vv.28-30). As with the way a disciple lives his married life (10:1-12), so also in his [or her] dealing with his [or her] possessions, to follow Jesus means to take up a counter-cultural and in many ways revolutionary position: ‘Many that are first will be last, and the last first’.” (The Year of Mark, page 60).