December 07, 2007 Mark 17:17

12/07/2007

Mark 10:17 - 22 (HCSB)

¹⁷As He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up, knelt down before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

¹⁸“Why do you call Me good?” Jesus asked him. “No one is good but One—God. ¹⁹You 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.”

²⁰He said to Him, “Teacher, I have kept all these from my youth.”²¹Then, looking at him, Jesus loved him and said to him, “You lack one thing: Go, sell all you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.” ²²But he was stunned at this demand, and he went away grieving, because he had many possessions.

As children, we are all taught to “follow the rules.” At school, when we play a game, we must “follow the rules” of the game. When we interact with other students we must “follow the rules” of decorum. Even when we learn to drive, we must “follow the rules” of the road. Our lives seem to be full of rules. And indeed rules are not a bad thing. They help us maintain order and civility.

In this story, a man comes up to Jesus and asks Him a question. No doubt this man had heard Jesus talking about eternal life. The man is identified as “the rich young ruler.” We don’t know much about him except that he was wealthy and probably in some position of power.

You will recall that the Pharisees and Scribes had often times tried to trick Jesus by asking questions about His theology, be we don’t get that same sense from this fellow. It is likely that his question came from a genuine interest. But he asks Jesus, “What do I need to do to gain eternal life?” Jesus, of course, already knew the man and his intentions. Jesus recites to him a few of the commandments. Remember that Jesus used every encounter to teach. I am sure there were many listening on to this discourse.

The man replies (and probably with some pride) “I have followed all the rules since I was a kid.”

Let us stop here for just a second and ask: Is it enough to just follow the rules?

The answer Jesus gives tells us that just following the rules is not enough, because he says to the man, “Yes, but you still lack one thing…sell all you have, give it to the poor, and follow me.” We are told the man leaves dismayed because of his wealth.

Is Jesus saying it is a rule that we must sell all we have and give to the poor? No, of course not. What He is saying is that we must not let our wealth become a hindrance to our devotion to Him. Jesus already knew this about the man and why his wealth would be an issue for him. The man was not able to part with his wealth.

So is there a rule behind this? Well, rules are guidelines to how we can maintain respect and dignity for each other, but charity is how we show love for each other.

Let me say it another way. We must go beyond the letter of the law to the spirit of the law. When we do that, then our wealth will not be a hindrance to us following Him.

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