MARKAN MEDITATIONS

Meditations in the Gospel of St.Mark

St. Mark 10:17-31

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THIS STORY of the rich young ruler follows naturally from the words of Jesus in the verses before concerning the right way to come before God. The whole point of the story is the exposing of the wrong approach to God, even though it is the approach we naturally think as right.

The rich young ruler had so much excellence in the way he approached Jesus, though he fell down on the crucial point. He ran to Jesus, so expressing the urgency of his quest for eternal life. He fell on his knees before Jesus, thus expressing a high regard for Jesus. He came with the greatest and best desire of all - to obtain eternal life. Yet his question to Jesus is all wrong.

So often people come to this story and miss this essential point of the story. The ruler asked Jesus what he had to do to inherit eternal life. He thought eternal life was obtained by merit. He thought that he could earn eternal life by his own effort, or at least by his own personal doing in some form. This error is not surprising because we all start with this belief, and we need to be shown that such a belief leads us into impossibilities. If this is the way then none of us can obtain eternal life, because we are unable to do enough to merit it.

The point of the story and Jesus' words and actions is to bring the young man to the realisation of that fact. Jesus does not bluntly tell the man that his thinking is all wrong, or that he would not be able to do enough. If Jesus had spoken in this way, the man would not have believed him. The ruler had to be brought to the point of failure, and this is what Jesus did.

When the ruler showed he believed he had kept God's law perfectly (v20), Jesus then applies one specific law about putting God first, and loving him with all our hearts. He told the man he must give away all his money. The ruler went away sad, because he found he loved his wealth and the quality of life it purchased more than Jesus.

When Jesus then goes on to indicate how hard it is for people with wealth to enter the kingdom of God, he is not saying that we qualify for the kingdom by being poor, but highlighting our problem. The wealthy person finds it difficult to give up wealth out of love for God. Jesus is indicating by this failure in reaching God's standards the general truth that this is our weakness. We may not have riches, but there are other things that come between us and God, and which prevent us from loving God with all our hearts. So by human effort it is impossible to gain the perfection that God requires for us in order to merit eternal life.

People argue about what Jesus is meaning when he speaks of a camel going through the eye of a needle. We don't have to argue. What is true is that even if Jesus is speaking of a camel going through the eye of a sowing needle, which of course is impossible, he is powerfully describing how impossible it is for human beings to merit eternal life by their good works. Just as it is impossible for a camel to go through the eye of a sowing needle, so it is equally impossible for fallen and sinful human beings to gain eternal life by their own effort and merit. In fact Jesus presses home the point by saying that it is in fact easier to do the impossible thing of a camel going through the eye of a needle than it is for us to gain eternal life by our keeping of the law of God.

It is no wonder that the disciples cry in amazement in verse 26 "Who then can be saved". They had got the message Jesus was seeking to convey. How blessed is the reply of Jesus in verse 27 "With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God." This is the glorious Gospel of grace through our Lord Jesus Christ. In Jesus Christ God did the impossible. God found the means whereby his holy law could be satisfied perfectly on behalf of every sinner who believes on Jesus. We can't merit eternal life, but Jesus merited it for us by his perfect life and his all sufficient death. In his life Jesus kept the whole law of God perfectly on our behalf, and in his death he made perfect satisfaction to the law of God for all the sins of the world. In Jesus the impossible was achieved by God. In Jesus Christ and through faith in him we receive eternal life.

However the rest of this section reveals how difficult we find it to relinquish our belief that we can merit eternal life somehow ourselves. Peter shows this self trust in verse 28. He is plainly indicating to Jesus that the disciples at least had forsaken all for him, so they deserved to receive entry into the Kingdom of God.

The reply Jesus gives seems at first to be assuring Peter that the disciples would be rewarded. In fact Jesus side steps Peter's words completely. He refers to anyone (no one), and what he is assuring us of is that no one who truly renounces the world, and the self trust which is characteristic of the world, in order to believe in Jesus and the Gospel only, will lose by it. God will not only provide for this life but give eternal life as well.

The passage ends with a warning. Because of our proneness to self trust, many who think because of their religious excellence, etc. that they are nearest to the Kingdom of God, will in fact find that they are the farthest away, because they are really trusting in themselves and their own goodness, and have not renounced their self trust to place all their trust in the all-sufficient work of the Saviour.