Context
Jesus has left Galilee for the last time and is headed up the road to Jerusalem.
From verse 1 of this chapter Mark has shown Jesus encountering three groups of people: Pharisees, little children and the rich young man. A good title might be, ‘Sex Power and Wealth!’
Mark is dealing with the matter of discipleship and that it is a relationship of dependancy on Christ. Jesus still hasn’t revealed how God will save us. First we have to understand that we cannot save ourselves: we need a saviour.
Sex power and wealthare three things that undermine discipleship. We know that the road to Jerusalem is a hard one for Jesus to take foor he knows the cost of his service to humanity. As we disciples follow, we too must learn that we need to show a similar determined commitment if we are to follow our Lord. In terms of worldy existence that may mean paying a cost, but of course the benefits at the end of theroad will far outweigh anything we think we might lose now.
In the last study we looked at marriage and the problems of legalism. Now we turn to matters of social status and materialism.
The disciples stop children coming to Jesus and he in turn gets very cross with them. In a general sense what the disciples were doing that so upset Jesus was judging who could and who couldn’t get close to Jesus They seem to have done so on the basis of social status, and they were presuming on behalf of Jesus who was important to him. When Jesus takes issue with them it might have been about any kind of person: cripples, foreigners, lepers etc., but Mark pinpoints children.
We live in a society that is increasingly recognising that children should have rights under law, but that was not the case in first century Israel. There, children had no legal standing at all and no rights. They were legally-speaking persona non grata. Being small physically and mentally immature they were powerless and at the mercy of all adults.
In verse 16 Jesus is seen actively drawing these ‘worthless’ children into his arms, a place of security. He places his hands on them, a sign of intimacy, and he blesses them in the sight of the on-looking disciples, by which he affirms, “these children, and all society's marginalised people, matter to me.”
In words that must have been quite shocking to his hearers Jesus says, “the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” His point is that because they are powerless, they can only accept what is given to them! Then Jesus says, “Anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will not enter it.” And this second statement means that salvation is not just for the in-crowd, for able-bodied, law-abiding male adult Jew.
Let me explain that again in modern terms. Christ's salvation is not just for the middle classes, for adults, for menfolk, for Europeans, for whites, for heterosexuals, for Anglicans. In other words there is no prejudice in Christ and we have no right to bring our own prejudices into play when evangelising. We have no right to discriminate who should hear the gospel, and we should not decide who God wants to call. Instead, we should welcome all people into our midst to hear the gospel and to be a full part of our fellowship.
In verse 20 the man is sure he has kept all the great commandments of the previous verse, and if that's true then he is to be commended. But those commandments quoted are only six out of the ten. What has been left out are the first four of the great commandments, the ones about relationship with God.
I once shocked a colleague who was adamant that his father, who he used as an example, would get to heaven. He called his father, “a lovely Christian man who would do anything for anyone. You couldn’t wish to meet a nicer person.” I said I accepted this description of his character, but unless his father knew God and honoured God first, then the gates of heaven would be barred. According to God's own word, his father's good works towards others would not one jot of difference.
This matter of faith in God coming before good works should help us to understand what Jesus means by his answer in v 21 and his statements in v 23 and 25. There is nothing inherently wrong with having money, and this man has used his wealth for many good works, so we might ask why he should get rid of all that he has?
Well, It’s a matter of reliance or dependence. Do we trust in money or trust in God? If we have no material wealth then we will be more prone to throw ourselves on God’s mercy, but if we are rich, then such self-humbling becomes extrmely hard. And yet all disciples of Christ must learn dependance upon him. If he is Lord, then we must treat him as such.
By verse 22 the man has failed in his quest and he walks sadly away. Some might say that Jesus was too harsh on him. Yet, Jesus most likely knew the response the man would give and had met him with the most helpful response he could give! Do notice that before he replies, the text says in verse 21 that Jesus ‘loved him.’ Acting in love is not necessarily something that means never challenging someone to the point of upsetting them. Sometimes, the best medicine is a rebuke or verbal 'slap in the face' that provokes further thought in the person. It is far from clear that the rich young man walked away never to come to faith.
For the sake of understanding the point that Jesus is making in this passage a little better, it is not just lottery winners and fat cats like this 1st century man who are rich. Actually, in a way, we all are. Certainly, we all aspire to riches and improving our material lot in this world. It amounts to covetousness and greed. And it is this mindset that infects rich and poor alike that is the cause of the problem. It is a major hindrance to spiritual progress. The disciples realise this in verse 26 when they ask, “who then can be saved?”
So if it is not a matter of actually owning now a Rolls Royce, a mansion and a seven figure bank balance, then what is it a matter of? The clue is in the list of commands in v 19. Notice please that Jesus says ‘defraud’ rather than ‘covet’. We all aspire to wealth, to material possession. It’s a matter of the mind and will. To covet is the same spiritual risk as to possess! This is a matter of values – giving up what is of relative value for what is of absolute value.
So like the rich young man in this passage should we too walk away? 'We’re all failures. God’s standard is simply too high.' Well, having brought us to this gloomy realisation, Jesus has something to say:
‘Yes it’s impossible for you – but not with God. He can resolve the situation.’
Remember the man’s question. What is striking about the words that he uses is the verb ‘do’. “What must I do?” he asks, but in actual fact, it’s what Jesus will do on the cross at Calvary that is the solution and not what he can do humanly.
What the man should really have asked was this: ‘what must I be?’ And we've already seen the anser to that question. He must become 'like a little child.' Let the Lord of Lords do it for you and accept it as a gift.
In verse 31, Jesus talks of the first being last and the last being first. Discipleship means turning worldly thinking upside down. We must stop grasping for salvation by earthly means, stop building up our heavenly account through acts of religiosity, and stop valuing ourselves by social and pious respectability. Salvation is not a matter of attainment or of achievement. We can only come to the Father through accepting Jesus’ gift of his work on the cross. It is God’s gift.
In the disciples, we are given a contrast to the young man. They are willing to learn and ask the question that everyone should ask, 'Who then can be saved?'(verse 26). No matter how wrong they get things, they have accepted Jesus and valued him so highly as to follow him wholeheartedly, as Peter says in v 28. And look, as Jesus enumerates the cost of discipleship for them just how much there is to gain for those who lose out in terms of worldly wealth on account of their discipleship. Here is a three-fold promise – true wealth now, persecutions and eternal life. We should take special note of that middle one and not have wrong expectations of the Christian life. But isn't eternal life worth a little discomfort right now?