17 As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’ ”
20 “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.” 21 Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
22 At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth. 23 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”
24 The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said 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 The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?” 27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”
28 Then Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow you!” 29 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel 30 will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. 31 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
Mark 10:17-31 (NIV)
Was this a test for this particular person? Or does this apply to all of us?
This is the popular verse for so many of us to worry about (when we’re from affluent demographics) - or alternately one of the most popular passages to ignore or dismiss (for the same people.)
Here is one suggested response that occurs to me (heavily influenced by authors like George MacDonald). And that is - if we’re asking this question (Is this really required of us? All of us?), then we’re probably among the many who still haven’t given ourselves completely over to Christ. In other words - the fact that we’re asking the question (with apparent concern) at all, already betrays where we are (or aren’t) spiritually. Because then we’ve shown we’re still in a “what all is required of me” mode of thinking about our salvation. We need to get past that. Our salvation was already accomplished for us. Plenty of people availed themselves of that free gift regardless of their financial state at the time. And once we’ve fully given ourselves over to Christ, we should be thinking of all of ourselves as being sold out for the kingdom (not just our money). And none of it is my money any more anyway. It’s already God’s. My body too - not just my money - not just my possessions. Whether some money is still in my pocket or whether I’m called to part with it - either way it’s God’s. Perhaps I’m called to steward it responsibly in order to care for my family needs? Very likely - a good and prudent thing to do. But it’s still God’s money - and if God calls me to part with any part or all of it - that will be God’s call, and if I’m attentive and obedient, then I must do so. But there is no formula (like the rich young ruler was questing for at first) - that if I just give all my money away, now I’ll be perfect enough to qualify for Jesus’ work. It doesn’t work like that. Paul even speaks of surrendering our very body to the flames (and giving up my body would be even harder than parting with my money, right?) - but even doing that is nothing more than superstitious claptrap if not done for the motivation of Love itself.
So if you finish reading this by concluding: “Oh good! - so he’s saying I don’t have to give it up then!” - reaching that conclusion with relief would only reveal that you entirely missed the whole point of everything here.
If you give everything to the poor you will just end up being one and needing it back.
The Gospel has to be practical and realistic.
the crunch being, do you love your wealth and belongings more than God, and, would you be prepared to forgo any or all of them if push came to shove?
It is not the impossible choice of a camel and a needle (Ignoring the “explanation”) it is more about necessity over luxury. In truth I am not sure that I could justify the number of tellys I have amongst other things.
On the other hand Jesus did say that there will always be poor and imply that we can’t help everyone.
There is no universal answer, unfortunately. I think it is more of a personal solution. In a perfect (Star Trek?) world there would be no poor. But in reality, if you gave everyone £1000 within a few days some would have more and some would have less, and be poor within a week.
We make idols of a lot of things. Like the rich man here, we often make idols of material goods. To Thomas, Jesus saw that it was his family ties, and told him to let the dead bury the dead. To others it may be their devotion to a company, school, country,or (gasp!) a particular church.
I think it is an universal struggle, and for me, something that happens almost continually.
The point was if you are looking for a way to get salvation done as one of your accomplishments so you can get on with your life then you are barking up the wrong tree because there is no such thing. It is not that what you do doesn’t matter – far from it. But even so, salvation is not something you can do, only God can do this.
This is what the man was looking for, and no Jesus’ response was not to give him five simple steps to get it done, because that is just wrong. Nor was Jesus’ response simply to say either God has chosen you or He has not chosen you - that is wrong too. What you do certainly does matter and sincere effort is certainly required, repentance definitely, and doing your best to live in accordance with what is good rather than evil. But you do all this in faith and not with some expectation you can earn your way to heaven. You leave salvation in the hands of God.
God may call you to sell everything and give it to the poor so you can follow Jesus. Or God may call you to keep and guard your business which people depend on for their livelihood rather than selling them all down the river for your own personal religious gratification.
Or another way we could think of this is … marriage.
What would a bride-to-be think of her groom-to-be if he nervously approached her before the wedding day and asked … “Ummm, how much of my money am I going to need to give to you? Will 10% be enough? Or are you going to require even more than that?”
The 90% of us who thankfully aren’t “rich” enough to live in a world of lawyers and pre-nuptual agreements will recognize this question as beyond “red flag” - for most of us who experience real love, it would be a silly question in the extreme, and we would be right to re-consider our pending nuptial bonds with anybody who seriously asked it. No - if our heart is entirely given over to our beloved, then everything of mine is already hers anyway - not even just my money. Whatever has our hearts, already has our money and everything else too. And of course the spouse, if he or she’s thinking “Oh good - I’m going to come into possession of a lot of wealth that I’m eager to take over and make it exclusively mine!” - that too would be a red flag in the extreme. Any in-love couple would see all their resources pooled between them as being available to whatever fluorishing family and needs they may have together and they rejoice in meeting each other’s needs and even making each other happy.
Perhaps that is an accurate way to see our relationship to God too - If we’re asking about percentages, then we’re already, as @mitchellmckain says, ‘barking up the wrong tree.’
Check out A.W. Tozer’s The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing… highly highly recommended. It’s a short chapter from the book The Pursuit of God. It can be found online or being read on YouTube.
I just wish the story had taken a sharp turn: i.e. the guy sells all that he has, gives it all away, and goes back to Jesus and says, “all done and gone, where do we go from here now?”
I’d ask my wife what she thinks about selling our house and giving the proceeds away. but she already hinted. in a slightly different conversation, that it would take some getting used to, but she’s pretty sure she’ll do okay, if and when I want to leave … alone.
This is sometimes used as an argument that “Jesus was wrong on certain issues.”
I wondered why Jesus would ask this from this young man, while he didn’t ask the same of others. (e.g. Luke 19:8-9)
So this:
made me realise that Jesus can ask this of all his disciples, but most of the time he doesn’t. (The whole New Testament tells us to be very generous with what God has given us of course, this is for everyone.)
So thanks again, now it makes sense in my head. I always try to read the Bible canonically, but this pericope eluded me.
In this instance, Jesus called him to sell everything he had. Something Jesus can demand from all of us. But in most cases Jesus calls us to use our possessions in a different way to build up the kingdom.
Do I think that those verses were specifically about that man? Yes. But the Bible also mentions the people selling their houses and so on. But most of that in my opinion was also about the end of the world coming upon them under the persecution of Rome. So I don’t think we have to be homeless and live in poverty. After all, some disciples were mentioned as owning houses and holding congregations there and so on. Especially several of the women.
But what we do see for all disciples is that we need to have hearts of charity. No matter how little you have, even if you are homeless, you should be willing to help others in some way. Even if it’s just buying a $3 candy bar for someone who is in the tent next to yours. We are not called to tithe, you can give your congregation 0% to 100% if you want. But we see examples that giving is good. It does come at a sacrifice. Giving pennies when you have millions is not a giving heart. Likewise, giving just $2 when you make $35,000 a year is not very charitable either. But there are many ways to give. We can give with our time now.
But will I ever sell all I own and give it to the church? Become a homeless man? Absolutely not. For a fact, I have decided to cut back how much I was giving. I was giving around 25% of my income. Did it for years. It was burdensome. Now I’ve dropped back to around 10% and that includes money to shelters, food pantries and also to things really important to me like conservation. I’m 100% at peace about it. I stopped giving money to missionaries also. I no longe believe in its cause. I don’t see the point is giving $600 a year, along with like 20 other people, so that 2 Americans can go to India or China for a few months and share the gospel. Instead, I’ll push for my church to sponsor another church in that country. Send a fraction of the money and it goes 10x further.
He asked it of him because for him, it was of more importance than following Jesus. Perhaps for Zacchaeus, it was not an impediment, but could be used for good without being an idol. Interesting as how following Jesus may look different from person to person.
Acts 5 contains the sad story about two persons (Ananias and Sapphira) who faked giving what they had to be used in the work of God. It did not end up well, both died. Anyhow, when Peter rebukes Ananias, he tells that what they owned belonged to them, both before and after selling, which means they had full rights to keep or give their money - no forced giving (Acts 5:4). Keeping some part of the money was not a problem, the problem was cheating, lying that they had given everything.
Although this was a very special case, it shows that giving everything you own was not a demand among the believers.
In the letters of Paul, there are advice about giving money. These parts seem to draw a similar kind of picture, what you own is yours and you can decide how much you give. Giving reveals something about the attitude of your heart, so the expectation is that believers give but there are no strict demands, except that you should not give more than you have.
I discuss this rather extensively in Chapter 6 of Superbia. It’s not an issue of my own opinion; I cite classic theologians as well as contemporary psychological research.
The answer, interestingly, is implicit in the question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” He didn’t ask, “what must I do to be saved?”, much less, “Lord have mercy upon me.”
The rich young ruler pridefully assumed he could meet the demands of the law and merit eternal life through his own moral rectitude and good works. Jesus’s reply exposed the folly of that assumption.
This week I listened to a BibleProject podcast about money, and they mentioned Mark 7:9-13.
9 And he continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! 10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’ 11 But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is Corban (that is, devoted to God)— 12 then you no longer let them do anything for their father or mother. 13 Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.”
I think this is the perfect example of people neglecting God’s calling for their “own personal religious gratification” as you phrased it.
What must I do to inherit ete4rtnal life? What must I do to be saved?
Jesus= Have you obeyed the Ten Commandments?
Rich, young ruler- Yes!
Jesus- One thing more do you have to do in addition to keep the commandments. Sell all that you have, give the proceeds to the poor and follow Me?
[ This actually three things: sell, give, and follow! Since I am sure that Jesus can count, I meant it as all one actio0n. The man could not follow Jesus Who was an itinerant preacher while at the same time managing a large business, so he had to choose one or the other. To follow Jesus he had to sell his possessions.
Jesus did not tell him to sell his possessions, give the proceeds to Jesus Ministries Inc. , and then follow Him.
In a biography of Francis of Assisi I recall some prelate chastizing Francis for giving more than he had, to which Francis replied that since his father had claimed that everything Francis had belonged to the father, then Francis had had nothing to give away anyway.
“Sacrificial giving” is something urged on people by too many TV preachers who tell people to mortgage their homes and send the money; those people need to know that by so doing they are making a serious error.
The issue this passage also raises is Jesus’ apparent view that obedience to the Law and self-sacrifice is sufficient for salvation.
He seems to equate ‘treasures in heaven’ with entering the kingdom of God. Note that he says if you obey the commands and give away all your wealth, you will have treasures in heaven. That is before he says, then come follow me.
Jeremiah 17:5-8:
5 This is what the Lord says:
“Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
who draws strength from mere flesh
and whose heart turns away from the Lord.
6 That person will be like a bush in the wastelands;
they will not see prosperity when it comes.
They will dwell in the parched places of the desert,
in a salt land where no one lives.
7 “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence is in him.
8 They will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit.”