As I was scrolling through my newsfeed today on Facebook, I noticed that someone had posted the quote “Some people are so poor, all they have is money.” I absolutely LOVE this quote. After thinking about it for a while, it reminded me of the passage about the rich young ruler. What an amazing story with so much to teach us! I chose the version from Mark to post about today.
Mark 10:17-31
17 As Jesus was starting out on his way to Jerusalem, a man came running up to him, knelt down, and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked. “Only God is truly good. 19 But to answer your question, you know the commandments: ‘You must not murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. You must not cheat anyone. Honor your father and mother.’”
20 “Teacher,” the man replied, “I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was young.”
21 Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him. “There is still one thing you haven’t done,” he told him. “Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
22 At this the man’s face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.
23 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God!” 24 This amazed them. But Jesus said again, “Dear children, it is very hard to enter the Kingdom of God. 25 In fact, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!”
26 The disciples were astounded. “Then who in the world can be saved?” they asked.
27 Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But not with God. Everything is possible with God.”
28 Then Peter began to speak up. “We’ve given up everything to follow you,” he said.
29 “Yes,” Jesus replied, “and I assure you that everyone who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or property, for my sake and for the Good News, 30 will receive now in return a hundred times as many houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and property—along with persecution. And in the world to come that person will have eternal life. 31 But many who are the greatest now will be least important then, and those who seem least important now will be the greatest then.”
This is another great example of Jesus flipping everything upside down. The last will be first and the first will be last. God doesn’t operate the same way this world does. God looks at the intentions of our hearts.
To begin with, I want to talk about verse 18. It always used to confuse me, but I finally learned what it means. By calling Jesus good, he was essentially calling Him God. We use the world ‘good’ a lot today. Do we really understand that only God is truly good? I wonder how they used the word back then. By asking the man this questions, he was basically asking, “Do you know who you’re talking to? Do you know that I am God?” After reading that in a commentary, it made a lot more sense to me.
Now look at the first sentence in verse 21. It’s so great how Mark includes little things like this. Jesus loved the man even though he knew the man wasn’t going to follow him. Jesus loved us so much that He died for us knowing we may never follow Him. His love and compassion for this broken world never ceases to amaze me. One of the ways He shows His love to us is through His commands. Sometimes, I forget that these commands are out of love, but they are. God loves us so much that He wants to be with us! His commands are like directions to Heaven. 
Jesus gave the man instruction out of love. He wanted the rich man to receive eternal life, so He told him how to get to heaven. How sad that the rich man decided his money here on Earth was more valuable than the rewards his Father would give him in Heaven!
I think the main issue of this passage is the heart of the man. He kept all the commandments; he probably even kept the extra regulations that the Pharisees made up, but Jesus saw something lacking in him. He gave a challenge to the man that would expose what he had really placed his faith in. A person cannot love both God and money. You can serve only one master. if the man served God, he shouldn’t have had a problem giving up his wealth. His love of money stopped him from receiving eternal life.
This passage is about more than just money, though. It’s about our willingness to follow and serve God no matter what. It’s about choosing Jesus over everything else in this life. We must remove all barriers that keep us from being fully committed to Christ. Are you willing to give up everything in a heartbeat? Anything in this world can be taken from you in a second, but your treasures in heaven will not disappear.
The rich young ruler’s attitude made him unable to fulfill the first commandment which is to let nothing be more important than God (Exodus 20:3). Although the man thought he had kept this commandment, he was unwilling to serve God with his whole heart, since part of his heart was devoted to his money. Is there anything in your life that keeps you from being 100% committed to Jesus? Are you serving God with your whole heart and everything you have or is there something He wants to to give up. Are you willing to drop everything and follow Jesus? If so, He promises you eternal life. Nothing is worth more than than!
Tagged: Bible, Book of Mark, Christ, Christianity, commandment, Daily Dose, eternal life, eye of a needle, God, Gospel, heaven, Jesus, Kingdom of God, Love, man jesus, Mark, Mark 10, money, motives, poor, reward, Rich young ruler, salvation, scripture, theology, treasures
