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Almighty and ever-living God, increase in us your gift of faith, that, forsaking what lies behind and reaching out to what lies ahead, we may follow the way of your commandments and receive the crown of everlasting joy, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
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Mark 10:17-31
17As [Jesus] was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" 18Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. 19You know the commandments: 'You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.'"20He said to him, "Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth."21Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, "You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." 22When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.
23Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!" 24And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25It 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." 26They were greatly astounded and said to one another, "Then who can be saved?" 27Jesus looked at them and said, "For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible."
28Peter began to say to him, "Look, we have left everything and followed you." 29Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, 30who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age-houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields with persecutions-and in the age to come eternal life. 31But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first."
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REFLECTION
If you are familiar with this passage from Mark's Gospel, you might know it is sometimes called the story of "the rich, young ruler." Looking closely at these verses, this may come as a surprise, since the man Jesus encounters is described here neither as young (as he is in Matthew's Gospel), nor as a ruler (as he is in Luke's Gospel). Mark does not actually call him "rich" either, but says that he had "many possessions." He is just a man who comes humbly to Jesus to seek eternal life, just as we do, and he is one who has many possessions, just as we do. Though Jesus goes on to speak of wealth and those who are "rich," I wonder if our desire to label this person as a "rich, young ruler" is a way for us to identify him as someone quite different than ourselves. Few of us are rulers; not all of us are young; and many of us do not see ourselves as rich - much less young and rich and rulers. Nonetheless, even if modest or middling by American standards, there is no question that by global standards we are materially rich. Jesus' words here are addressed not to just a subset of a few others, but to us. And, to the extent that we distance ourselves from this man and from what Jesus asks of him, we are also like him, as he went away from Jesus, rather than following him.
Jesus reminds him of the Commandments, but lists only the latter ones, those that pertain to our life with our neighbors, and not the first three that call us to a faithful life with God. And Jesus does not question whether the man has truly kept these commandments. Rather, he asks the one thing that will reveal whether there is something in our lives that we value more than the life-giving relationship with God offered to us in Christ, whether we do in fact "fear, love and trust God above all things," as Luther wrote in the Small Catechism. Like Jesus' hyperbolic demand in Mark 9 that one give up a hand or foot or eye to save one's life, this one is also an exaggeration to the extreme: to give up everything in order to serve the neighbor and to receive life in God's Kingdom.
So, the man in this story, with his many possessions, went away grieving the loss of the life Christ offers. Or, was he grieving the loss of the possessions he was about to sell, in order to love and serve his neighbors, and so to come again to Jesus, and to follow him? We don't actually know.
What we do know is that Christ calls people as disciples; some respond and follow him, and some do not. We all cling to earthly attachments - material possessions, preconceived notions of righteousness, even family relationships. Even those who do follow Christ will eventually fail and fall away. Each of Jesus' first disciples did, and so do we all. But we know that is not the end of the story, because we know one more thing: Jesus loved this man, and he loves each of us, enough to give his life. He loved us so much he gave everything for us.
After all, the would-be disciple in this story actually had it half-right! When he first came to Jesus, he asked, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" There is nothing we must do - or can do - to gain eternal life. But, thanks be to God, it comes as a free gift of God's grace - an inheritance, indeed - a gift that is ours at the cost of Jesus' own life. So it is that this life-giving relationship with God is offered to all who would receive it. No matter how impossible it is for us to earn or deserve it, by God's own grace we inherit eternal life. Yes, "for God all things are possible."
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