June 28 - What Is Most Important?
by Audrey Bauman
Mark 10: 17 - 31 NLT
“The Rich Man
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.’” (Exodus 20: 12 – 16; Deuteronomy 5: 16 – 20)
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 young man was the epitome of a great person. He has done the best he could to follow the Ten Commandments. He is wealthy. He wants to follow God. He looks like your basic wonderful person – honest and caring, successful in business, religious. What more could you want in a person? The disciples were impressed with him. Even Jesus loved him. “Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him.” (v. 21) He was just your nicest guy! But …
Jesus pins down the problem right away. When it came right down to it, the young man valued his wealth more than wanting to follow God. If we are honest with ourselves, we are like that young man. When we sense God leading us in some way, do we look at what we might lose – money, time, a good job, a certain reputation among our neighbours and friends, a comfortable lifestyle, etc.?
The disciples give a sigh of relief. They have given up family and jobs to follow Jesus. And Jesus acknowledges that. They have. He assures them that those who give up precious things to follow him will be rewarded. The rewards Jesus offers are rather interesting – “a hundred times as many houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and property”. Do you want a hundred times more children or mothers? I think Jesus is telling us that we will belong to a huge family of believers, a family that has a close bond like no other. I know that I have experienced that bond between believers as I’ve met other Christians in various places, and there has been a connection as soon as we realized we both loved Jesus. But we also can’t ignore the end of that sentence – “along with persecution”. Following Jesus doesn’t mean an easy life. Jesus didn’t have an easy life, and it ended in a horrendous way on the cross. There are both rewards and difficulties in following Jesus.
In some ways the story of the young rich man has ties to the account about Jesus loving the children. We follow Jesus with nothing to offer him. Like the children, some people have nothing by our world’s standards to offer him. Like the rich young ruler, we may think we have a lot to offer him, but not according to God. Every single one of us comes to God with nothing. That verse in the middle of the young man’s story tells us that. “Then who in the world can be saved?” they asked. Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But not with God. Everything is possible with God.” (v. 26 – 27) God is the one who reaches out to us, and has paid the price for our sin. “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3: 16)
Not one of us has anything to offer God. But, God offers us everything that matters.
Our song for today is Jireh by Elevation Worship and Maverick City.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_gCSJI6DKM