Mark 10: 17 As he was going out into the way, one ran to him, knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do that I may inherit everlasting life?” 18 Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except one–God. 19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not give false testimony,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honor your father and mother.'” 20 And he said to him, “Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth.” 21Jesus looking at him loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack. Go, sell whatever you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me, taking up the cross.” 22 But his face fell at that saying, and he went away sorrowful, for he was one who had great possessions. NHEB
It is likely not an accident that after covering Jesus telling us to be like children, Mark then pivots to this story about someone seeking to be saved. The earlier discussion about having the faith of a child isn’t meant to be sentimental but rather to recognize the helplessness of children. The young man has approached Jesus and asked about achieving eternal life, i.e., how to enter the kingdom. Jesus first asks him about being good (which we talked about last week) and then follows by listing five of the commandments.
The Ten Commandments are written on two tablets with five of them directed toward God and the other five toward man. Jesus quotes those commandments related to our relationships with other people to which the young man replies that he has followed them since he was a youth. Jesus doesn’t dispute the young man’s claim about keeping the law but simply tosses out one more thing that is still lacking for him to achieve eternal life. Jesus felt love for this morally good young man who by all appearances is the kind of man you would want your daughter to marry. Nevertheless, the rich, young ruler is really no different than us as he can’t completely follow the law (and God doesn’t grade on a curve).
It is interesting that Jesus doesn’t mention the other five commandments that relate to God as perhaps the young man is unable to follow those in his current state. Also, if being childlike and dependent on God is a requirement, the rich young ruler falls short. In his response to Jesus, the man sounds like the Pharisee in the story about the Pharisee and the Publican. Rather than saying “have mercy on me because I am a sinner”, the young ruler says he has ticked off all of the requirements.
We know from Paul that we are saved by grace rather than by following the law. Like the young man here, if we could follow the law then we could be saved on that basis. The problem is that while we might come close, there is always one (likely more than one) thing that seems to trip us up. Sin holds us back because it causes us to rebel against the law and consequently to be unable to follow it. So while we could be saved by following the law, in reality, it just isn’t going to happen because that is something beyond our current capabilities.
We might question if Jesus is saying that we must be penniless in order to be saved. The traditional Protestant answer is that this requirement is specific to the young man. We all have things that are obstacles standing in the way of our relationship with God and these hindrances must be removed. Catholics call this “counsels of perfection” meaning that there are some people in the community of faith who are called to this more difficult path of poverty and chastity.
The difference between a precept and a counsel lies in this, that the precept is a matter of necessity while the counsel is left to the free choice of the person to whom it is proposed…the precepts of the New Law have for their scope the ordinance of those matters which are essential for the obtaining of life eternal—the gift which it is the special object of the New Law to place within the reach of its followers. But the counsels show the means by which that same end may be reached yet more certainly and expeditiously.
(From https://www.catholic.com/encyclopedia/evangelical-counsels).
The first problem for us as Protestants is that the Catholic position implies a hierarchy of Christians. For lack of a better description, a varsity and a junior varsity. It also appears from this particular explanation that this desired “end” is uncertain but is less uncertain if we do a little extra. This viewpoint stands in conflict with what we believe regarding faith versus works.
Mark 10:23 Then 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 astonished at these words. But again Jesus said to them, “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 a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 They were even more astonished and said to one another, “Then who can be saved?” 27 Jesus looked at them and replied, “This is impossible for mere humans, but not for God; all things are possible for God.” NET
At the end of the rich young ruler story, Jesus tells us that it is hard for the wealthy to enter the kingdom. He repeats that a second time but leaves off “wealthy” before coming back to it in verse 25. We see similar language about entering the kingdom back in Mark 9 where it talks about chopping off hands or plucking out eyeballs. Again, if there are things standing in the way of our relationship with God, they need to be cast aside.
There are three main schools of thought regarding the camel and the needle. One is that it refers to a night entry gate into Jerusalem that was impossible for a fully loaded camel to pass through. Others will say there was a transposition error along the way and by accidentally inserting an “e” instead of an “i”, we have camel instead of rope (kamelos versus kamilos). The third thought is that Jesus was merely making a point by using the largest animal in the area (kamelos) and describing how hard it would be for that animal to pass through such a small opening. Important to note that Jesus doesn’t say that it is impossible but rather that it is hard.
The disciples are disturbed by this command as it appears that the bar has now been set to a point that is much higher than they can reach. The Pharisees believed that wealth was a sign of God’s approval (and as we have seen earlier, despite spending so much time with Jesus, the apostles still cling to many of their old beliefs). Note the shift in tone to grace when He tells us that all things are possible with God.
Mark 10:28 Peter began to speak to him, “Look, we have left everything to follow you!” 29 Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, there is no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for my sake and for the sake of the gospel 30 who will not receive in this age a hundred times as much – homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, fields, all with persecutions – and in the age to come, eternal life. 31But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” NET
Once again, Peter shows his own special gift for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. This isn’t prosperity preaching by Jesus but rather pointing out the many new brothers and sisters we will have as a result of being part of this Christian community. (This is reminiscent of the discussion in Mark 3 on who is Jesus’ family). There will also be persecutions that occur but this opposition will bring us even closer as a group. Jesus closes this section by touching back on what He talked about in Mark 9 when the apostles were debating about who was the greatest among them