Mark 10:17-22 The Rich Young Man - Feb. 19, 2019

Chinese depiction of Jesus and the rich young man, Beijing, 1879.

Mark 10:17-22 -

17 Now as He [Jesus] was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?”

18 So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. 19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’ ”

20 And he answered and said to Him, “Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.”

21 Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.”

22 But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

I love this story, especially Mark's version. This rich young man has come to Jesus asking what he needs to do to inherit eternal life. When Jesus tells him to keep the commandments he says he has done all of those things since his youth -

In the rich young man, we are obviously not dealing with someone who has taken lightly his eternal salvation; he has been choosing to live the commandments since his youth. But Jesus knows what would truly hold this person back was his riches -

In this passage, Jesus demonstrates what it looks like to perfectly discipline. He "looked at him and loved him and said..."
Jesus wasn't trying to trip him up. Jesus wasn't trying to call him out. Jesus wasn't trying to shame him. Instead, Jesus looked on him, loved him, and told him the one thing that was going to keep his heart on the things of the world & weigh him down.
He loved him.

My former priest taught that there is a difference between being kind and being nice. Being nice  doesn't really care about the other person. It will stroke the ego whether it is healthy or not. It will give in to things whether it is healthy or not. It never rocks the boat, but goes along and gets along whether it is healthy or not.
Kind, on the other hand, cares about what is healthy/whole/holy. It cares about healthy relationships. It cares about the other person at the same time as caring about self and community.
It is interesting to note that the word "perfect" has the same etymological root word as the words healthy/whole/holy. Let's apply that knowledge to this scripture: "Therefore you shall be healed/whole/holy, just as your Father in heaven is healed/whole/holy." (Matthew 5:48) To be perfect is to be healed/whole/holy like our Father in heaven is healed/whole/holy. And we know that Jesus is the great physician to heal us. (Mark 2:17).
Being kind is what helps us to love our neighbor as ourselves. (Mark 12:28-31) Not love your neighbor more than yourself or less than yourself but as yourself.

It was a kindness for Jesus to tell the rich young man the truth when he asked what it was that he needed to do.

We do not know what happens to this rich young man. Sometimes it feels to me like a "choose your own ending" story. It is easy to see that he will wrestle with the idea of selling his possessions. Jesus realized that too. The next verses say:

23 Then Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!” 24 And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, “Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches 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 man to enter the kingdom of God.”

Jesus wasn't making an excuse for the young man or judging him for being sad at the thought of not having his riches; he simply makes the disciples aware that he had asked a great deal from this young man.

On the one hand, I'd like to have Jesus tell me the one thing that will keep me tied too much to things that don't really matter - the things that will rust and decay and not last. Yet what a difficult situation that would be.
With God's help, I hope that we all will be able to let go of those things that don't serve us or make us whole or healed or holy; that don't make us perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect. Amen.

♥ Melody