How God is Good Enough?
The Story of the Rich Young Man
Mark 10:17 – 27
18/05/08
The Rich Young Man
17 As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone…”
This man doesn’t realise that Jesus is in fact God the Son. He has accidentally affirmed the divinity of Jesus, but Jesus isn’t concerned about that. Jesus says to him “Don’t look at people – any people - and consider them good – only God is truly good.
OK, sure – no-one is completely good except God. You and I know that – “Nobody’s perfect” as the saying goes. I guess the question is “How good is good enough to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus continues…
19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honour your father and mother.’ a”
Jesus lays out some of God’s standards of goodness – a selection from among the many that He could have quoted.
20 “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”
Come on, does this bloke think that Jesus is going to swallow that? Sure, he might not have murdered, slept around or stolen, but let’s not forget that Jesus considers hating someone to be like murder, and looking lustfully to be like committing adultery. Does that change anything? Even so, surely this young man is not pretending that he has never lied, cheated anyone or been cheeky or disrespectful to his parents?
21 Jesus looked at him and loved him.
Hang on. Jesus usually got pretty narky with people who were self-righteous. The religious leaders certainly copped a hammering from Jesus on many occasions. But it seems that this fellow is very sincere. He has done his very best to do what is right and good. He says with a truthful heart that He has lived by God’s laws since he was a boy.
“One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
22 At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.
What Jesus did here must have appeared incredibly strange to those watching on.
He gets approached by a man who is humble and sincere, a man who has a history of good deeds but who wants to know what else he must do to obtain eternal life. A man of great wealth. From the other gospels we know he was still a young man, but that he was considered to be a ruler of the people. What incredible potential as a disciple! What an asset to the team! What resources he could bring to the cause! Any rabbi would be ecstatic to have a disciple like this man – but what does Jesus do? He discourages him! He demands the one thing that this fellow will find too difficult to do.
I wonder how people felt as they watched this man – a man who was on the very top rung of the ladder as far as how people measured righteousness – I wonder how they felt as they watched his expression turn to disappointment. I imagine that he would have hung his head and slowly risen to his feet, turned and walked slowly back to his house or the town that he had come from.
23 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 amazed at his words.
Jesus contradicted the common way of thinking. Wealth was a blessing from God. Rich people had money to do good works with – they contributed much more to the temple and to charitable causes than other people could. Rich people had the opportunity to study God’s ways. They could afford the time to sit on religious councils and participate in discussion.
But Jesus said again, “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 man to enter the kingdom of God.”
The rich young man came to Jesus to inquire about what he must do in order to qualify for eternal life – how he could enter the kingdom of God. Jesus says that it is hard to enter the kingdom. So hard, that even for a rich person it would be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than to enter the kingdom of God.
26 The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?”
If it’s that hard for a rich person, what about for those of us who don’t have their advantages? We don’t have their education. We don’t have the same resources for doing good works. We don’t have as much time to be involved in religious activities. We don’t have the chance to lead people in God’s ways. What hope is there for us?
27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”
When we look around our community we see “good” people like the rich young man, and we see people who don’t seem so good!
Jesus wants us to stop looking at people that way. Only God is good. None of us are good. None of us are even good enough. We all need God to do the impossible for us to be able to enter His kingdom. Jesus achieved that for all of us in doing what we could not - He gave us His goodness and took from us all of the things which fall short, bearing their weight and carrying them to the cross. Only by turning to Jesus for forgiveness and new life can we enter God's Kingdom.
1The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Mk 10:17). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
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