Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God!

Now as He 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?" So Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. 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.'" And he answered and said to Him, "Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth." 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." But he was sad a this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Then Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, "How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!" 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! 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." And they were greatly astonished, saying among themselves, "Who then can be saved?" But Jesus looked at them and said, "With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible." Then Peter began to say to Him, "See, we have left all and followed You." So Jesus answered and said, "Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel's, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time -- houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions -- and in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first."

- Mark 10:17-31

Yesterday, we read that Jesus is in Judea. Some Pharisees asked Him, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" This was to test Him. Jesus said that Moses gave them divorce (by certificate) for their hardness of heart. He said, "But from the beginning of the creation, God 'made them male and female.' 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate." Later, He privately told the disciples, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her. And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery." Later, some children were brought to Him and the disciples rebuked those who did so. But Jesus was displeased with them, and said, "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it." And He took the children in His arms and blessed them.

Now as He 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?" So Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. 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.'" And he answered and said to Him, "Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth." My study bible points out that the man approaches Jesus as a human being ("Good Teacher") and Jesus answers the same way. Let's look at the construction of His answer. He first of all points to God. For eternal life, we keep our focus on God -- God, in whom we abide in that eternal life. Jesus then turns to the ten commandments of Moses, guideposts of a righteous life. It suggests to us the morality that makes up the currency of the kingdom. These commandments have to do with the ways in which we treat one another.

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." Now Jesus adds a personal caveat, just for this young man. Christ is acting in His role now as the knower-of-hearts. My study bible suggests that this man is tested at his point of greatest vulnerability, "where he needs to repent most. It is his money that is keeping him from salvation. Jesus challenges him with the idea of total sacrifice for His sake. The command to sell all is for this man, or for any other whom Christ may call in this particular way, but should not be construed as a universal requirement." Of course, there have been those throughout the centuries who served the Church through voluntary poverty. But above all, the message is clear that, if we do desire eternal life, nothing should stand in the way between us and the One in whom we abide for that life: God. Therefore if we have anything to which we are so attached that God's purposes can't come through to us, then it must go. In a sense, we can see today's reading as a reflection of the similar teaching to the disciples a few days ago, in which they were told to leave behind even a hand, a foot, an eye! That is, whatever it is to which we are deeply attached that causes us to lose our way somehow toward this eternal life of the kingdom. The use of personal wealth, my study bible suggests, should be for God's purposes, whatever those may be for our lives. Here, the teaching that this young man should give all to the poor once again teaches us inclusiveness in this kingdom. It is another way to teach right relatedness to all who are our brothers and sisters. But it is also the teaching of great humility before God, before all else. Everything goes back to Jesus' first statement here: the good is in God. What the young man lacks, he can ironically make up for by giving away what he has, and taking up the cross, and following Christ. Then the treasure he owns will be real, and eternal.

But he was sad a this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Then Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, "How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!" 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! 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." And they were greatly astonished, saying among themselves, "Who then can be saved?" But Jesus looked at them and said, "With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible." I really don't have to explain to my readers, I believe, how easily attached we all are as human beings to the material, the things we think will feed us in the world, regardless of what they are. But life is about more than the material. Jesus teaches a life infused with God and God's purposes for all our life in the world. Thereby, the life we live in the world becomes infused with purpose, meaning, and treasure above and beyond the material alone. My study bible says, "Riches grip the heart like few other things. When people trust in money more than in God, refusing to return their wealth to Christ, they fail to gain eternal life." We read into these statements at once that Christ understands our difficulties, but at the same time "with God all things are possible." We have spiritual help to put us in the right, to teach us the right perspective on our lives, our wealth, how we are to live.

Then Peter began to say to Him, "See, we have left all and followed You." So Jesus answered and said, "Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel's, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time -- houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions -- and in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first." Here, the focus comes back to discipleship. Again, a note here is helpful: "Discipleship is radical self-denial, a total offering of oneself to God. This implies readiness to give up dear possessions or even relationships that stand in the way of following Christ." There is also a promise here, of a return for what is voluntarily let go for His and the gospel's sake. We just don't always know how that will happen, and in that becomes our great act of faith when we forgo whatever it is that we sacrifice for this life of the kingdom as we are called to do so. He reminds them powerfully once again, that as leaders in His church, they will be the ones called upon to practice a radical humility: But many who are first will be last, and the last first. Note that the life that He promises will not be without persecutions.

My study bible has another note that I feel is of great importance. "That disciples will receive earthly rewards a hundredfold now in this time is not an absolute promise: countless saints and martyrs were not so rewarded. However, God has a way of returning and multiplying earthly blessings along with persecutions to faithful men and women according to His will." Of course, most of us in the Western countries of the world will not know what it is to be persecuted in the same sense that the early Christians were. However, I do have many readers living in countries where persecution is not unknown and may even be active. But "persecutions" I find can also come in many forms. Following Christ, no matter where we are, does not always result in popular choices. We may face great contradictions in our lives even between what those nearest and dearest may want or expect, and the ways in which our heart tells us what Christ asks of us. On any level, let us understand the return He promises. He gives us a life infused with His purposes, with life itself, over and beyond what we experience as a life of the material alone. This "over and beyond" may include persecutions in one form and another, but it always includes a return, an exchange. I have found this to be so in my own life, that Christ's words remain true. How is it you are asked to go forward today? Is there something of which you must let go? If you do so in faith, in trust, then it is for the sake of love. Let us remember that it is love that is at the heart of these teachings, and that it is love -- and a deepening and expanding awareness of what that is exactly -- that will bring us a true desire, a deepening reality, something greater and above and beyond the things of a purely materialistic life, a material perspective. Are you ready for the exchange, and for His purpose? God has given us the good things of this world and all of its beauty; He asks us simply to understand it more powerfully than we already know. Sometimes, to find the greatest treasure that we might lack, we surprisingly give it away, in order to be filled with what is better, what is in fact more.