With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible

 

 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 at 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 went from Capernaum and came to the region of Judea by the other side of the Jordan.  And multitudes gathered to Him again, and as He was accustomed, He taught them again.  The Pharisees came and asked Him, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" testing Him.  And He answered and said to them, "What did Moses command you?"  They said, "Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce, and to dismiss her."  And Jesus answered and said to them, "Because of the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept.  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."    In the house His disciples also asked Him again about the same matter.  So He said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her.  And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery."

Then they brought little children to Him, that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked those who brought them.  But when Jesus saw it, He was greatly displeased and said to them, "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 them up in His arms, laid His hands on them, 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."  My study bible comments here that this man doesn't come to test Jesus, but rather to seek advice from one whom he considers to be simply a good Teacher.  Jesus' response does not deny that He is God, but rather is designed to lead the rich man to such knowledge.

 

"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 says that formal commandments does not make a person righteous before God.  This man had an earnest desire for eternal life.  But he sensed that he still lacked something.  Therefore, he continues to press Jesus for the answer.  Jesus responds in a very instructive way, by naming the commandments with which this man is already familiar:  "You know the commandments."  In this way, Jesus both affirms he is already seeking holiness, but leads him toward the desire for a fuller answer.

 

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 at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.   In order to be perfect, one must be willing to sacrifice all and follow Christ, my study bible tells us.  It says that nothing is gained except if that sacrifice is given freely.  But the specifics of how one follows Christ will be different for each person.  As wealth had a great grip on this person, his only hope was to sell all and give away his possessions.  According to St. John Chrysostom, my study bible says, giving away possessions is the least of Christ's instructions here.  To follow Him in all things is a far greater and more difficult calling.  

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."   There are various interpretations of the image of a camel going through the eye of a needle.   Some suggest the possibility that the word was not camel, but the Aramaic word for "rope" sounds alike, and one can see a parallel to "thread" in that image.  Some suggest the "eye of a needle" was a name for a city gate that a camel might get through if first it were stripped of its baggage, which would symbolize wealth and possessions.  In the Talmud there is the expression "for an elephant to go through the eye of a needle."   My study bible adds that whatever the phrase refers to, it displays the impossibility of salvation for those who are attached to riches.  It says that this is clearly evidenced by the response of the disciples:  "Who then can be saved?"  Yet through the grace of God, even those things that are impossible for human beings can come to pass.

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."  My study bible explains that Jesus is not commanding believers to divorce spouses or abandon children.  Once again, it cites St. Chrysostom, who says it refers to keeping faith under persecution, even if it means to lose one's family.  It also means to accept that unbelieving family members may cut off ties because of the believer's faith (see 1 Corinthians 7:12-16).   Believers are promised a hundredfold of hoses and relatives not in an earthly sense, but rather in a spiritual sense.  These are the fathers and mothers of the Church, our brothers and sisters in Christ, and houses of worship of fellowship.  Neither do we leave out of our consciousness the entire communion of saints, angels, and an entire creation that groans and labors with birth pangs for the renewal in Christ (see Romans 8:19-23).

It's important to understand the sense in which we place all things in the hands of God.  According to my study bible, this man -- whom we are told is young elsewhere (see Matthew 19:16-22) -- was too attached to his wealth and possessions.  It seems likely that the hold they have on him is part of his identity in the society.  Those possessions, for a young person, likely tie him to family and position.  So, when we understand Christ's command, I think it's important that we put these things, as well as the difficulty of doing them, in the context of identity.  So often, our call to a closer communion with Christ is all about a willingness to give up something that is cherished not simply because of the comfort it brings us, or the ease in our lives, or any other benefit, but those things also constitute part of what we consider to be our identity.  They are things we rest upon to know and define who we are.   We say to ourselves, for example, "These are my friends," or "this is my home," or "my group."  But in truth, we are often called out of those aspects of identity to a greater or deeper walk in faith, so that we are drawn closer to God.  At times, we might experience a great loss does not come about voluntarily, and that also constitutes a particular loss of identity.  If we lose a job this can easily happen; we may find ourselves stripped of something by which we identified ourselves, both to ourselves and to the world.  When any sort of political event or current state of affairs gets very intense, we find people identifying with political party or country, or one side in a battle, or any other element at play in a significant happening.  To lose faith in someone or something is a painful experience, because it involves a rethinking of the personal identity we have tied up in whatever that is.  Whether it is voluntary or involuntary, when we lose something to which we are attached, we also must adjust to the stripping of notions of identity that go with it.  And therein comes our faith, therein comes Christ.  This young man is attached to his riches.  It's not just that he is rich, but he is defined by it.  He goes away sorrowful, not simply because Christ has asked him to sell all he has and give to the poor, but because the choice is too great for him to make -- and the choice is between his life as that particular rich young man, and a life in Christ.  No matter how much he thinks he wants the eternal life Christ offers, in the end he goes away sorrowful.  Everything comes down to this sort of a choice.  Sooner or later, we come up against a choice about identity that involves what we love and cherish, and that which tells us who we think we are.  This is the profound nature of the call of Christ, which goes deeper than everything else we're attached to.  St. Paul writes, "For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12).  It doesn't matter what we've set our heart on as identity:  that great job or promotion, the big house everybody will admire, the perfect family.  Neither does it matter how nominally "good" that choice is.  The call of Christ will come to ask us, at times, which is more important to us, which place has our loyalty:   our closeness and faith in Christ as identity, or our cherished identity that comes from something else in our lives, and frequently from what we might regard as possessions.  The disciples, over the past several readings, have just been instructed to give up their aims of being "great" in terms of worldly honor and kingdoms and positions of power,  and now here we are presented with this rich young man, who is told to sell what he has and follow Christ.  Let us note that Jesus is not minimizing that sacrifice, nor is He telling this young man lightly what He needs to do.  This is a sincere young man.  The text tells us that Jesus loved him.  There is no telling where a life in Christ, after such a great sacrifice, could have led him.  We certainly know where it led for the apostles, and the honor in which they are held in the Church for all of her history.  It becomes of the greatest importance to consider this rich young man when we find ourselves facing loss in our own life, because in itself this story teaches us to turn to Christ in our emptiness and vulnerability.  We are not stripped bare of possessions for the sake of loss, nor left empty for the sake of emptiness.  Sometimes we may find ourselves facing a loss even through a great tragedy.  But such times become an opportunity for forming and shaping a deeper identity and dependence on Christ, for filling that loss with pure gain.  As Christ said, that gain is "a hundredfold" now and in the age to come.  But we have to be willing first to tolerate that "the first shall be last, and the last first."  That is, there will be times that demand our humility as a way of advancing forward and seeing our way through to the life Christ offers us in place of the past.  We do this with God's help and grace, but He also asks for our cooperation in this work.