Who then can be saved?

 

 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 Galilee 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.  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 writes that this man doesn't come to test Jesus, but to seek advice from one he considers to be no more than a good Teacher.  Christ's response does not deny that He is God, but is designed to lead the rich man to this knowledge.  To observe the commandments formally does not make a person righteous before God, it adds.  This man had an earnest desire for eternal life, and he sensed that he still lacked something.  Therefore, he continues to press Christ for the 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.  This man lacks one thing.  To be perfect, my study Bible says, one must willingly sacrifice all and follow Christ.  Nothing is gained unless the sacrifice is given freely.  The specifics of how one follows Christ will be different for each person.  Because wealth had such a grip on this rich man, his only hope is to sell and give away his possessions.  St. John Chrysostom comments that giving away possessions is the least of the instructions Jesus gives 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."   My study Bible explains that there have been various interpretations suggested for the impossible image of a camel going through the eye of a needle.  For example, that the word was not camel, but "rope" (which sounds similar in Aramaic); or that the eye of a needle was actually the name of a city gate through which a camel might squeeze if it were first unloaded of all of its baggage, symbolizing wealth.  There is even an expression in the Talmud:  "for an elephant to go through the eye of a needle."  But whatever the phrase indicates, it is an expression of the impossibility of salvation for those who are attached the riches.  Clearly the disciples understand it, as we can see from their response:  "Who then can be saved?"  But, my study Bible says, with God's grace, even what is impossible to 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 remarks that Christ does not command believers to divorce spouses and abandon children.  St. John Chrysostom suggests that this refers to keeping faith under persecution even if it means to lose one's family.  It also means that one must accept that unbelieving family members may cut off tie because of the believer's faith (see 1 Corinthians 7:12-16).  Believers are promised a hundredfold of houses and relatives not in an earthly senses, my study Bible explains, but in a spiritual sense:  the fathers and mothers of the Church, our brothers and sisters in Christ, and houses of worship and fellowship.  

When Peter says, "See, we have left all and followed You," he is indicating the start of a new life in the faith of Christ.  While the apostles themselves clearly have taken on this new life in an extraordinary way, following a life of faith can offer to all of us a number of ways in which we take up a "new life" in Christ.  We often overlook that Jesus does not merely tell this man to sell all that He has and to follow Him.  He says to him, "Come, take up the cross, and follow Me" (italics added by me for emphasis).  The story of the Cross is the story of transformation and new life.  It is the story of death and Resurrection:  dying to an old way of life in some way, and a resurrection in the new life offered by Christ.  What Jesus recommends for this rich young man, whom He loved we are told, is necessary for him to break away from his old life.  Possessions take a powerful hold on people to the point at which they themselves become identified with the possessions.  Possibly this rich young man who kneels before him is a person with titles and property, and great inherited wealth.  This would suggest that family, titles, position and all the rest that goes with his great possessions defines who he is within the society.  What Christ asks us is to find our identity in our devotion to Him.  This does not mean that we will all be asked to make the kind of radical external transformations that the disciples have done, or that this particular man is asked to make.  But in one way and another, we might find that our faith asks of us to make some hard choices, especially around the things we are more attached to than we are attached to Christ.  As my study Bible indicates, there will be relationships tested:  there are those that are healthy and support our faith and what is best for us in life; but there might also be those that do the opposite, that seek to take us in a direction that is harmful or self-destructive or abusive, and therefore not supported by our faith and what is best for us.  There are relationships -- and attachment to possessions -- that will take us in a destructive path, one that limits who we are and excludes where our faith would lead us.  Whatever it is, a life of faith and prayer will often lead us to make changes in life, choices that others around us won't necessarily be happy with or expect of us.  These are the sacrifices of the cross.  But Jesus also asks us to see the new life in Him and the blessings of that life, the new way forward and beyond what we know.  There are times when the cross we bear seems like a terrible burden; the things we are asked to choose seem unbearable in terms of the disruptions they may cause in life, or family members that make the strange changes in us seem like onerous trauma.  We may no longer go along with what they want of us, or easily accept ways of life that are in some way abusive or harmful.  But we mustn't let this bearing of our cross obscure the great blessings we are given -- even when it's hard to see the forest for the trees.  Peter begins to ask from this perspective on behalf of all of the disciples, "See, we have left all and followed You," just as the bewildered disciples earlier ask one another, "Who then can be saved?"  These responses reassure us that even those who will be the pillars of His Church have had the same responses we do, and borne the same difficulties in carrying their own crosses.  Yet each serves as an example of devotion, having found throughout their own lives the great rewards and richness of life that made them continue in service to Christ, to the Church, and in faith.  So each of us will find the rewards of a life in Christ, a life of prayer and the blessings that come with our own cross.  For He calls us forward, not back, to a life of rewards beyond what we leave behind, and it is there we also will find our own resurrection in Him.  St. Paul indicates this is a daily process when he writes, "I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily" (1 Corinthians 15:31).  Each day we give our lives to Him in prayer and worship, and we find our way forward; this is the life of the Cross.  Let us walk in His light and find His blessed way of life for ourselves.