One thing you lack

 

 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 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.'"    My study Bible notes that this man, unlike the Pharisees in yesterday's reading (above), does not come to test Jesus.  He comes to seek advice from one whom he considers no more than a Good Teacher.  Jesus' response doesn't deny that He is God, but it's designed to lead this rich young ruler to this knowledge.   

 

 And he answered and said to Him, "Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth."  Here my study Bible reflects that formal observance of commandments does not make one righteous before God.  This man had an earnest desire for eternal life, but he sensed that he still lacked something.  So, he continues to press Jesus 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.  To be perfect, my study Bible notes here, one must willingly sacrifice all and follow Christ.   But nothing is gained except that such sacrifice is given freely.  Importantly, it adds that the specifics of how one follows Christ will be different for each person.  In this case, wealth had a great grip on this rich young man, and so his only hope was to sell and give away all his possessions.  According to St. John Chrysostom, my study Bible reports, to give 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."    My study Bible comments that there have been various interpretations suggested for this impossible image of a camel going through the eye of a needle.  One suggestion is that the word wasn't "camel," but that there is an Aramaic word for "rope" that sounds alike.  Another is that the "eye of a needle" was actually the name for a city gate that was so small, a camel might barely squeeze if it were first unloaded of all its baggage, which thus symbolizes wealth.  In the Talmud there is the expression "for an elephant to go through the eye of a needle."  Whatever the phrase refers to, according to my study Bible, it expresses the impossibility of salvation for those who are attached to riches.  Note the word "attached" for therein lies the significance.  The disciples clearly understand this, for they ask, "Who then can be saved?"  But by God's grace, even what is impossible with men is possible with God.  

 

 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 says that Christ not commanding that believers divorce spouses and abandon children here.  It cites the commentary of St. John Chrysostom, who says that this 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 of ties because of the believer's faith (see 1 Corinthians 7:12-16).  The promise to believers of a hundredfold of houses and of relatives is not meant in an earthly sense.  Rather, we gain the fathers and mothers of the Church, brothers and sisters in Christ, and houses of worship and fellowship.  

 

How do we approach today's lesson in this story of the rich young ruler who goes away disappointed in what Jesus is telling him?  (We know that he is rich from this story, which appears in the other Synoptic Gospels as well.  St. Luke tells us also that he is a ruler, meaning he belongs to one of the religious ruling classes in the temple, as well as young; see Luke 18:18-29.)  It's first of all very important to understand that when Jesus tells him, "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," that Jesus is speaking out of love.  St. Mark has gone to particular lengths to tell us this plainly, that Jesus, looking at him, loved him before He spoke.  This is not a penalty, and it's not meant as sacrifice for the sake of sacrifice.  This particular sacrifice is meant out of the love Christ has for him, to save his soul, and so that he might become a disciple and find the eternal life with Christ that he seeks.  This wealthy young man has come to Christ in sincerity, asking Him explicitly, "Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?" And Jesus gets very particular in responding, telling him exactly what he must do.  First of all, to follow the commandments known from the Old Testament Scriptures.  This the young man has done.  Jesus, loving him, then tells him there is another thing he must do:  "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."  What does his wealth have to do with his capacity to follow Christ, to have treasure in heaven, take up the cross, and follow Christ?  In this case, we are given to understand, even through such great figures of the early Church as St. John Chrysostom, that this is particular advice for this particular young man and his own spiritual state, in the context of his own life and circumstances.  We know he's rich, and he's a ruler.  Jesus is in Judea, so he is likely from a powerful and well-known family.  Equally possible is that his wealth is inherited, and he belongs to what was understood as an aristocratic background within the Jewish community of the temple in Jerusalem.  So his identity as a person, we may assume, is bound up in his possessions.  But the real problem here is not those possessions; it is his attachment to them.  And we see that; we read in the story that even the prospect of eternal life, held out by Christ, cannot take the place of that wealth for this young man.  In our modern world, especially those of us in the West, but truly all of us connected to the world wide web, live in a context of consumerism.  We see objects before us that we would like, we read of delicious foods, we look at images of people we call stars who live in glamorous homes and with great wealth.  The images we choose to watch and look at on social media also form a part of the things which we consume.  And if identity was bound up in wealth and possessions for this young man, it is equally bound up and sold to us as consumers in the modern marketplace, which is now everywhere.  People may buy a type of sneaker because a famous person wears that shoe.  A priest in one of my local parishes once told me he was in the United States Air Force stationed in Iceland, when he realized the power of sales and the worldwide reach of social media.  At that time, the American basketball star Michael Jordan shaved his head.  All around him in Iceland, he immediately saw young men with shaved heads in response.  This is the power of the consumption of images and products with which we choose to identify ourselves; we seek images that convey something to others, and in the world of media in which we all live, such images are often sold to us as products.  Even in choosing a church, many people approach the problem in a kind of consumerist mindset; we decide what we want and don't want, what features we'll accept and not accept.  But Christ presents the opposite.  He presents sacrifice.  Perhaps the ancient world, before the type of development existing in our world today, understood sacrifice better than popular culture does now.  But sacrifice remains essential to our formation as Christians.  We learn to do without the things that tempt us, that harm us spiritually because -- like this rich young ruler -- we become too dependent upon them even if they harm our souls because of this attachment.  We place them before God, before what is actually better for us.  The whole notion of holiness, of what is sacred, comes from the context of being set apart from the world, consecrated for God's purposes.  There are things we need to keep away from in life because they jeopardize our relationship with God, and through God our relationship with the rest of the world.  Addictions of all kinds (including to shopping or gambling, for example) come to mind.  Toxic relationships that take us away from the things God wants us to focus on also are things we might have to sacrifice, just as my study Bible points out above.  In fasting, we learn what we can do without, that we can make disciplined choices to seek God first before other things we might think we simply can't live without.  We learn to resist temptation, and the delusion that tells us we need a particular thing outside the purposes of God in order to be whole.  Fasting teaches us to focus on an internal life, and be filled from the depth of consecration to God, first, and then all things can be added to us (Matthew 6:33).  We learn to refrain from acting out, to master our impulses, for strength under control is the true gentleness and meekness Christ describes, what we need to understand as grace and gracious behavior.  Here is where patience and humility are things we cultivate in order to better follow Christ and expand the true feeding of our souls and our communities.  The disciples recognize where Jesus has led them, saying that they have left all behind for His sake, and He promises a hundredfold of return of what they have left behind.  So it is with us, but that life as an exchange means we have to be willing to grow, to learn His discipline, to find His life that He has in store for us.  Temptation may sometimes seem as if all of this is simply impossible, a too-difficult struggle.  But, as Jesus says, "With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible."  There will always be new ways God calls us forward.  Let us look to that call for the better things of life He offers, and the freedom to be found in His teachings.