Today’s passage about the rich man from the Gospel of Mark is a familiar one that many of us, including myself, lower our heads when we listen to it since it applies to each one of us in some way. The command of Jesus to give up everything and follow Jesus is a challenge that seems daunting. From this Gospel, there are two different insights that I learned.
First, I would like to discuss the following passage: “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus answered him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone” (Mark 10:17,18). I think the purpose of Jesus answering the way he did was so that the man understood what he was really asking.
The answer that I see that Jesus gives to the question – “What good must I do?” – is the entire point of the passage. Doing the good can only be found by turning your mind and heart to the “one” who is good, namely, Jesus. For only God can answer the question about what is good since he alone is the Good itself. In order to accomplish the good, we mush turn towards God who is all good. The man asked Jesus that question because he had a desire and attraction to be and do good, and that goodness has its source in God. This brings the question of good actions back to the basics, to the recognition that God, who alone is goodness, is the fullness of life.
The other part that struck me was when Jesus tells the rich man that he is lacking one thing: to give up everything and follow him. To this, the man’s “face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions” (Mark 10:22). For the longest time, I always thought that the man went away sad because he refused to give up his wealth and then continued to live his former way of life, that is, of obeying most of the laws but not actually fully putting them into action since he fails to put his love of God first in his life. This viewpoint on the passage seems to reflect many people’s belief, however, after doing some reading, I learned that this is not the only interpretation there is and that the reason for us not changing our interpretation of the passage reveals how much we need of help we are. Let’s face it – we are rich, really rich.
After doing a quick google search, I found that at least 80% of humanity lives on less than $10 a day (http://www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-stats). I know for a fact I far exceed that, for just one of my meals can cost that much, and that does not include housing, utilities, and phone bills. I think that because of our own wealth, we find it hard to imagine an ending for the man other than he remains rich since we cannot picture someone willingly selling his all possessions to follow Jesus. And, since we find it almost unfathomable to sell everything, it must also be true for the rich man. We can relate to the man and his sadness since we too would feel the same if we had to choose between God and wealth, and unfortunately, it would probably be wealth.
However, what if that is not the case? What if the man went away sad precisely because he chose God over his wealth, that he was sad since he was going to sell everything he had and therefore lose his identity and the name he made for himself? What if the man was sad because he had just realized the extent of his desire for wealth and the sorrow for living that way for so long?
This is a hard thing to take in, for it means that it changes what Jesus’ speech means. For if we read it the way in which the man goes away sad since he cannot give up his possessions to follow Jesus, we do not feel too bad since Jesus states that though it may be extremely difficult for a rich man to do this, we have no need to worry since “all thing are possible for God.” Therefore, we can have it both ways, namely, being able to recognize our wealth but not having to do anything about it since we trust in God’s grace to act in us where we fail. However, if we read the passage with the point of view that the rich man is saddened but resolved to sell his possessions and follow Jesus, then the message transforms into something different. It changes from a safety net to a continuing challenge. It is a challenge since it causes us discomfort and the self-control and perseverance to not regress. The sadness that the man felt I think is because after hearing the truth of what he should do from Jesus, he was overcome with grief for how poorly he had been formerly living. Let us pray through the grace of God that, like the rich man, we realize that our “wealth” (or whatever it may be that is holding us back) is costing us a life lived in the kingdom of God.
