The text this morning is from the Gospel according to Mark, the tenth chapter:
And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’ ” And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.Thus far the text.
My dear friends in Christ,
So, the point of today’s Gospel lesson is that we should sell all that we have and give it away and then we’ll get to heaven, right? I mean, that’s the point, right? That’s what so many do with this. But it misses the point entirely. Let’s break this down.
You’ve got a man running up to Jesus to ask an important question. This man shows up in Matthew and Luke, as well. Some Christian traditions take this rich, young ruler to be John Mark himself, the writer of the Gospel we’re in today. Of course, Christian tradition also has the man who ran away at Jesus’ arrest, losing his loincloth in the process of being Mark, too. So, you kinda of need to think of this man who actually did sell everything still losing even more when he abandons Christ, and gains everything and more when he follows Christ.
This rich young man calls Jesus “good” and Jesus questions this. Jesus says the only one who is good is the one true God. The man meant nothing by it; it’s a sign of great respect for the Rabbi, but Jesus seems to be trying to question this guy’s preconceived notions of what’s going on. The man calls Jesus good because it’s a sign of respect, but Jesus is trying to take this away from him. By Jesus rejecting the oft-given, earthly title, He’s showing that what He’s about to say next is great than earthly advice, and cannot even be accomplished. Jesus is trying to destroy the young ruler’s confidence in the Law of God.
And make no mistake, the young ruler is confident in the Law. That’s really not all that surprising. It might be for us, since we know we’re sinners, since we’ve been enlightened by faith in Jesus Christ, and so we know that there is not one righteous, no, not one. But to people living at the time of Christ, they thought that by following the dictates of the Pharisees, which were written down in a book called “The Tradition of the Elders,” they could not only obey the Law but grow even closer to God by staying away from the very edge of disobedience. If God says not to work on the Sabbath, then we’ll make sure we don’t walk more than a mile. If God says not to boil a young goat in its mother’s milk, then we won’t even eat a cheeseburger. If God says honor your father and mother, then I’ll make sure they never want for anything.
But, that’s an obedience to the Law that ignores the reality of sin. If we get our outward lives so that people look at us and cannot help but think well of what we’re doing, that might look like obeying the Law, but Jesus tells us otherwise. Elsewhere, Jesus tells us that the commandment says do not murder, but if we hate someone in our hearts, that’s murder. If we lust, that’s adultery. If we declare what we have as corban, that’s hating our father and mother (and that’s a whole other issue that we’re not getting into right now).
So, when the young ruler expects to get answers on how to inherit eternal life, he’s seeking out an answer related to what he’s already been doing. If he keeps the Tradition of the Elders, if he obeys the Law, then the expectation is he will have eternal life. After all, Moses promised the Israelites: “You shall walk in all the way that the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live, and that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land that you shall possess.” So, why would the ruler ask Jesus a question, looking for an answer he already knew?
Maybe we’ll never know, but we can take some guesses. Maybe he wanted Jesus to blow some smoke for him. Maybe he was worried and just wanted confirmation. Maybe he just wanted to toot his own horn. Any way he wanted it, he didn’t get it. And, in fact, Jesus gives it to him even worse. All the stuff he’s been using to obey the Law, and even all the stuff he’s gained from obeying the Law, Jesus tells him to sell that and they give everything to the poor.
Oops. So, is Jesus saying that if we sell everything we have and give it the poor, we can inherit eternal life? Well, not exactly. Jesus told this guy what he need to hear. He needed to hear more Law. He didn’t need to hear, “You’ve done well, so now only believe in the One whom God has sent, believe in Me and inherit life eternal.” If Jesus had said that to the young ruler, how would that have gone?
The young ruler would be relying on his own strength, his own ability, and then had grace added to it. That isn’t faith at all. To do all that you can and then have grace added is literally the doctrine of Muslims and Mormons. You have to work as hard as you’re able, and, if you’re lucky, because your work isn’t enough, God will add His grace and mercy to you and welcome you into eternal life. Notice what’s missing here, there’s missing every mention of Jesus, or even the reason for His death.
Instead of recognizing the depth of depravity we face in light of our sin and the Law’s accusations, people think they can get by on their own. And if you don’t think this is true, just look at everything happening in our culture today. You’ve heard of virtue signaling? It’s the action of publicly expressing your opinion to demonstrate your own good character. A lot of times, this happens on social media, on the internet today. And, without the aid of the internet, virtue signaling is basically what the young ruler was trying to do. The problem is it draws everyone’s eyes and admiration to you; it’s a way of marking your territory and ultimately demonstrating your selfishness and vanity.
And here’s how it plays out in our culture: Kavanaugh is guilty, and if you don’t agree with me, you’re guilty of raping women. Kavanaugh is innocent of all charges, and if you don’t agree with me, you support the suspension of due process and believe one is innocent until proven guilty. I’m not making a statement either way on the guilt or innocence of the man who just got confirmed to the Supreme Court, but people were virtue signaling everyone.
All this proves is that people think that, by their works, by their opinions, by their virtue, they can earn the favor of God, or, at the very least, the favor of man. But Jesus doesn’t let that stand. He looks at this young ruler who says that he’s obeyed the whole Law all his life, and Jesus adds more to it. You think you hit 100%, then I’ll add another 100. You did A, B, C, and D? You forgot about E. And when you do that, Ill remind you about F-Z. And if you think about this, it makes it hard to obey. If you see a sign that says the speed limit is 45 and you get pulled over and the police officer says that the limit is actually 25, can you go back in time and not go 45? Of course not. You’ve already transgressed the Law. You can’t go back and unbreak it. And if you’re putting everything on the idea of your obedience, this is going to destroy you.
And that’s exactly what the young ruler felt. He had put all his hopes in his obedience, and Jesus told him it wasn’t enough, and more than that, all that he had was standing in the way of his salvation. It’s heaping Law upon Law on the head of this unrepentant sinner. And the man went away destroyed, which is exactly what Jesus wants.
An unrepentant sinner doesn’t need the Gospel; they need more Law until they are so broken that they repent and seek the true source of eternal life, Jesus Christ. The young ruler was so proud of himself, our culture is so proud of itself, and they shouldn’t get the Gospel. It’s true that Jesus lived, died, and was resurrected for their forgiveness, but to tell someone that while they are confident in their sins is to damn them. They’re depending on themselves, not on Christ.
It is only when one is broken, when one realizes that God alone is good, that there is no other good person, no, not one, that one knows their great need for a Savior. And Jesus got that man there. The man went away sorrowful. It doesn’t say he was damned. It doesn’t say he hated Jesus. It says he went away sorrowful because he had great possessions.
He loved what he had, but it was getting in the way between him and his salvation. That’s why he was sad. He loved his stuff, he loved his own obedience, his own ability, and Jesus was taking that away. It’s not that stuff is bad. It’s not that money is bad. It’s that it cannot be in the place of Christ. The good teacher says the ruler is no good. Give up your stuff, give up your money, give up your honor, give up your ability, and follow Me, follow Jesus.
That’s the takeaway today. It’s not that you need to sell your stuff and give it to the poor; it’s that you need to give up your idolatry, the stuff that you love more than Jesus, even your own righteousness. It’s the constant call of the Christian life, repent and be forgiven. This is what Jesus is saying. And to call one to repentance is to identify sins for what they are. Give up your stuff, give up your anger, give up your complaining, give up whatever your sins are and repent. And when you repent, you will absolutely be forgiven. When you repent, you will be following Jesus. When you repent, the Law’s accusations stop being heaped upon your head and the Gospel’s promises become real and tangible for you.
You are absolutely to give up your idols. This must be done, but it isn’t done by you alone. Seeking to obey the Law, seeking to do righteous deeds, you are doing this in faith. If you are in the faith, you are in Christ, and you want to give up that which separates you from God. And in seeking to do that which is right, you are aided, guided by the work of the Holy Spirit. You are not doing this alone. God is guiding you, inspiring you to do the work. And as you work to give up what separates you from Christ, the Spirit works in you and makes you holy, sanctified. And ultimately, by faith, the Spirit makes it work within you that Christ is preeminent, even as we struggle against our idols. And in this, we do not give up hope.
And this does produce fruit. Look at where you are; look at where Christ has brought you. You are seeking after the things of Christ and that’s a wonderful thing. And should you die today, you would die in the faith of Christ. You would inherit eternal life. Not by your work would you do this, but by the work of Christ. It has nothing to do with your work, but all with what He has done for you. It has everything to do with the faith given to you, faith to hear the Law and be convicted by the Word of God, and faith to hear the Gospel and be comforted in the peace of Christ. And it bears fruit.
If it’s true that this young ruler is John Mark, the author of this Gospel, and it’s true that he’s the naked man racing away from Jesus’ arrest, then we see the growth of faith in him, that he would seek after Jesus, listening to Him, believing in Him, even if his faith was weak, that he would be strengthened to go even throughout the world, following after the Apostle Peter and leaving a mark on the Christian Church that would endure unto eternity in the Gospel given his name.
This is also, then, you, that you are given to follow after Jesus, and love His name. Who knows what may be done in you by your example throughout the ages? You don’t have to give up your money, God already has it. Give, instead, your repentance, and seek to leave your sins in the ears of Jesus, that He might forgive you forever and ever. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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