As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness. You shall not defraud. Honor your father and mother.’ ” He said to him, “Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.” Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions. Mark 10:17-22
The gospel of Mark tells us very little about this man. We don’t know his age nor his status. It just tells us this man was doing a most remarkable thing for a religious Jewish man of his time. He knelt down before Jesus. He was a student of the Law. He has kept the Law all his life with great rigor. Yet, he committed an act which would have certainly raised some eye brows among the Pharisees, especially in regards to the first commandment. Even Jesus confronted him on the issue. It wasn’t that Jesus was denying anything about Himself. He merely wanted to know if the man had carefully considered what he was confessing before the crowds. Only God is good and therefore what was he saying about Jesus?
“What I believe comes to me in the face of my mother. It comes to me in the scenes that I participated in with my brothers and sisters in my Father’s household.” Henry Ward Beecher in his sermon, “Moral Earnestness and Moral Honesty”
This man’s spirituality was different from that of the Pharisees. It wasn’t based on mere head knowledge. It was a living faith based on examples of those who allowed the Light of God to shine through their lives. He saw this Light shine its brightest in the person of Jesus. He was drawn to our Lord knowing that He had the answer to Life eternal.
In the present times, we commonly refer to “eternal life” almost synonymously with life after death. However, in Jesus’ time, the concept of the afterlife was not clearly defined. Eternity was something only associated with God. Therefore, in order to live eternal life meant to discover how to live our lives in harmony with God’s values and standards. It was the only way to live a life which would never be forgotten and erased by the temporal time. In other words, a life remembered by the only One who is eternal.
Jesus gave him the standard religious answer. For some, this would be adequate. However, this man’s soul hungered for something more. Most of the time, we give the standard religious answer to our homeless youth. Recently, a youth asked us about church. I am sure that she was thinking about our church. I was wearing my clericals when she asked this question. We advised her to seek a church closest to her where she feels comfortable. Our church is good but it might make her too self aware of her social status. She needs to be in a place where she can focus on her relationship with God and nothing else.
Jesus pointed to the Law because this is a good place to start. However, this man had vigorously followed the Law all his life. Unlike the Pharisees, he was far from being a hypocrite. He was a genuine seeker of God and Jesus recognized this. The gospel tells us that Jesus loved this man. Our Lord knew that this man was sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit in his soul beckoning him to take the bold step towards life eternal. Unfortunately, we know that this story is a tragic one. He just couldn’t take that step. One thing held him back.
Sometimes people from affluent cultures find this story disturbing. I think there is an idea that Jesus expects all of us to give up everything we have and give it the poor. Once a member of my parish asked me if every the average American was doomed because of their wealth. She is right in one thing. Your average American or European or Singaporean is wealthy compared to many of the poor in the world. However, she is wrong in thinking that Jesus expected everyone to give up everything to follow Him. It was something specific for this man. Jesus wasn’t demanding it from him but merely pointing out what was hindering his spiritual growth. This man’s soul was troubled. He realized his life was empty and unfulfilling. Our Lord was showing what was needed for this man to be faithful to the yearnings of his soul.
This story is not about money nor wealth. Although Jesus did point out that rich people have a harder time entering the Kingdom of God not because of their wealth but because of their sense of security which comes from it. It doesn’t mean that others have a easier time. All of us have to be willing to surrender whatever gives us a sense of security if it hinders us from following the deepest conviction of our souls. In the case of this young man it was his wealth but Jesus addresses other things too in other parts of the gospel such as our families, our desire to please or impress others or even our fear of losing our lives. None of these things are bad in themselves except perhaps money. Jesus does mention that it is a false god and never a servant, therefore we need to be very careful how we deal with it. This is an entirely different issue which I am sure we will deal with in the other parts of the gospel. For now, it is about our sense of security. All of us need some thing to give us a sense of security to face this ever changing world. Consequently none of us are willing to abandon the very thing giving us courage to face the world and in many ways, part of our identity. In this sense, this man is not very different from us. Even our homeless youth can identify with this man.
This is perhaps one of the hardest things for us to learn in our ministry. We see homelessness as our biggest nightmare. Perhaps the man in our gospel story today was afraid to be homeless. It is understandable. Our youth were forced into it and they have discovered ways to make themselves feel safe and secure in this brutal environment. In a way, their identity is based on this sense of security they have. Therefore, they are not willing to abandon it for something better because they are not quite convinced that it will be good enough. They need guarantees. Our word alone won’t do. They need something more concrete. The man in the gospel wasn’t quite sure that there was enough guarantee that his life will be better. The problem is that Jesus doesn’t guarantee anything but eternal life. Many times, eternal life is not necessarily synonymous with a comfortable and smooth life.
The disciples themselves were scandalized by the tragic outcome of this episode even though they had given up many things to follow Jesus. Perhaps they were hoping that Jesus would make an exception for the man this time. However, it wasn’t Jesus who was demanding this of this man. Our Lord merely was trying to help the man see what was holding him back. God doesn’t make unreasonable demands. It is our soul; it belongs to God and can only be truly satisfied with it dwells in the presences of God. The man’s soul wants to be free to live out his life in accordance with God’s love. Jesus invited him to be in His presence. However, the risk was too high. The disciples asked the question that we desire to ask; “Can anyone be saved?” Jesus gives us a hopeful and realistic answer;
“For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.”
These beautiful words cannot remain as they are; mere words. God makes it possible in the practical sense to satisfy the deepest yearnings of our souls. We can take the Pharisees’ approach and reduce everything to mere doctrine and theory. They believed that their head knowledge sufficed as a guarantee for eternal life. However, those who are sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit know that they need something more concrete and real. God gives us His Light and He allows His Light to shine in people close to us. These are not necessarily saints in the traditional sense where they are put on the pedestal and made to look like some sort of superhuman. These are average people like ourselves want to live their lives quietly in harmony with God’s eternal love. In my life, I had the privilege of meeting many of these people who helped me take the step towards eternal life. One of the them is an elderly church member named Nancy Henry. I don’t think she is with us now but she remains in the souls of many. She was never in charge of anything in the church. She was never in any leadership roles. In fact, not many people noticed her and I am sure that she never knew I noticed her. Nancy lived her life unnoticed. However, many noticed her love. She visited all the shut-ins in the parish. She made sure none of them were alone for all the holiday seasons. She always served silently in the background. She was just a loving presence and lived out her eternal life in this manner. It was the rector of this parish who pointed her out to me. He told me that she was his example to live our eternal life and encouraged me to seek out people like her in my future parishes. I followed his advise and continue to discover people like her who give me the courage to take the step towards eternal life.
We may not be ready to give up our sense of security to follow our Lord. However, God helps us by giving us people to hold our hands along the way as we take each step towards a fulfilling Life in Him.
