Mark 10:22 offers a surprising explanation for a rich man’s grief: ‘[T]he man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth’ (Mk 10:22). Not, he went away sad because he lost his forever home in a fire. Not, he went away sad because he lost his wealth in a stock market crash. Rather, he went away sad because he had great wealth.
How could this be? This is not the great Australian dream! Rich men and women are not sad, are they? I’ve seen them: their families are shiny, happy, healthy and beautiful.
In his Gospel, Matthew tells us this man is young (Matt 19:22) and in his, Luke says he is a ruler (Lk 18:18). Yet he is wise enough to know that his life is incomplete and he goes to the right person to complete it: ‘he fell on his knees before Jesus. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Mk 10:17).
Jesus Meets a Rich Young Ruler
The rich young ruler’s question implies that there must be something he can achieve to inherit eternal life. He’s used to achieving things in his own strength. But Jesus knows what is going on in the heart of this rich man: ‘Why do you call me good? … No one is good—except God alone’ (Mk 10:18).
The rich man sees Jesus as (merely) a good teacher who can help him to be good. But Jesus declares that no one is good; no one is like God. No one can earn the right to be one of God’s children, enter God’s kingdom or inherit eternal life.[1] Just like the little children in the previous scene in Mark’s Gospel, we have no claim on God (Mk 10:13–16). We can only acknowledge our moral inability before him, and throw ourselves upon his mercy.
Jesus invites the young man to consider the second half of the Ten Commandments, regarding love of neighbour (Mk 10:19 cf. Mk 12:29–31). To this the man boldly replies that he has kept them all from his youth (v. 20). The reader might be understandably sceptical: can this rich young ruler honestly claim to have perfectly loved all his neighbours?
But Jesus understands what is really going on. He refuses to leave the man at ‘good enough’. In love, Jesus uncovers his true self, thus revealing his true need:
Jesus looked at him and loved him. ‘One thing you lack,’ he said. ‘Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’ (Mark 10:21)
And then those sad, sad words: ‘At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad because he had great wealth’ (v. 22).
We Are Far Too Easily Pleased
Here was his chance to truly love God (follow Jesus) and his neighbour (give his wealth to the poor). But he couldn’t and wouldn’t do it. He couldn’t believe that Jesus’ promise of treasure in heaven could be better than the treasure he was accumulating on earth.
He went away sad because, despite his apparent freedom, he was a slave. He approached Jesus because he thought he wanted eternal life. In actual fact, his heart had been captured by the idol of Mammon (Matt 6:24). As C. S. Lewis says:
Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mudpies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.[2]
The Cost of Discipleship
After the dramatic exit of the rich man, Jesus looks at the disciples and declares: ‘How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!’ (Mk 10:23). The disciples are amazed at his words (vv. 24a, 26a), but Jesus doesn’t compromise; he doesn’t back down:
How hard it is to enter the kingdom of God. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God. (Mark 10:24–25)
The disciples are still working out what following Jesus will really mean for them. This incident rocks their world. Here is a man obviously blessed by God with great wealth. An apparently moral and righteous man. But rather than welcoming him, Jesus’ direct challenge makes it harder, even impossible, for him to join them. Hence their incredulous question: ‘Who then can be saved?’ (v. 26).
As Jesus did with the rich man (v. 18), he now makes clear to his disciples that, left to ourselves, ‘this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God’ (v. 27). God’s kingdom completely upends the economy of this world. And the shameful death of Jesus on the cross is its perfect expression (for e.g. Mk 8:31–38; 10:35–45). As Jesus goes on to say to them, ‘many who are first will be last, and the last first’ (Mk 10:31). God is never our debtor; in Christ he is our all-sufficient Saviour.
The Blessings of Discipleship
Peter and the other disciples have left everything to follow Jesus (Mk 10:28 cf. Matt 13:44–46), but at this point they need reassurance. And Jesus gives it to them:
‘Truly I tell you,’ Jesus replied, ‘no one who has left home or brothers or sisters for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. (Mark 10:29–30)
It makes sense to follow Jesus. It is good to be part of God’s family. If we leave home and family for his sake, he will provide us with everything we need: somewhere to live and work; brothers, sisters, mothers and children in Christ.
Jesus is a gospel optimist, but also a gospel realist: he promises persecutions to them, too. Most significantly, he promises ‘eternal life in the age to come.’ There is a happy ending for God’s children: eternal life that death cannot touch; life with God through his Son in the new creation.
Don’t Covet Worldly Wealth
The danger we face in applying a passage like this is that we can always find someone who is richer than we are to point the finger at. However, we who live in Australia today are among the wealthiest and healthiest people who have ever lived. This passage is still shocking, because even as Christians we often secretly admire and covet what those wealthier than we enjoy. Why do we covet worldly wealth? If I’m being honest, it’s the comfort, security and freedom it appears to provide.
I forget that in Christ God provides me with everything I need, not merely to live ‘my best life’, but to inherit eternal life and to become like his Son in glory (1Jn 3:1–3; Heb 2:10). As C. S. Lewis puts it, ‘we are far too easily pleased.’ We devalue the blessings of forgiveness and reconciliation to God; of life lived together with God’s people; of receiving everything as a gift from God, so that we can hold it with an open hand. We forget our true ‘inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade … kept in heaven’ for us (1Pet 1:3–4), in place of rusting grand designs and dead-end death nests.
How can we break the chains of our idols, give them all away and finally be set free? How can a rich man enter God’s kingdom? Jesus tells us we can’t; it’s impossible for us. But God can and does.
[1] In this dialogical teaching, Jesus is making no comment on his own one-of-a-kind sinless humanity.
[2] C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory. (London: William Collins, 2013 (1949)), p. 26.
