Mark 10:17-31 (CLICK HERE FOR BIBLE VERSES)
Hi GAMErs,
Today’s passage is Mark 10:17-31. With an open mind and a humble heart, read this passage and see what sticks out to you in this passage. Is there a verse, a phrase, or a lesson you think the Holy Spirit may be highlighting for you in this passage? After you’ve thought about the passage yourself a bit, read the GAME sharing below. Let’s go!
Mark 10:17 (NIV)
17 As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
On verse 17: On the outside this man seemed to approach Jesus the right way: he ran up to Jesus (proactive!), he fell on his knees before Jesus (humility!), and addressed him respectfully as “Good Teacher” (honouring!). But when you hear the man’s question to Jesus, you get a hint that this man’s approach to God and heaven was flawed. There’s a good chance that what this man was really asking was, “What can I do to earn heaven?” Jesus will use this man’s question to show that there is nothing a human being can do to earn their way to heaven (“With man this is impossible” – v27).
Mark 10:18 (NIV)
18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good–except God alone.
On verse 18: “Why do bad things happen to good people?” people sometimes ask. But according to Jesus, “No one is good – except God alone.” Jesus loved people more than anyone, but he was clearer than anybody else that people are sinful and, compared to God, don’t deserve to be called good; rather they deserve to be eternally separated from God because of their sin. That is why Jesus came and died on the cross: not for “good people” like you and me, but for sinners like you and me.
So here Jesus is hinting at people’s sinfulness, but he’s also possibly hinting at his own divinity. Notice Jesus didn’t say, “Don’t call me good.” He asked, “Why call me good?” In other words, “If no one is good except God, why call me good…unless I’m God?”
Mark 10:19-22 (NIV)
19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.'”
20 “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”
21 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.”
22 At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.
On verses 17-22: This man, like any Jewish boy, probably thought “to enter heaven I need to observe God’s law”. But when Jesus says, “go, sell everything you have and give to the poor”, there was nothing in the Jewish law that required this. So what is Jesus getting at? Jesus is getting at the man’s heart. Jesus was saying, “God doesn’t simply want your rote obedience. He wants your heart.” By telling this man to go sell everything he has, Jesus was getting to the heart of the issue: he was revealing how this man loved his money more than he loved God.
Mark 10:23-25 (NIV)
23 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”
24 The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!
25 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.”
On verses 23-25: Is Jesus saying that in order to go to heaven you need to sell everything you have such that legally you cannot own anything as a Christian? No. Is Jesus saying that money and wealth are inherently evil? No. Here Jesus is pointing out how wealth can be deceitful (Mark 4:19). That is, when you are financially secure it’s easy and tempting to put your trust not in God but in yourself and your money. That’s why it is hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.
Mark 10:26-27 (NIV)
26 The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?”
27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”
On verses 26-27: Jesus makes it clear: there is nothing you or I can do to save ourselves. But with God all things are possible. What we can’t do ourselves God can do for us. That’s why Jesus came. The Son of God left all the wealth he had in heaven and became poor for our sakes so that we could become rich. Jesus became not just financially impoverished but impoverished in every possible way, dying on the cross like a sinner so that we could be forgiven, received and welcomed by God. What an amazing Saviour we have in Jesus!
Mark 10:28-31 (NIV)
28 Peter said to him, “We have left everything to follow you!”
29 “I tell you the truth,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel
30 will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields–and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life.
31 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
On verses 28-31: One extreme way to misapply this passage is to think that in order to be saved you need to be financially poor. The other extreme way to misapply this passage is to think that you can go ahead and live for money and wealth because God loves you anyway. So let’s get it right: God wants our heart and when we place anything such as money or wealth before him, that is idolatry. The cost of following Jesus is that Jesus is now the One we live for and everything else we have in life exists to serve Jesus. The reward of following Jesus is that whatever we give up in order to follow Jesus we will receive many multiple times over (“a hundred times over”, including both blessings and persecutions) in this life and also for eternity.
But pay attention to Jesus’ “but” (no pun intended) in verse 31. Jesus warns that following Him does not mean you will necessarily be filthy rich and blessed in every possible way. For the reality is that “many who are first will be last and the last first” (v31). In other words, there will be some who lived like royalty on earth who will be paupers in eternity, and vice versa. There will be some who had global fame on earth who will be relative unknowns in eternity, and vice versa. There will be some who enjoyed so much authority on earth who will have very little in eternity, and vice versa. So no matter how much you have on earth, the best thing you can do for yourself in this life and for eternity is to live for Jesus.
God, You alone are good. You are the Saviour we all need. Everything I have belongs to You and exists not for my glory but for Yours. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
copyright © 2022 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.
