OBVIOUS CANDIDATE
Opening Prayer
Father in Heaven, please use your Word to empower me, to give me vision for who I am in Christ and for what I am able to do because the Holy Spirit is at work in and through me.
Read MARK 10:17–31
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
The Rich and the Kingdom of God
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?”
18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’[a]”
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.
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[b] to enter the kingdom of God! 25 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.”
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.”
28 Then Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow you!”
29 “Truly I tell you,” 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—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. 31 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
Footnotes
- Mark 10:19 Exodus 20:12-16; Deut. 5:16-20
- Mark 10:24 Some manuscripts is for those who trust in riches
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
‘Only Jesus Christ, who bids us follow him, knows where the path will lead. But we know that it will be a path full of mercy beyond measure. Discipleship is joy’ (Dietrich Bonhoeffer).Why would Jesus not welcome this potential recruit with open arms? He was eager, virtuous, and rich enough to fund Jesus’ fragile movement. Wouldn’t you want him in your church? But Jesus saw through him. He was keen to be ‘good,’ and so obtain eternal life. But only God is good. The very thought that he could ‘do’ anything to obtain eternal life was a joke.
Jesus’ response to this man could seem harsh were it not for one short sentence: ‘Jesus looked at him and loved him’ (v. 21). Was it really loving to demand so much of him? When my daughter was traveling, she asked me to check her backpack. As I set aside item after item, she cried, ‘Dad, I can’t do without that!’ On her return, she said she wished I’d been even more ruthless! She had so many things she didn’t need; they just weighed her down.
The disciples may not have been as virtuous as this man, but they had ‘left everything’ to follow Jesus. They left their families but gained a new family; they left fields but had become more fruitful (with persecution thrown in)—and in the age to come, they would receive eternal life. Jesus still looks for more than respect and zealous attempts to lead a good life. He’s all or nothing.
Apply
What is Jesus saying to you about following him? How serious are you?
Closing prayer
Loving Savior, wherever I sense you leading me, help me to remember that your presence is all that I need. Help me to follow you, desiring nothing more than to see you glorified, and trusting in your great love and purposes for me.
Book and Author Intros
Extras
Click here to sign up to receive the EXTRAs via email each quarter.
© 2024 Scripture Union U.S.A. All rights reserved. Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents without written permission is prohibited.
Discovery is published in the USA under license from Scripture Union England and Wales, Trinity House, Opal Court, Opal Drive, Fox Milne, Milton Keynes, MK15 0DF.