On Line Bible Study - For the week August 3-9, 2009

Lesson 399

Mark 10:17-31 presents us with the question from a rich man to Jesus: What must I do to inherit eternal life?

In Mark, the man addresses Jesus as Good teacher ..., and you may recall that Jesus reacts negatively to that greeting. Perhaps Jesus senses it as "insincere flattery" (Donahue & Harrington); if that is the case, Jesus quickly changes his assessment of the man, because after the man states that he has kept the commandments since I was a boy, we are told that Jesus looked at him and loved him. Then we read this - Jesus tells him:

Mark 10: ²¹Jesus 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."

I have always focused on the fact of the man's wealth and the difficulty he had to divest himself of that wealth. But in reviewing the text and reading the commentary, another facet was revealed to me - the invitation from Jesus to this man to Follow me ... Obviously, the life of an itinerant disciple of Jesus would require the relinquishing of material encumbrances.

Hunger for Healing is a study that uses the Twelve Step program as a guide. A group of us from the church are using it, and last evening's lesson was on "Step 3" - Make the decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understand Him.

People speak of the difficulty they have turning their lives and their will over to God - to relinquish control for an unknown outcome - Will God come through for me? Can I depend on God to see me through? As surely as a person can be addicted to alcohol we can be addicted to our wealth - to our "stuff". And it can be every bit as challenging to admit that addiction as to admit to any other. You remember what Jesus tells his disciples as the young man turns away from (rather than toward) him:

Mark 10: ²³Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!" I wonder ... Was Jesus calling them out on their own addictions? - Addictions to power, authority, prestige? ("Let us sit, one at your right and the other at your left in your glory ...")

Jesus still issues the invitation: Come, follow me! What keeps us from doing it?

Now - a quick word about a couple textual issues:

Mark 10: ²⁴The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! ²⁵It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

1. Notice that at first, Jesus says, without reference to wealth, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God. It's not just wealth that makes it difficult ... it is difficult - period.
   
2. Then we have the famous "eye of the needle" hyperbole. Donahue and Harrington note that there is no historical foundation to the idea that there was an "Eye of the Needle Gate" or "Camel's Gate" in Jerusalem. It is an exaggerated statement for the purpose of making a point (similar to "I had to wait for an eternity".)
3. Only after the statement of how difficult it is does Jesus remark about wealth in particular - if those who have the "leisure to observe God's commandments and the resources to give alms find it difficult to be saved, how much more difficult it must be for everyone else!" Indeed - it is God's gift to us!

One of the things that makes the "kingdom of God" so difficult for us to grasp has to do with the reversal of values that accompanies it. The first will be last, and the last first.