Mark 10:15
"Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it."
The root problem of faith in all of the gospel of Mark is hardness of heart, and in this lesson today we learn that wealth, and the self are expressions of that hardness.
And it's that hardness of heart that we continue to rub up against here again. As we saw in the previous devotion, what we learned was our focus should never be on what we can get away with and still be legally within our rights. Our focus should instead be on preserving what God created for us before we inevitably damage the situation, or the danger becomes too great. And maybe this is why we all must become childlike if we're going to inherit God's kingdom. Maybe a childlike heart is what we need, not one hardened by greed and envy, or biased by our history going into adulthood. God earlier said divorce was wrong because it severs the connection that God unites. Now we've got a different connection being broken. Children were to be seen and not heard in that society. And the disciples try to keep the kids away from Jesus.
Interestingly, it says in the Greek language, that Jesus was "indignant" at what he saw his disciples doing. This didn't just bother his sensibilities; he was emotionally disturbed by their behavior.
Childlike trust is the thing Jesus wants from us. He wants that connection. For instance, a child doesn't completely understand why they have to hold an adult's hand when crossing the street, but they'll do it, usually reflexively. But I think instinctively children realize that the adult has their best interests in mind. Not perfectly, but typically they're not going to second guess the adult's authority. Now imagine yourself grabbing hold of Jesus your Rabbi and wanting his blessing as was the custom of those people in that place. What are you grabbing onto? Are you grabbing for something you want from him, or for the one thing you need because you've realized you really have nothing of your own without him? Children have nothing of their own that wasn't given to them. Jesus wants us to realize it's like that for us adults as well.
The man we're about to meet is the opposite of that childlike faith Jesus is talking about. Isn't it funny how you'll pick up a revelation from some encounter and then almost as if God's trying to tell you something more about that an incident comes up to build on that revelation?
Mark 10:17
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?"
When I read this verse the first thing that pops into my mind is the man ran up to Jesus. What's the hurry, why was he running? And then this display of veneration and submission, kneeling and begging Jesus for a list of the acts of contrition Jesus needs from him. I wonder why he's making such a big very public deal out of the question.
What do we know about this guy?
He's rich, he's young, and he's a ruler. Everything a guy could ever want to be. We know this from the other gospels.
So, is he looking for the answers to life's great mysteries and the meaning of life?
Or maybe what he's seeking is a pat on the back?
Jesus obviously sees something questionable in this man because he immediately starts picking apart the guy's approach.
Mark 10:18
"Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good-except God alone."
Jesus is deconstructing this guy. He's turned the conversation away from this guy and all his stuff and focused it on who God is. And now he's going to trap him by using the law of God to expose the man's sin and insincerity. I want you to notice that the commandments Jesus mentions are all having to do with how people deal with other people. They're about relationships.
Mark 10:19
"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.’"
This isn't Jesus testing the man's theological knowledge. Jesus is focusing in on his lifestyle.
The rich young ruler replied:
Mark 10:20
"Teacher," he declared, "all these I have kept since I was a boy."
Humoring the guy, Jesus gives him the benefit of the doubt. I think Jesus truly loves him and wants him to get it right. He wants everyone to get it right.
1 Timothy 2:3-4 God our Savior...wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
Jesus isn't trying to set him up for failure, he wants him to make a decision and the only way to get him to the truthful conclusion is to bring him back to when he was a boy (as the young man said). Jesus wants this man to become childlike again. He was there after all when he was a boy, and when he was first following all of God's commands. And it's that boy he wants again. It's a connection with that boy that he wants. The boy who loved God with all his heart, mind, spirit, and strength. And I believe that's why he says what he says next. He's already established that this man believes he's keeping the law of God. But Jesus only mentioned the commands having to do with how people live with each other. Now he's going to get into how the man relates to God himself.
Mark 10:21
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."
The rich young ruler that Jesus loved wanted investment advice from Jesus. Where should he invest to inherit the kingdom of God. Jesus tells him now is a great time to sell. Jesus exposed his sin, the command he didn't keep from since he was a boy. He was in violation of the very first commandment - the one that Jesus did not mention - that "you shall have no other gods before me."
Mark 10:22
At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.
This man’s god was his money. His faith was in the traditions and religious practices of his people and their religion.
The question for everyone one of you who read this and who have "stuff" and who haven't fully surrendered your life to Jesus...
Mark 8:36-37
"What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?"
Earlier I said, "in this lesson today we learn that wealth, and the self are expressions of that hardness."
And it's true - self-reliance keeps a lot of us from seeing our true poverty. What we lack, as Jesus puts it. Jesus sees things differently than we do.
Revelation 3:17
"You say, ’I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked."
That's how God sees us. Imagine now that he's seeing all that and yet still loves us. He loved that rich young ruler. The gospel says he did. It literally says it. But what Jesus was looking at was wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked hard heartedness.
Everyone watching this encounter are amazed. Jesus knows their thoughts...
Mark 10:24-25
The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, "Children, 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 a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
If the young man is like the camel, burdened with goods, what is like the eye of the needle?
John 10:9 (Jesus said)
"I am the gate. If anyone enters through Me, he will be saved. He will come in and go out and find pasture."
Jesus gave that option to the rich young ruler, he told him to off-load his burdens, and he went away troubled.
I wonder how they knew he was sad. That fact that the comment is made about his state of mind, something technically only he and God would know about, suggests either Jesus told them this, or they learn it from the young man himself, later on, possibly after he had a change of heart.
The takeaway for the disciples is that nothing is impossible for God. If you surrender everything for Him with a childlike heart, he will never abandon you, and you'll receive more than you can possibly imagine. You've got his word on it.
Mark 10:29-31
"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 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. But many who are first will be last, and the last first."
The Word of the Lord.
Amen. And amen.
Matthew 24:6-8 "You are going to hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, because these things must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these events are the beginning of labor pains."
There has been thirteen years of war for every one year of peace since the time of Christ. Mankind loves war.
"Many will fall away, betray one another, and hate one another." (v.10)
Love grows cold. Lawlessness spreads faster than the gospel. But through endurance the kingdom of God will be preached. And the angels will fulfill this mission:
Revelation 14:6 "Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people. He said in a loud voice, 'Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.'"
And just as a side note, for all ...
Matthew 10:16
"Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. So be as shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves."
"Beware the moon, Stay on the road. Keep clear of the moors." (From: An American Werewolf in London 1981)
I was 19 when that movie came out and it was then that I was at my lowest point ever. I was dying and couldn't see it happening to me.
It's nearly Halloween, and I've arrived here in my daily studies at Jesus sending his children, as lambs, out to preach the gospel among wolves. And I have to admit this morning my head went to the movie I rewatched (for the hundredth time) again last night. I confess I'm somewhat of a connoisseur of werewolf movies. It's really an odd and unexpected fascination since throughout my entire childhood I was plagued nightly by nightmares of invisible werewolves that stalked me trying to bite me. I couldn't see them but could hear them. And when they were just about to bite, they'd suddenly be visible (this is how I knew they were werewolves). And this was a ...
Matthew 10:32-33
“Everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But everyone who denies me here on earth, I will also deny before my Father in heaven."
Jesus calls and sends his disciples to the lost sheep of Israel because he has a great compassion for the needy. He sees them as sheep without a shepherd, lost and living in miserable conditions. They're harassed, and cast down. And in the face of many evils they're unable to help themselves. They are outside of Christ, living in darkness.
And what's interesting is the disciples are sent to be forerunners to His coming. Like heralds they are to go into the towns and villages healing the sick, casting out demons, raising spirits and preaching the good news. It's a mission trip, he's sending them outside the congregation to free these people from the bondage of evil. This is aggressive evangelism. It's like rustic camping. Bring it in and take it out. They must depend entirely on God for all their needs. It's a mission trip focused upon aggressively reaching ...
Mark 10:38
Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?"
Back in Mark chapter nine verse thirty-three, you might recall this took place...
"They came to Capernaum. He was in the house, and He began to question them, ‘What were you discussing on the way?' But they kept silent, for on the way they had discussed with one another which of them was the greatest. Sitting down, He called the twelve and said to them, ‘If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.’"
So, now we're here at the end of his ministry work in Galilee. And again he's addressing this issue about which of the disciples is considered greatest among them. Jesus explains that he is going to his death. In detail he explains that the scribes and chief priests will hand him over for execution, and on the third day he will rise from the grave. And he goes on to say, "whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant; and whoever wishes to be first ...
God Hates Divorce
Mark 10:6-9
"But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate."
We all live somewhere in-between hardness of heart and the new creation. Jesus knows this because he lived it. And that's why he calls us to live according to the ideals of his kingdom. But he goes beyond a simple call to a life of piety. He enables us by his prescient words of truth and by the works of The Holy Spirit. But none of this ends the battle for our minds and souls by evil spiritual influences and wicked people. These are the facts of life, and the spiritual life.
Jesus is now knowingly on his way to Jerusalem to be tried by wicked men, betrayed, denied, crucified, and to rise from the grave. And his disciples have still not fully grasped what was going on.
So, the Pharisees are at it again, trolling Jesus as he ...
Exodus 13:21-22
The Lord showed them the way; during the day he went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud, and during the night he was in a pillar of fire to give them light. In this way they could travel during the day or night. The pillar of cloud was always with them during the day, and the pillar of fire was always with them at night.
In 1446 BC, the 435 miles long trip from Goshen (Tell el-Dab’a) to Mt. Sinai took the Hebrews a total of 47 days to trek. The Hebrews made the 12-mile-long crossing of the Red Sea at the Straits of Tiran, and they all eventually arrived at the Red Sea on day 25 then took 22 days to travel 124 miles from the Red Sea Crossing to Mt. Sinai. During that entire trip about 2 million Jews DID NOT die. The Lord was with them in a very prescient manner. And his protection was upon them. They hadn't done anything to earn it. They had no merit born out of faithfulness. In fact, many if not most were people who had been fully engaged in the pagan worship of the Egyptians.
Pharaoh's army easily traveled the 249 miles from Goshen to the Red Sea crossing ...
