“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?’The rich young ruler came looking for some kind of validation of his own self-righteousness. He wanted a stamp of approval for all his good deeds that were within his comfort zone of doing. But then Jesus exposed his true God. The man walked away sad because he’d been asked to trade in his comfort, his real object of worship, for Jesus. He clung to the crazy notion of his good works being enough to purchase his way into the Kingdom of God. He wanted a ‘good teacher’ to excuse his idolatry, not a Saviour to crucify it.
‘Why do you call me good?’ Jesus answered. ‘No one is good – except God alone. 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, honour your father and mother.”’ ‘Teacher,’ he declared, ‘all these I have kept since I was a boy.’
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.’ At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.”- Mark 10:17-22
Like Jesus asked of the rich young ruler, we have to be willing to lay our idols on the altar of sacrifice in order to experience the real life, satisfaction and joy that only He can bring.
In this sad story, there is also hope abundant hidden in verse 21. Despite the young man’s unwillingness to sacrifice, his insistence to hold onto the things that were killing him, Mark says that “Jesus looked at him and loved him.” Through the hardness of our hearts and the stubbornness of our disobedience to God’s call, His love never relents.
