Text: Mark 10: 17-27
I know a man who teaches firefighters and rescue personnel an important skill. A building collapses. People are buried in the rubble. And if you or I would come upon that scene, we might say: Who could be saved? It looks so hopeless. But not always. Sometimes a person is helplessly trapped under that rubble alive. This man teaches others to find and rescue people from huge piles of concrete slabs. Times when you or I might say: Who could be saved?
Well here Jesus disciples were confronted with a situation they thought no less hopeless. Not a collapsed building, but a suddenly collapsed way of thinking. That happened when they heard Jesus talk to this rich young man. They wondered out loud:
WHO THEN CAN BE SAVED?
I. The Lord loves us enough to tell us the truth.
II. He loves us enough to make the impossible, possible.
The man who came to Jesus this day was not a Pharisee looking to make trouble for Jesus. He did not come with a hidden agenda to trick Jesus and show him to be a fraud. And he wasn’t someone who treated the Ten Commandments like Ten suggestions on how to live.
No this was a religious man who came with a sincere question. He wanted to be sure of the answer. And he believed he knew the answer, he lived that answer. He was looking to Jesus to confirm it. So Mark tells us he: ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (17)
His question is a window to the man’s heart. He came to Jesus believing what many people do today. If you’re good enough, if you try hard enough, you’ll get into heaven. And he thought he was. For what did he say when Jesus pointed him to the commandments. 20 “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”
Here I imagine this sincere young man expected Jesus to pat him on the back like a coach might. Way to go. Keep up the good work. You’re well on your way to life with God. But Jesus said nothing of the kind. Instead he led him to see. In spite of all his riches, he was helplessly poor when it came to God.
Jesus started with this reminder. “No one is good—except God alone. And then he had him consider the commandments. It was as if Jesus was asking him: Are you that good? Have you kept them my young friend? Do you think you are good enough to stand before God and be accepted?
But the man insisted he was. He sincerely believed that he was worthy of life with God. So Jesus had him look away from the thing he had said and done to his heart. For the Son of God knew this man’s heart as he knows ours. He can see who or what is most important to us. He can see what we treasure. So he showed this man: “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.”
So often people read this and think, Jesus is teeing off on the rich. For what does he say to his disciples? “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!” And it’s true. If we are well off, and many of us are by Bible standards, we need to pay attention to Jesus warning. There are spiritual dangers, temptations that come with being rich. So Jesus warns us elsewhere. Be on your guard against all kinds of greed. In fact, the proverbs teach us to pray: give me neither poverty or riches, Otherwise I may have too much and disown you. Riches, having what we need in this life, can blind us to what we really need, who we really need.
Yet the problem is not what fills our living rooms. It’s not our net worth. It’s what fills our hearts. And here Jesus showed this man, it wasn’t really God, but his riches. He showed this man he had broken the first and greatest commandment. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and strength. For he loved what he had, more than God. Jesus made it clear.
22 At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth. Here you might wonder what’s going on. Why did the Jesus treat him this way? Does the Son of God enjoy hurting people’s feelings? Not at all. Remember what Mark tells us in verse 21. Jesus looked at him and loved him. That’s what this is all about The Son of God loved him enough to tell him the truth.
Well here the Holy Spirit who inspired this Word loves us enough to do the same. He challenges our pride that wants to think like this rich man. I haven’t murdered. I haven’t stole someone’s car. I haven’t abused my wife or children. And Lord, I’ve been faithful in coming to your house. Through this Word, the Spirit challenges us when we are foolish enough to think. All this I have done.
For our Lord loves us enough to tell US the truth . He loves us enough to show us what’s inside our hearts. For just imagine Jesus were to say to you, Go sell everything you have and give to the poor. I think we know what our hearts would reveal.
But it’s not just there that Jesus could point. Jesus could have just as easily said to us: Don’t worry any more…or don’t lose your temper… or don’t be jealous … or don’t have lustful thoughts and you shall have treasure in heaven.
Jesus shows us the truth, doesn’t he? There is only One good and it’s not you and me. We are far from what God commands. And when we realize that, when we take it to heart, it makes our faces fall too. But you know something? Jesus doesn’t want us to go away like the rich man did. No he wants you to draw closer. He wants you to stay and learn what he teaches here: God loves us enough to make the impossible, possible.
Jesus words stunned his disciples. Perhaps they knew this man He was the type of neighbor you’d like to have. a kind and decent man. He probably made the expected donations to the temple and the poor. He was a good citizen not like those we heard about in the days of Amos the prophet. He was honest in his dealings with others.
Yet Jesus showed that even he was lacking. How stunned his disciples were especially when they heard Jesus say: “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.” Stunned by Jesus’ words they wondered out loud: Who then can be saved? If not this man, is richly blessed, if not this man so religious, if he’s not deserving, then who? 27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”
Remember the scene I described earlier. A collapsed building, a small mountain of concrete slabs piled on each other. Or maybe a coal mine in which men are trapped hundreds of feet below. Hours go by, maybe days. How amazing to see people, even one person, survive what seemed so impossible. At times like those, I find myself praying a silent prayer of thanksgiving.
Yet it hardly compares to what our Lord has done for us and all people. Our God who can make camels go through the eye of a needle has done something even more amazing. He has made the impossible, possible. For God made it possible for sinners like you and me to be his dear children with the sure hope of life with him.
But don’t get the wrong idea. God didn’t decide one day to look the other way when it came to our guilt. He would not be true to himself. God must punish evil. But that leaves you and me in an impossible situation. Yet in his great wisdom, more than that, in his great love, the Lord has made the impossible, possible.
Think about that love. Would you be willing to give up the life of your child or best friend to save the life of your enemy? Would you be willing to let your child be punished for the ugly things that others have done. I wouldn’t. But God did. He gave up the life of his Son so that you and I could be his forgiven child. He gave his Son into death to wipe away your guilt and mine and make the impossible, possible. That you can now stand before God, lacking nothing. So who then can be saved? You then, can be saved. For God made the impossible, possible by the blood of his Son, Jesus Christ.
So don’t be like that rich man. Don’t go away sad. Don’t go away discouraged because Jesus stepped on your self-esteem. Rather leave this place knowing what God has done for you. Leave this place knowing how loved you are. And leave this place ready to follow Jesus, to be all the more what our Lord wants us to be. Amen.