Mark 10:17-22-- Stuff

As He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to him and knelt before him, and asked him, "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments, ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.'" And he said to him, "Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up." Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, "One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." But at these words he was saddened, and he went away grieving, for he was one who owned much property.

An anonymous man shows great respect to Jesus by kneeling before him and calling him “Good teacher.”  He is clearly one who is sincere in wanting to honor Jesus and respectfully listen to his teaching.  Jesus responds to the man without much respect—disagreeing with him being called “Good” saying that such a title belongs only to God. Perhaps Jesus thought that the man was trying to "butter him up" to give him a fair answer to his question.

But the question the man asks is sincere, and comes to the point—although it was much disagreed with by many scholars of his day—“how does one gain eternal life?”  As seen in the following discussion, this matter, “eternal life” could also be called “having treasure in heaven,” or “entering the kingdom of God” or “being saved.”  They are all talking about the same thing: gaining the promises and blessings of God after this age or life is over.  

And this man sincerely wanted to know how to gain it.  Jesus response is the obvious one, one that all teachers would approve of, and that the man would have heard many times: “Obey the commandments.” Jesus gives a brief rundown of five of the ten commandments, plus one additional, “do not defraud” (found in Leviticus 19:13).  What Jesus seems to be saying is: “You know what the traditional teaching is.  Why do you bother to come up and ask me?”  Again, it could be that Jesus answered this way because he didn't think the young man was sincere in asking.

Then the man pleads with the Lord, indicating that he had always heard this teaching, and obeyed it, but he felt that Jesus must indicate that there was something more.  Jesus then changed his attitude toward the man and had compassion on him, because he seemed sincere in seeking God, not just the answers one receives from the local preacher.  So Jesus responded with a fuller answer, that the every day preacher did not say:  Jesus gave the man two additional commands that are not in the Law of Moses—Sell your possessions and give to the poor, and become a disciple of Jesus.  

To give to the poor is a command in Moses, even to the sacrifice of one’s own good (Deuteronomy 15:4-11).  But to sell one’s possessions to give to the poor is not found anywhere in the Law—it is an additional command given by Jesus.  Note, that Jesus is giving this command as a requirement for salvation.  Jesus is not saying, “Just believe in me and you will be saved.”  Nor is he offering an easy way to salvation.  Rather, Jesus is speaking of sacrificing one’s own life in order to gain the next age—the same teaching he gave when he spoke of carrying the cross (Mark 8:35ff.).  This requirement is not just for this young man, but for all disciples, as Jesus gives the same command to disciples in Luke 12:33. 

The man was more than willing to follow Jesus, it seemed, but to sell his possessions was difficult, for he had many possessions.  We do not know what his final decision was: to sell his possessions, and so to follow Jesus and gain eternal life, or to retain his possessions and hope that the local preacher was right in their idea of salvation.

In our day, possessions are easy to come by.  We are taught to be consumers at a young age, and surrounding ourselves with possessions is a comfort. In the United States, even if we are poor, there are many who take pity on us and shower us with toys and gifts.  We are as neurotic about our possessions as we are about sweets. If we don't have them, then we are stressed, in psychological agony.  And even if we don't have many physical possessions, we might collect digital music or videos... we are addicted to obtaining. We are all rich young rulers, where even the homeless collect useless possessions as if their lives depended on them.

Yet possessions are not just something we have, they are something that possess us.  The more stuff we have, the more time we have to take to care for them, or process them.  And that time could be used for people, or for growing ourselves, or for any number of things.  The collection of possessions is the least positive of our activities, but between shopping, gathering, organizing, cleaning, re-organizing, recycling, giving away and throwing away, we spend too much of our lives messing with things.

It would be best if we limited the amount of stuff we get.  But Jesus' solution is simple: just give it away.  Give it to people who might need it-- thrift stores, pawn shops, charities-- and if you gain any benefit from it, give it to the poor, don't keep it for yourself.  If you get a tax deduction from it, take the money you save and give it to charity.  This allows our stuff to be a benefit, instead of a hoard.  And what we have is loaned to God, and so is a benefit for our relationship with Him.  We love others and we love God, instead of loving our own comfort.

And this is something we don't do just once.  We are possession magnets, most of us.  Collecting is easier than saying "no" to ourselves.  We should be regularly giving and giving and giving to those in need, not keeping for ourselves.  This is one way in which we learn to be lovers, expanding the kingdom of God instead of our own.