Go, Sell; Come, Follow (Mark 10:17-31)
Go, Sell; Come, Follow
Read Mark 10:17-31
Today we consider the second of three events Mark records just before Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem.
The first was the question of marriage and divorce, which we looked at yesterday. The third will be the question of leadership and power. We’ll look at that tomorrow.
Today we consider the second of these events, the question of how Jesus’ followers are to relate to money and wealth. It involves a poignant exchange between Jesus and a wealthy man. Jesus gave him the opportunity of a lifetime: “Follow me,” he said. But sadly, the man refused.
Why didn’t he follow Jesus? His wealth got in the way. Jesus told him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor…; and come, follow me.” He was unwilling to do it, so despite his earnest desire to inherit the kingdom, “he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.”
Perhaps we are surprised by Jesus’ difficult demand. But he’s been saying things like this all along. He said it following Peter’s confession: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (8:34).
He said it following the disciples’ argument about which of them was the greatest: “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all” (9:35).
And he says it again, here: “Go, sell all that you have,… and come, follow me” (10:21).
I don’t know where we get the notion that following Jesus should be easy. We certainly don’t get it from Jesus. His obedience to God cost him his life. He expected no less from those who would respond to his call.
Typically, this is the moment we preachers apply this story by giving examples of the variety of things we might need to give up in order to follow Jesus. I had done so myself in sentences I’ve felt compelled to delete.
For when Jesus himself spoke about his conversation, he kept the focus very narrow: the issue was wealth and the way it can prevent us from following Jesus.
He said, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” He said, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
The disciples were “amazed” and “astonished” when Jesus said this. We're probably amazed, too -- perhaps even a bit offended — either by the words of Jesus, or by the preacher who keeps pressing the point!
Jesus was not against wealth, but he repeatedly warns us of its dangers (Matthew 6:19-33; Luke 12:13-34, for example). Why does he do this? He does it for the same reason he said what he said to the rich man that day: “And Jesus, looking at him, loved him….”
These words are touching and rare, otherwise used only to express his love for his disciples, and for Lazarus and his sisters. I see it in my imagination: Jesus … looking at him … loved him.
Jesus wanted him to experience what he sought: “the life of the age to come” (another translation of “eternal life”). It would — and did — utterly change the world. Jesus loved the man, so he told him the truth: his love of money had to go, and in his case (the only one we're told of) radical surgery was necessary for life in his kingdom.
It was a kingdom which would turn the world's approach to sex, money and power right-side up. Marriages would flourish, as we saw yesterday. Power would be channeled to serve others, as we will see tomorrow.
And those who put money in its proper place will rejoice to discover that they receive back, as Jesus said:
“a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.”
Sounds like a great investment to me. What do you think?
Read Mark 10:17-31
Today we consider the second of three events Mark records just before Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem.
The first was the question of marriage and divorce, which we looked at yesterday. The third will be the question of leadership and power. We’ll look at that tomorrow.
Today we consider the second of these events, the question of how Jesus’ followers are to relate to money and wealth. It involves a poignant exchange between Jesus and a wealthy man. Jesus gave him the opportunity of a lifetime: “Follow me,” he said. But sadly, the man refused.
Why didn’t he follow Jesus? His wealth got in the way. Jesus told him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor…; and come, follow me.” He was unwilling to do it, so despite his earnest desire to inherit the kingdom, “he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.”
Perhaps we are surprised by Jesus’ difficult demand. But he’s been saying things like this all along. He said it following Peter’s confession: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (8:34).
He said it following the disciples’ argument about which of them was the greatest: “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all” (9:35).
And he says it again, here: “Go, sell all that you have,… and come, follow me” (10:21).
I don’t know where we get the notion that following Jesus should be easy. We certainly don’t get it from Jesus. His obedience to God cost him his life. He expected no less from those who would respond to his call.
Typically, this is the moment we preachers apply this story by giving examples of the variety of things we might need to give up in order to follow Jesus. I had done so myself in sentences I’ve felt compelled to delete.
For when Jesus himself spoke about his conversation, he kept the focus very narrow: the issue was wealth and the way it can prevent us from following Jesus.
He said, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” He said, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
The disciples were “amazed” and “astonished” when Jesus said this. We're probably amazed, too -- perhaps even a bit offended — either by the words of Jesus, or by the preacher who keeps pressing the point!
Jesus was not against wealth, but he repeatedly warns us of its dangers (Matthew 6:19-33; Luke 12:13-34, for example). Why does he do this? He does it for the same reason he said what he said to the rich man that day: “And Jesus, looking at him, loved him….”
These words are touching and rare, otherwise used only to express his love for his disciples, and for Lazarus and his sisters. I see it in my imagination: Jesus … looking at him … loved him.
Jesus wanted him to experience what he sought: “the life of the age to come” (another translation of “eternal life”). It would — and did — utterly change the world. Jesus loved the man, so he told him the truth: his love of money had to go, and in his case (the only one we're told of) radical surgery was necessary for life in his kingdom.
It was a kingdom which would turn the world's approach to sex, money and power right-side up. Marriages would flourish, as we saw yesterday. Power would be channeled to serve others, as we will see tomorrow.
And those who put money in its proper place will rejoice to discover that they receive back, as Jesus said:
“a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.”
Sounds like a great investment to me. What do you think?