Listen here.

Mark 10:23-31

²³ And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” ²⁴ And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult 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 person to enter the kingdom of God.” ²⁶ And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?” ²⁷ Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”

²⁸ Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you.” ²⁹ Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, ³⁰ who will not receive 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. ³¹ But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Imagine you are watching a TV Drama: “Previously, from this pulpit.” A man, he was referred to as Mark last week, runs up to Jesus, kneels before Him, and asks, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus answered, “Good? 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.’” Mark replied, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth. What is still missing?” Jesus, looking at Mark loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” Mark’s face clouded over and he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

The things Mark owned, owned him. Mark wasn’t willing to give up his stuff in exchange for eternal life – even though he would lose it all once he died. Mark walks away, and Jesus doesn’t call out to him. Jesus doesn’t pursue him. Jesus simply lets him go.

Mark should have stuck around because Jesus continues to answer Mark’s question in today’s text. But Mark isn’t there, so Jesus turns around to His disciples and says, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God.” The disciples are amazed. Their jaws drop and they gasp. In their minds, wealth and riches and stuff were all signs that God was pleased with you and blessing you. In the conventional wisdom of the day, a rich, moral person such as Mark was thought to be especially favored by God. If Mark couldn’t enter the kingdom of God… than who could?

But Jesus piles an even more amazing statement on top of this: “Children, how difficult 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 person to enter the kingdom of God.” This blows the disciples minds – they are exceedingly astonished. The disciples respond, “Then who can be saved?”

How difficult is salvation? Jesus tells us, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”

Mark should have stuck around to hear Jesus say this. Mark should have believed Jesus when Jesus said that the one thing Mark lacked was to get rid of all the things that owned him and follow Jesus. But Mark went back to his house, back to his stuff, back to his “trophy wife.” I wonder what was going through Mark’s mind when he was again surrounded by the things he valued more than Jesus’ words of eternal life.

Did Solomon’s words from our Old Testament text (Ecc. 5:10-20) ring in Mark’s ears? “He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income.” And, “As a man come from his mother’s womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil.”

I wonder if Mark got home, looked at all his things, and realized this. He came into the world with nothing and he would leave with nothing. Now, there is a tradition (we don’t know from Scripture, mind you) that this rich, young ruler was Mark, the author of this Gospel. The four Gospels are different. But Matthew, Mark, and Luke are very similar, and John was written later and different than the other three Gospels. But Matthew, Mark, and Luke all have their own version of this rich, young ruler coming to Jesus. That is a clue that this text was important to the early Church. It is possible the first Christians knew the identity of that this rich, young ruler.

There is another passage in Mark (Mk. 14:51-52) where Jesus is being arrested. Mark tells of a young man who followed Jesus to His arrest with nothing but a linen cloth about his body. After they arrested Jesus, the soldiers seized the young man, but he left and ran away naked. To record this detail during the pivotal moments of Jesus’ arrest is odd. Some early church fathers identified this fleeing, naked man as Mark, the author of this Gospel. And some have suggested that the rich, young ruler was also Mark. The tradition goes something like this: Mark left Jesus because he wasn’t willing to get rid of his stuff. But Jesus’ statement, “Go. Sell all you have. Give it to the poor. And come follow Me,” stayed with Mark. And Mark did what Jesus commanded. All he had left in the world was this linen cloth, and that was stripped off of him as he did follow Jesus.

If that is true, that is a much nicer ending to the story. But the most important part of all of this is to see Jesus’ answer to the disciples’ question, “Than who can be saved?”

Jesus says, “With man salvation is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” This is pure Gospel. Your salvation does not rely upon anything you have done. Your salvation rests upon God’s doing. God doesn’t leave anything incomplete. Jesus does the impossible – your salvation. Jesus goes to the cross, Jesus takes your sin, Jesus suffers God’s wrath, Jesus dies, and Jesus rises again – for you and for your salvation. And He does it perfectly.

Now, there’s the little matter of Peter’s observation: “See we have left everything and followed You.” Hold the horses, there, Peter. You still have a house (Mt. 8:14). You still have a boat (Jn. 21:1-3). But Jesus doesn’t correct Peter. Instead, Jesus does say that Peter and all Christians will be blessed – in this time. Jesus wasn’t speaking figuratively here. You have a hundredfold now, in this time. This does still take the eyes of faith.

Believer, if you only have one dollar, you have more than a billionaire who does not have faith. A billionaire who does not have Christ thinks everything he has is something he has earned, but they also think that they have to keep it because that is all they have. But not you. You know that everything you have is God’s good gift to you, and knowing that, you can truly enjoy it. The things you own, you really own. They are given to you by God, and you can delight in them as just a small portion of the blessings that God gives you now, and in the age to come.

So look around. See your blessings. See here your brothers and sisters in Christ. Look at your possessions and delight in them because you know that they are God’s good gift to you. And if God should so choose, you do not have to worry if God decides to take those things away from you because you know that your eternal life is something that God delights to give to you. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.