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Finding Eternal Life: Letting Go to Gain Everything

Mark 10:17-31 NIV

¹⁷ 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?”

¹⁸ “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. ¹⁹ 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, honor your father and mother.’”

²⁰ “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”

²¹ 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.”

²² At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.

²³ Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”

²⁴ The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is^[b] to enter the kingdom of God! ²⁵ It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

²⁶ The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?”

²⁷ Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”

²⁸ Then Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow you!”

²⁹ “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel ³⁰ will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. ³¹ But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

A Story We Know Too Well

As our journey through the Christian Year draws to a close, we are still in the season after Pentecost. Pentecost is the birthday of the church, and the weeks that follow Pentecost challenge us to understand God’s Kingdom, grow in His Kingdom, and live out our calling to the King of the Kingdom.

Today we read the story of the rich young ruler, who was a man on a spiritual quest. This story appears in Matthew, Mark and Luke – evidence that all three considered this an important encounter in the life of Jesus.

This story has become so familiar to us we have to be careful how we deal with it. If not, we may miss the real meaning of the story and seeing ourselves in it.

The Story Behind the Story

Let’s look first at the scene. We are outdoors with Jesus and the disciples, probably in Perea, about 2-3 day’s journey by foot east of Jerusalem. Jesus has just finished blessing little children after he rebuked his own disciples for trying to keep them away. When the children and their parents left, Jesus and his disciples resumed their journey toward Jerusalem.

As Jesus and his disciples walk down the road, a man runs toward him, falls on his knees and asks an urgent question. Enter the rich young ruler.

How did this wealthy young man know where to find Jesus? Why did he seek out Jesus and not his local rabbi? And, if this question is so important to him, why didn’t this man of means look to the scholars and religious leaders in Jerusalem?

We don’t know the answers, but we get the hint that the rich young man is on a quest. He is a seeker, and without doubt he has heard that Jesus is a different kind of teacher.

I personally think this rich young man has tracked down Jesus. Wherever Jesus went, crowds gathered and the word spread. Chances are the rich young man had the time, resources, and desire to find Jesus so he could get an answer to the question haunting him.

Mark says the young man runs up to Jesus, drops to his knees and blurts out his question –

“Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

This eager rich young man doesn’t have time for protocol or pleasantries. He wants an answer here and now.

After Jesus corrects him mildly for calling him “good,” Jesus gets right to it.

“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, honor your father and mother.’”

Obviously, these commandments are from the Ten Commandments, but Jesus doesn’t quote them all. By noting the commandments addressing our relationships with each other, Jesus alludes to the entire Law. This reveals first century theological thought in Judaism. You were considered a “righteous” person if you kept the teaching of the Torah. In other words, faith and faithfulness went hand-in-hand in first century Judaism. You lived what you said you believed.

Now, back to our story. Pay attention to what Jesus is doing. By saying “You know the commandments…” Jesus is giving the young man a chance to evaluate his own spiritual life. Surprisingly, the young man’s answer is both candid and stunning.

“Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”

Wow. My first thought is, this is the height of arrogance, but maybe not. Perhaps the young man can answer so quickly and confidently because he really thinks he has obeyed the commands of the Torah, including the Ten. After all, that’s what righteous people do -- they keep the Law.

In our jaded, twenty-first century grumpiness, we might be hard on the rich young man. We know Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount that the Law is more than a checklist of do’s and don’ts. That is the reason Jesus repeatedly explained, “You have heard it has been said…but I say unto you…” In other words, it’s not as simple as you think.

Fortunately, Jesus doesn’t respond to the young man’s naïve answer like we might. As a matter of fact, Jesus doesn’t respond at all. Jesus just looks at the young man. He looks at the young man, and Mark says that Jesus “loved him.”

Jesus’s love and compassion looks past the young man’s lofty self-assessment of his spiritual life. Love looks past the naïve arrogance and sees a person who has genuinely tried to live a good and righteous life.

Then, Jesus gently challenges the young man, “One thing you lack,” he said.

With Jesus’ words, the young man is all ears. He’s eager to hear what Jesus will say, so he can do it. The young man’s expectant expression pleads for Jesus to tell him about this one thing.

And so Jesus tells him.

Let’s pause for a moment: At this point I imagine Jesus speaking softly and slowly to this young man. Jesus isn’t preaching to the crowd -- he has an audience of one. Even though the disciples are eavesdropping on the whole encounter, this is a personal conversation between a respected teacher and his beloved pupil. Then Jesus says,

“Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

There it is. The one thing that is standing in the way of this sincere, good, rich young man finding spiritual peace.

The conversation stops. No one says anything.

The young man instantly understands Jesus knows his secret – his great wealth is both a blessing and a burden. It brings power and prestige, yet it weighs him down in distress.

In that day, wealth carried great responsibilities. If the young man had inherited his wealth, he bore a responsibility to manage it well for his family’s benefit. If his wealth came from his skill as a craftsman who employed others in his workshops, he had a responsibility to his employees and their families. If his wealth came from buying and selling goods along the great trading routes and markets, then he had obligations to suppliers, to customers, and to those who crewed his vessels. It was a burden he bore heavily at times. What would happen to those people if he sold everything and gave it to the poor?

Of course, he did enjoy the prestige of his wealth. For instance, he pretended not to notice the way people looked at him when he walked through the crowded markets. If you pressed him, he’d confess feeling a little pride when older men deferred to him because he was important to the community. Being rich wasn’t all bad. It did have its perks.

As all these thoughts flashed through his mind, he realized his quest had ended. He was at a dead-end.

He could not do the one thing the teacher was asking. Perhaps he should do it. After all, selling everything and giving it away would free him from the obligations of affluence.

Sadly, he simply could not bring himself to do it. It was too much.

When the young man heard the Jesus’ answer, the Bible says,

“…the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.”

After a moment of reflection, nothing was said. No one moved, except the young man, who now felt older than he had ever felt.

He rose slowly to his feet, carefully turned, and walked away. Head down, shoulders slumped, steps heavy.

He walked away from the teacher he had sought. He walked away from the answer he thought he wanted to hear. And we never hear from him, again.

A Story of One Who Did Not Go Away Sad

In the early 20th century, another young man stood at the pinnacle of success. A renowned theologian, philosopher, and musician, he had achieved fame and respect in multiple fields. By age 30, he was the principal of a theological seminary and acclaimed as a classical organist, with a promising career ahead. Yet, something gnawed at his conscience.

In 1904, he came across a report from the Paris Missionary Society about the dire need for doctors in Gabon, Africa. The words struck him deeply: “Men and women who can reply simply to the Master’s call, ‘Lord, I am coming,’ those are the people whom the Church needs.”

Despite the protests of friends and colleagues who thought he was throwing away his career, Albert Schweitzer embarked on a new path. He enrolled in medical school, and by 1913, he and his wife were on their way to Lambaréné, Gabon, to establish a hospital in the jungle.

In Lambaréné, a village 200 miles upstream from the Atlantic on the Ogooué River, Schweitzer and his wife established a crude hospital. With Helene serving as anesthetist, they began the challenging work of providing medical care in a region desperately lacking in resources.

Schweitzer’s decision to leave behind his comfortable life and promising career was not without cost. He faced numerous hardships, including internment during World War I and the destruction of his first hospital. Yet he persevered, returning to Lambaréné in 1924 to rebuild and expand his medical work.

Over the decades that followed, Schweitzer’s hospital grew, and his philosophy of “Reverence for Life” gained international recognition.

Schweitzer’s life embodied the radical call of discipleship we encounter in today’s Gospel reading. He let go of worldly success and comfort to follow a divine calling, finding in that sacrifice a life of profound purpose and impact.

Two Commands, and It’s Not Just About the Money

In many ways, you and I are not like the rich young ruler. We probably are not rich, maybe not  young, and few are influential. Nor are we like Albert Schweitzer. Most of us are not theological whiz kids, musical geniuses, or altruistic physicians. We’re us. Regular folks going about our daily lives like most regular folks do.

But even among us regular folks, there is a longing, a sense that there is more to life than the everyday hum-drum.

In that way, we are like the rich young ruler and Albert Schweitzer. We’re seekers. We know there is more. The rich young ruler sought “eternal life.” He wanted more and he wanted to know how to get it.

To his credit, the rich young ruler probably thought “eternal life” meant being judged favorably by God and spending eternity in the presence of God. Jewish theology of the first century included those elements.

That is what we all want. In our best moments we want to stand before God and hear God say, “Well, done good and faithful servant. Enter into the blessings prepared for you.”

The problem is the rich young ruler thought it was all up to him. He had kept the commandments, what more could he do?

As it turns out, the only thing he needed to do was get rid of the one thing that kept him from following Jesus, but he couldn’t.

That’s the dilemma we face ourselves, isn’t it? We know that Jesus knows what that one thing is. For the rich young ruler it was his wealth. Not that money is a bad thing. It just happened to be the one thing keeping him from Jesus.

For Albert Schweitzer the thing keeping him from doing what God was calling him to do might have been his friends and relatives insisting Schweitzer could be a blessing to people right where he lived. Or it could have been his own talent as an organist, or intellect as a theologian. But Schweitzer did what the rich young ruler could not do – he gave it all up to study medicine, so he could be a doctor at a medical mission in Africa.

Paradoxically, in giving up friends and family, Schweitzer found a world of friends and family from Africa to America to love and support him in the work he was called to.

Schweitzer might have found more fame as a concert organist or a thoughtful theologian training young aspiring clergy. But he gave up that possibility for a rudimentary mission hospital in Africa, which in turn brought him global acclaim for generations.

Yet, what if Schweitzer had been killed shortly after arriving in Africa? Would we like the story as much? Would we have thought Schweitzer’s sacrifice worth it? Or would we have said, “What a shame, he had such promise.”

If we do, we miss the point. It’s not about what we get for what we give up. It’s about Jesus.

Remember exactly what Jesus said to the rich young ruler?

“Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

Most of the time we focus on the phrase “sell everything you have…” but that’s not the one thing. It’s not the money for everyone. Let me explain.

There are two commands in Jesus’s answer to the rich young ruler: the first is “Go.”

Remember what the rich young ruler is seeking – eternal life. To find eternal life, Jesus said there is one thing he needs to “go” do. Go sell everything and give it to the poor. For Albert Schweitzer it was “Go, enroll in medical school and graduate as a physician.”

In other words, Jesus is saying, “Go, deal with the one thing that you value the most.” Go, sell it! Go, change it! Go, fix it! Go, take care of it! Go, settle it forever!

However, following the first command alone will not get the rich young ruler, or anyone else, eternal life.

It’s the second command that’s the clincher. And in the second command we have an invitation – “Come and follow me.” The command to “go and sell” prepares us for the invitation to “come and follow.”

Sadly, the rich young ruler couldn’t bring himself to “go and sell” because he had great wealth. When he decided he could not “go and sell” he missed the opportunity to “come and follow.”

It’s in the “come and follow” that we find eternal life.

If you’re familiar with theological terms, the “go and sell” is the confession and repentance of the person who is seeking life eternal. To acknowledge what keeps us from Jesus, and then to repent (literally “turn around”), is to “go and sell”—to get rid of the life which has kept us from the promise of life eternal.

But, we also have to “come and follow.” That is Jesus’ invitation to us. Remember, Jesus saw the young man’s naïve confidence, and “loved him.” We may not have all the theological jargon right, but Jesus loves us in our imperfect hope.

There’s a lot more to this story that we could unpack, but we’ll leave that for another time. The point is this -- Jesus encourages us to “go and sell” so we can accept his invitation to “come and follow.”

The Bible says the rich young ruler went away sad. We don’t have to. The decision is ours.

Amen.