A Rich Man, Money, and the Question of Eternal Life – Mark 10:17–31
Money. We all need it. We can’t really live without it.
You need it to buy food.
There are always bills to pay.
There are just things you need.
Whether we like it or not, money is a big part of our lives. And the Bible recognises that. In fact, the Bible speaks about money quite a lot. Jesus himself speaks about money and wealth often, and one of the clearest and most confronting places he does so is in Mark 10, in the story of the rich man (see the reading at the end of the article).
When I look back over the various stages of my own life, my relationship with money has changed over time. There’s the childhood stage, where money isn’t that relevant, but you’re learning about it. Maybe there’s pocket money. Mostly it’s about whether you’ve got enough for those 50-cent lolly bags at the school canteen.
Then you get your first job, and when you’re a teenager, money becomes more important. Around that time, I had a series of jobs in orchards, beekeeping, cleaning, warehouses, forestry, volunteer coordinating, and all sorts of things. A little bit of money starts to come in, and over time you realise that money actually matters. You need it to do things, to buy things, and just to get by each week.
I remember when my wife and I went into three years of full-time study in Sydney. I was studying, and my wife was at home with two young children. We didn’t really have much money at all. We lived off the generosity of others and a government allowance. Perhaps you can relate to that kind of season.
The point is, money is a big part of our lives, whether we have a little or a lot of it. And because of that, we need to think carefully about money in a God-honouring, Jesus-focused way.
That’s why this story of the rich man is so helpful. In this passage, Jesus shows us that while money is necessary, it can also have a dangerous influence over us. It can hold us more tightly than we realise. It can blind us to our true spiritual condition.
But the good news that we see in Mark 10:17-31 is that God, by his grace, opens our eyes to see what money is doing within us. Money, you see, can have a power over us. Like the rich man, the power of money can blind us to our spiritual condition, and Jesus points this out to him.
Verse 21.
“Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack, Jesus says.
Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me. At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.”
The idol of money can rule our heart. How can be escape the idols which can rule our hearts, our desires, our lives? Is it possible to be free?
Verse 26 “The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, ‘Who then can be saved?’
Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”
How can we be saved? It’s humanly impossible. That’s what Jesus says.
So what hope is there? It’s a great question that gets to the heart of Christianity, the heart of the gospel. You see, salvation isn’t humanly possible. It’s impossible to free ourselves from our idols. It’s impossible for you and I to stop serving the idols of money, sex, and power, comfort, lifestyle.
Salvation is impossible with man. But the good news is that all things are possible with God.
How then can we be saved? Because God saves.
And that’s the very reason why Jesus was there that day. And the reason we’re here today.
To hear that Jesus, the King of God’s kingdom, has come into this world. To save people from those idols which consume our hearts. Jesus died the death we deserve for our idolatry. In his resurrection, he broke the power of death, so that we might inherit eternal life.
It’s only the power of God at work in our life that we can be free from serving idols. It’s impossible with man, it’s possible with God.
It’s only when God gives us new hearts, that we’re able to give up everything for him. Such is his power, and his mercy and grace.
Jesus is the way to be free from greed. He saves us and brings us into his kingdom, and the result is that we no longer need be consumed or ruled by money, but can use it in a godly and wise way.
Mark 10:17-31
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.’[a]”
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.”