17 As Jesus started to leave, a man ran to him and fell on his knees before Jesus. The man asked, “Good teacher, what must I do to have life forever?”
18 Jesus answered, “Why do you call me good? Only God is good. 19 You know the commands: ‘You must not murder anyone. You must not be guilty of adultery. You must not steal. You must not tell lies about your neighbor. You must not cheat. Honor your father and mother.’ ”
20 The man said, “Teacher, I have obeyed all these things since I was a boy.”
21 Jesus, looking at the man, loved him and said, “There is one more thing you need to do. Go and sell everything you have, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me.”
22 He was very sad to hear Jesus say this, and he left sorrowfully, because he was rich.
23 Then Jesus looked at his followers and said, “How hard it will be for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”
24 The followers were amazed at what Jesus said. But he said again, “My children, it is very hard 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 The followers were even more surprised and said to each other, “Then who can be saved?”
27 Jesus looked at them and said, “For people this is impossible, but for God all things are possible.”
28 Peter said to Jesus, “Look, we have left everything and followed you.”
29 Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, all those who have left houses, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children, or farms for me and for the Good News 30 will get more than they left. Here in this world they will have a hundred times more homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and fields. And with those things, they will also suffer for their belief. But in the age that is coming they will have life forever. 31 Many who are first now will be last in the future. And many who are last now will be first in the future.”
Read Mark 10:17-31 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!
The event we are focusing in on in this journal entry is included in several of the gospels. For this journal entry, let’s look at a very interesting insight that Mark includes that the other gospel writers don’t. In this little addition, we get a glimpse of Jesus’ heart.
In Mark’s version of this event, in verse 21 we read, “Jesus, looking at the man, loved him and said . . . ” Sure, Jesus loves “everyone” but this little phrase as a transition sets up the following challenge differently than one might think on the surface. It is almost as though Jesus pauses, looks deep into the man’s eyes, and collects His thoughts to make the challenge come across as direct, honest, and positive as He can.
Jesus loves everyone. This includes you and me. He wants to give us exactly what we need, but sometimes this “thing” is a problem to help wake us up to our need, or a challenge to get rid of something. In this case, this man needed to do something first, before he would be fully able to follow Jesus.
Just like Jesus isn’t mocking the man or pressuring him into doing something that is bad for him, the challenges Jesus gives us are given for our own good – our eternal good. Jesus looks at our lives with the goal being living eternally with Him, and for some people, the invitation is a “replacement” invitation.
For this man, Jesus is saying, “Replace your worldly security for eternal security. You have lots of stuff, but if you honestly think about it, your stuff will only go so far. I [Jesus] can give you security that stuff never can, but only if you replace your stuff with Me.”
This temptation is with us each day of our lives. We might not have equal levels of “stuff” but we all have the temptation to depend on the stuff we have. Stuff can only provide limited, temporary security; Jesus can provide us with eternal security – which includes love, joy, and peace. Each of us has the choice on where we place our trust.
This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!
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