Mark 10:13-31

We have been covering some pretty intense topics over the last few weeks in the Gospel of Mark, so I thought it would be good for us to kind of take it easy this week and just talk about things that are easy to apply and to put into practice in our lives. You know things that are really easy to hear and easy to trust God with, things like what Jesus said to the man in our passage today when He told Him,

Mark 10:21 (ESV)

21 …“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.”

Are you kidding me? Abortion. Divorce. Sacrificial Giving!

The one applicational point Jesus gives in this passage is 4 fold: Go, sell all that you have, give to the poor and follow me!

Is anyone going to come back next week?

This is one of the real blessings of just opening up God’s Word and slowly, carefully and prayerfully working through its contents verse by verse. This method allows us to cover topics that are in the Word of God and that shouldn’t be ignored.

Mark is going to tell us two stories today. One is about a person who is “helplessly dependent” and the other one is about a person who considered himself “strongly secure and spiritually superior.”

As you might imagine, only one of these heart attitudes are acceptable to God.

We must begin the discipleship journey and continue in the discipleship journey as those who are helplessly dependent on Jesus. We have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer we who live, but Christ who lives in us.

He is the only One who has ever conquered sin and rendered it powerless. And He lives in us. We are eternally and inseparably one with Him. Apart from Him, we can do nothing.

If we ever think that we have it all together and have no need for what Jesus is offering us, or worse yet, if we see what He is offering and reject it because we prefer our own way of life over His, then we have hopelessly lost our way.

From the beginning of the journey to its glorious end, disciples of Jesus are helplessly dependent on Jesus.

Let’s pray and work through the passage.

Mark 10:13–14 (ESV)

13 And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. 14 But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them…

Ok. If they disciples behavior was frustrating before, now it has reached an infuriating point. In verse 14 Mark tells us that Jesus was “indignant.” He was justifiable angry at the behavior of His disciples because what they were doing was “wrong.”

Look at what they were doing.

They were stopping people (probably mom’s and maybe even dad’s) in the crowd from bringing their children (padions) - infants to Him. They are bringing, probably carrying, their little infants to Him and the disciples are acting like bouncers here. Not only do they not allow “them” to get close, but they “rebuke” them.

They express a strong disapproval of them bringing their helpless children to Jesus.

What are you doing here? You don’t belong here. Adults are talking.

They are evidencing the mindset of the culture in those days. In the first century world, children really didn’t have any status. Often they were pushed aside and ignored. They were considered insignificant.

So when Jesus sees His disciples hindering the helpless from coming to Him, He is vexed.

He is frustrated. Potentially annoyed. And rightly concerned enough to bring about a much needed correction, Jesus speaks like a prophet of old as He says,

Mark 10:14–15 (ESV)

14 …“Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. 15 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

What is it about children that Jesus wants His disciples to get? “to such belongs” and “like a child” are critical phrases that we need to understand.

It is not that children and infants are inherently good or trusting, or humble or willing to believe they can be those things, but (for those of us who are parents) we know that children can also be stubborn and short-tempered. They can lack understanding. Often they are thankless and ultimately they are inherently selfish and sinful.

It is within the nature of a child to do whatever is necessary to avoid a negative response, so they will say with chocolate on there hands, lips and breath that they didn’t eat the candy, but it is very clear that he or she did!

So, the point of utilizing children here isn’t to showcase their inherent goodness or their inherent badness, Jesus uses them in stark contrast to how His entitled disciples has been acting.

Once again, the context is key. Consider the disciples mindset and behavior as of late. They had been “lacking in faith,” arguing about who was the greatest, and they were trying to stop other people from doing mighty works in His name. And now, adding to that list of failures, the disciple are acting like bouncers keeping helplessly dependent infants from being touched and blessed by Jesus.

Jesus ministry is a stake in this moment. There is no way that we can be part of the kingdom of God unless we are brought Jesus in our helpless, dependent state so that He can lay His hands on us and touch us and the disciples are actively trying to stop that from happening.

But Jesus stops them from stopping others…

Mark 10:16 (ESV)

16 And he took them (children) in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.

The only way anyone enters into the the Kingdom of God is if Jesus “takes us in His arms” and blesses us by “laying His hands on us.”

We bring nothing to the table. Entrance into the kingdom of God is not of our own doing, it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

The Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world and the Father draws us to Himself. Jesus plainly taught in…

John 6:44 (ESV)

44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.

The word, “to draw” means “to drag.” It’s like our feet don’t work and we need to be drug or carried to Him like the helplessly dependent infants in the text in Mark. The drawing is a one-sided affair, but once we are taken into the arms of Jesus and He blesses us by laying His blood stained hands on us covering, cleansing and removing the stain of our sin, we can respond to Him and embrace Him, but before we can do that we are helplessly dependent.

That is the first story Mark records for us and now for something completely opposite.

Mark 10:17 (ESV)

17 And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

Jesus could have said,

“Dude you should have been here 5 minutes ago. I just got done reprimanding my boys for not knowing the answer to the question you just asked! The only way anyone can inherit eternal life is by being helplessly dependent on what only I can achieve for them and then offer to them.”

But since the man wasn’t there, Jesus meets this man right were he is at.

As we work our way through this account it is important for us to notice the contrasting differences between the helpless babies presented in the previous story and the man in front of Jesus now.

The differences are immediately noticeable.

First of all the babies in the last story are brought (probably carried) to Jesus by others because they were incapable of carrying themselves and in this account, this man uses his own functioning legs to run to Jesus and then kneel down before Jesus.

In his mind, He is already outpacing those helpless babies. He has legs and not only that he shows reverence for Jesus by kneeling before Him. And then he even demonstrates that he knows a thing or two about who he is talking too. He calls Jesus a “Good teacher.”

He looks at what Jesus is doing and he rightfully says,

“Jesus, all these teachings and healings and discipling you are doing, all the things you are doing are good.”

“I want to “do good” too. In fact I am pretty self-confident that I can do whatever is necessary to inherit eternal life.

“I’ve actually done pretty good so far. It is obvious that I am blessed by God, you can see His favor upon me, that fact is evident in all my wealth. I don’t need you to do anything for me Jesus. Just tell me what to do and I get out of your hair and go do it.”

So Jesus plays this man’s game and engages with him in hopes that this self-confident man will come to the end of Himself.

Jesus, graciously detects the real problem with this guy and loves Him enough to cleverly point it out to him.

The biggest hindrance we all have is our self-sufficiency. We need to be brought to the end of ourselves.

So, Jesus goes to the 10 commandments to see if this man has done them. And it is interesting to consider which commandments He starts with and which ones He omits.

Jesus says to the man,

Mark 10:18–19 (ESV)

18 … “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: (#6) ’Do not murder, (#7) Do not commit adultery, (#8) Do not steal, (#9) Do not bear false witness, (#10???) Do not defraud, (#5) Honor your father and mother.’ ”

He starts with 6, “Do not murder.” Then on to the 7th and 8th and 9th. Then he says a commandment that isn’t a word for word quote of the tenth. The 10th commandment says, “Do not covet.” But Jesus seems to be quoting something from Leviticus 19:13 when He says, “Do not defraud” (which seems to be a practical application of commandments 8 and 9), and then goes back to number 5, “Honor your father and mother.”

And He completely omits commandments 1-4 that have to do with how we are to relate with God.

What is going on here? Is Jesus having an off day? Would Jesus not get His Awana book initialed by his leader because He said some of the commandments out of order and left some out? What gives?

I think this is what is happening here. The commandments Jesus asks this man about are all commandments that center around how humans are to relate with other humans. To which the man says,

Mark 10:20 (ESV)

20 And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.”

I have done that! Check. I have related to other humans the way I am supposed to relate to them. I did it. I have accomplished that.

But what Jesus wants this man to consider is how is he as a human relating to God?

That is the unasked question. That’s is what commandments 1-4 are all about. Jesus is trying to get this guy to let go of what He has (good moral standing with others), so that he can take hold of something that is better (good moral standing with God through what Jesus is so kindly offering him).

But he has to come to the end of himself to get there. He has to let go of all of his god substitutes. He has to let go of his own abilities and his wealth which he had falsely understood as God’s favor toward him.

Mark tells us…

Mark 10:21 (ESV)

21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him…

Jesus “looked at him,” “loved him, and “said to him.” This is so good. Jesus looks intently at Him and loves him enough to shoot straight with him by telling him what he needs to hear even though it is not what he wants to hear.

He says,

Mark 10:21 (ESV)

21 …“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.”

The man has a lot of treasure(s) plural here on earth, but the one thing he lacked was the one singular treasure that could even get him into heaven. He doesn’t say “treasures” (plural), he says “treasure” singular.

What this man was lacking was seeing Jesus as the true treasure that came down from heaven and the only treasure that could be possessed in order to gain the eternal life that he so desperately wanted.

But then Mark tells us…

Mark 10:22 (ESV)

22 Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

He was unwilling to let go of all he had in order to get what he could not earn. He refused to let go of his fake gods of prestige and possessions. He rejected what Jesus offered, because he loved what he could achieve for himself.

Instead of being helplessly dependent on Jesus, he rejected his offer.

And as he walks away, Jesus turns His attention to the shocked disciples in front of Him.

Mark tell us,

Mark 10:23–24 (ESV)

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.

He doesn’t say it is impossible for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God, but there is an added degree of difficulty because possessing things can blind us to our glaring need of needing Him.

Jesus knows that they are amazed by what He is saying but then He pushes it ever further with a visual and memorable exaggerated, hyperbolic statement to make sure they get it.

Mark 10:24–25 (ESV)

24 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.”

The point of the comparison is pretty simple. It is impossible for a camel with it’s massive humps to squeeze through an eye of a needle. It’s hard enough to get thread through there sometimes let alone the largest land animal in the region. But if somehow you were able to pull that impossible task off, it would be easier to do that than for a “rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”

Why?

Well we have a tendency to trust what money can do for us.

Money can produce pride in us and provide us with a sense of power.

Money can suggest to us that if we have enough of it we will be secure and safe from all alarms.

Money is a tool that can be used to help us get the material desires of our hearts.

In some ways money can make our lives easier, allowing us to possess a lot of things, but possessing a lot of possessions also makes it easier for us to think we don’t need God to bring us to heaven, we can just purchase a whole bunch of things for the here and now to make our lives heavenly.

But eventually moth and rust will destroy it all what we accumulate.

This is a hard teaching and Mark now tells us how the disciples reacted to that eye-opening statement.

Mark 10:26 (ESV)

26 And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?”

At this point smoke starts coming out their ears. They can’t believe what they are hearing because they had understood wealth to be a sign of God’s blessing and favor just like the rich, young ruler did.

The prevailing thought of the day was,

“You must be “in” look at what you got.”

But if a wealth of possessions or even a wealth of your good deeds to others doesn’t get you in, what will?

Well, this is a question that Jesus just can’t wait to answer for these guys.

Mark 10:27 (ESV)

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

He says, look you guys can’t do it. You are incapable of pulling off what only God is capable of doing for you. You have to come to Him and be helplessly dependent.

And when you come to God in that way, God can go about providing a solution for your God sized problem of not having eternal life. Eternal life is something that only Jesus can give you as you abide in Him and He abides in you.

And…

Mark 10:28 (ESV)

28 Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you.”

Peter says, that’s what we have done. We have left everything to “follow you.”

We have let go of everything to embrace you as the only solution for getting us into this kingdom of God thing.

They are starting to get what this following is all about. It is letting go of everything until there is only one thing remaining: and that one thing is actually a person who is also God.

This God/man has already told them multiple times that He was going to pull off the impossible by defeating death itself by dying Himself and then rising from the grave!

And Jesus acknowledges that they are helplessly dependent on Him and therefore they are on the right path. He encourages them by saying.

Mark 10:29–31 (ESV)

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.”

Look at what He says and pay attention to what He doesn’t say.

First He says, if you leave your (house, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children and land) for my sake and for the sake of spreading my Good News (Gospel) you will be blessed. You will be blessed in this life a hundred times over. You will be part of the family of God and you will have all things in common with all the kids of my kingdom. This is such a perk people. When you become of follower of Christ, it is not a solo journey. We are all in this together as a spiritual family.

This becomes especially helpful when hard things happen in our lives. Even though those hard things still happen and it doesn’t reduce the hurt of the hard things, we can be comforted that others in the family are bearing the burden with us and that means we are not alone.

Spoke with a dear sister in Christ at my former church that had chronic excruciating back pain and what I heard from her over and over and over again is this sentence: “I don’t know how people who are not a part of the Body of Christ could endure this.” Her pain was still real and excruciating, but she wasn’t doing it alone and that is what sustained her day in and day out. Her connection to Christ through the individual members of the Body allowed her to steward her chronic pain well for the glory of God.

She recieved hundredfold blessings now in this time, and in the age to come she will experience eternal life free from all the pain that had been brutally apparent all the days of her life.

But notice this. It is important to pay attention to the one relationship that isn’t replaced a hundredfold by other humans. Do you see it? What is it?

Father child relationship. Why will that not be replicated a hundred times over by other humans if we start following Christ? It is because we will all have the same Father.

God Himself will be our Father.

Jesus introduces a new way of thinking about God to these guys. Sometimes the OT writers would describe God with Fatherly attributes, but that wasn’t the norm, but Jesus shows up and speak about His Father over 150 times in the Gospel and He is referring to God.

When we let go of everything and embrace Jesus as our treasure, we not only grab hold of Him but He grabs hold of us and invites us into a relationship with His Father and we get adopted into His Family.

We don’t need more earthly fathers. That could be great, but they would all fall short. Some fall short more than others as some of you already painfully and experientially know.

But when we begin our journey with Christ, we are brought into His family and He has a very good Father that loves to bless His helpless dependent children with good gifts.

From the beginning of the journey to its glorious end, disciples of Jesus are helplessly dependent on Jesus.

Song: Good, Good Father

Song: He Knows My Name

Benediction

Do you have wealth or does wealth have you? Are you possessed by your possession or do you rejoice at the opportunities to sacrificially give to others? Do consider it more blessed to give than to receive?

What is it about children that Jesus wants His disciples to get? (Mark 10:14-15)

The biggest hindrance we have in coming to Jesus and then following Jesus is our own our self-sufficiency. What areas of your life have you kept Jesus out of?

What is keeping you from going all in with following Jesus?

Do you have wealth or does wealth have you? Are you possessed by your possession or do you rejoice at the opportunities to sacrificially give to others? Do consider it more blessed to give than to receive?