Impossible: A Difficult Encounter with Jesus

As you can see, the title of my short message this morning is "Impossible: A Difficult Encounter with Jesus." So, how many of you folks have ever been to the dentist's office? Raise your hands. Yeah, everyone's been to the dentist. That's—how many of you get excited about going to the dentist's office?

No hands. Yeah, I've been to the dentist's office quite a few times over the years and even been through two rounds of orthodontic treatment. So when the dentist is in there poking around, I got to pay attention to what's going on. I can kind of tell what he's going to do and what he's going to say. So you know how the dentist looks for cavities? The doctor comes in, he's jamming your teeth there with this pick, and all of a sudden you feel that pick stick in your tooth, and you're like, "I know, you know what's coming." He says, "Yep, do that one." You have to go back in a couple of weeks later, get your teeth drilled out.

And yeah, there's the next couple of weeks until you go in there to actually get your teeth drilled, like your quality of life goes down just a little tick. Like kind of have that hanging over you. I got to go back in the dentist and get my teeth drilled. It's not terribly painful, but like it's just unpleasant, to say the least.

Well, for me, there's some scriptures that I've encountered like in my Bible reading that as I'm getting closer to the scripture, I just kind of have like this little uncomfortable shadow come over my mind. And one of these is a passage I want to explore today.

We're going to be talking about the rich young man that came to Jesus, and at least three of the Gospels have this account of chose to use Mark 10 for the account today.

So just to put this passage a little bit in context before I read it, in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, the chapter opens by the Pharisees questioning Jesus on divorce, and Jesus clearly defines divorce for no good reason as being adultery, and by that, he tightened the standard. And he surprised everyone, including the disciples. So like the disciples' reaction on that was like, "Well, if that's the case, then it's better not to get married."

Then in both Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the story immediately preceding today's account is a story of the people bringing the children to Jesus to be blessed and the disciples turning them away. And Jesus makes this statement, rebukes his disciples, and he makes this statement to them. He said, "Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of heaven as a little child will by no means enter it." I think it's important to remember that as we come into this lesson today because we're going to see here shortly of someone who walked away from the kingdom, did not receive it as a little child. Okay, so let's read the passage. Mark 10:17 through 31.

Now, as he was going out on the road, one came running out before him and asked him, "Good teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?" So Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but one, that is God.

You know the commandments: do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud, honor your father and mother." And he answered and said to him, "Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth."

Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, "One thing you lack, go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.

And come, take up the cross and follow me." But he was sad at this word and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God." And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, "Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God.

It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." And they were greatly astonished, saying among themselves, "Who then can be saved?" But Jesus looked at them and said, "With men it is impossible, but not with God. With God, all things are possible."

Then Peter began to say to him, "See, we have left all and followed you." So Jesus answered and said, "Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sister or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my sake in the Gospels, who shall 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.

But many who are first will be last and the last first." Okay, so that's the passage we're going to get into this morning. For the sake of time, I'm not going to really get into verses 28 to 31, but I wanted to read that because that is still part of the story.

So what do we make out of this story here? It's been a story that has kind of bothered me over the years, but I think if we study into it, and there's wisdom to be gained from early Christians who have commented on this story. And I think if we truly understand what Jesus is getting at, it can in a measure be a comfort to us as well as a warning.

So let's get into the passage here.

So now, as he was going out on the road, one came running and out before him and asked him, "Good teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?" So you have to admire this man. He did show a certain amount of zeal.

He came running and he knelt down before Jesus. He definitely recognized he at least recognized Jesus as being a teacher and recognized what Jesus was saying was good.

So Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but one. That is God."

So I've wondered already, why did Jesus take issue with a man for calling him good? It's like Jesus, I've thought already, it seems almost like Jesus is retorting or something like that. Well, actually, I think Jesus was generally trying to help this man understand that my teaching is actually God's teaching. Like if you're going to call me a good teacher, that means you need to be recognizing that my teaching is coming from God.

And my guess, this man who was well schooled in the law probably relied fairly heavily on earthly teachers. There's lots of teachers in that day that taught kinds of things about the law in various camps and schools of thought on that.

But Jesus cut all through all this to say that you need to listen to God first. That's the most important.

Jesus goes on to say, "You know the commandments," and he lists them out about not committing adultery, do not murder, do not steal, honor your father and mother, all of those. So as you can see, it seems like this man wanted a quick fix that would guarantee him eternal life. Well, Jesus just spells it out. Well, if you want to have eternal life, keep the law that Moses gave you. That's what God is asking was for his people to obey the law.

Obedience to the law, as we read elsewhere in Jesus' writings, can be summed up in, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself."

So that's my thoughts on the first section.

We'll get further into this and see how well this man measured up. Okay, so this is the man's opinion on the things. He answered and said to him, "Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth." Which let's take the man at face value. Let's say he did keep the commandments of the law from his youth. That's definitely commendable.

On the other hand, he may have been a little quick to come off with that fast. He's like, "Oh yeah, teacher, I've been keeping this from my youth."

If you look at Matthew's account, he follows that up by saying, "What do I lack yet?" or "What am I still missing?" So that shows the commendable side of him. So Jesus gets right to the point of what this man is missing.

Verse 21 says, "Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him." I think it's important when we read what comes after this, that we realize that what Jesus is saying to this man, he's saying out of a heart of love.

He's not harshly judging this man. He's just lovingly pointing out, going to point out to this man what he's lacking.

So Jesus says, "One thing you lack, go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor." Okay, so this is the great exposure. The thing that just was standing between this man and God that he couldn't put his finger on was pretty much his love of wealth and his unwillingness to share.

So what do you think? Is Jesus introducing something new here? Like this man had no idea this was coming, that you need to sell what you have and give to the poor. Like it's giving to the poor a new command that came along with Jesus.

I would say no. I think this is something God had in mind the whole way through scripture, even the Old Testament. So a little detour here.

First, let's look at a quote from Tertullian on this.

"Did Christ rescind the aforementioned commandments: do not kill, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, honor thy father and mother? Or did he both keep them and then add what was wanting to them?"

This very precept, however, about giving to the poor was very largely diffused through the pages of the law and the prophets.

This vainglorious observer of the commandments was therefore convicted of holding money a much higher estimation than charity.

So Tertullian here says that giving to the poor was an integral part of the law and the prophets. I picked three Old Testament scriptures to attest to this, but there's so many scriptures in the Old Testament. You could fill up hours of just searching them out and reading them. So I'll leave you with just three here.

So Deuteronomy 15:7 and 8. "If there's among you a poor man of your brethren within any of the cities in your land the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart nor shut your hand from your poor brother.

But you shall surely open your hands to him and willingly lend him sufficient for his need, whatever he needs." Okay, so there we have one from the law. How about one from the prophets? Isaiah 58:7 and 8. "Break your bread for the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house. If you see a naked man, clothe him, nor shall you disregard your offspring in your own household.

Then your light shall break forth as the morning and your healing shall spring forth quickly."

So that's another one. And there's many, many more in the prophets to talk about this. In fact, arguably, this is probably one of the big reasons that Israel and Judah was judged. It had to do with their oppression of the poor was a big part in that. And then finally, from one of the books of wisdom, Sirach 29:9 through 11.

"Because of the commandment," this is talking about in the law, "because of the commandment, help a poor man and in his need, do not turn him away empty. Lose your money for the sake of a brother and friend. Do not let it rest under a stone and be lost.

Lay up your treasure according to the commandments of the Most High, for this will profit you more than gold." I kind of like that image.

Saving up your money under a stone or something like that, it's just going to rest there. And it's better to lose your money to help someone than for it to rest on their stone and never be found or used by anyone again.

Okay, let's get back to the passage in Mark. We'll continue setting into that. So Jesus tells him to go your way, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come take up the cross and follow me.

I think there's a beautiful promise and an invitation here. So Jesus is saying, "If you give away your possessions to the poor, it's not something that's lost forever. As you give away your possessions to the poor, you're building treasure in heaven."

That's the beautiful promise. And then Jesus' invitation, "Come follow me." This is an invitation to cut loose from the crushing weight of these earthly things. If you love your possessions that much, they become your slaves and weigh you down. Jesus is inviting this man, "Come away from that and follow me." Jesus says in another place, "My yoke is easy and my burden is light." And so just lay off the things that are weighing you down and come follow Jesus, whose yoke is easy.

That's such a beautiful invitation. How will this man respond? Here's the pivot point in the story. This man could accept the invitation or he could decline it.

It says that he is sad at this word, "Am I not sorrowful?" For he had great possessions.

Put a let down.

That's it. The man thought about it. He's like, "I can't do it. I have to walk away. I guess following Jesus isn't for me." I don't know what else to comment on this, but I'll share another quote from Tertullian. "That rich man did go his way who had not received the precept of dividing his substance to the needy and was abandoned by the Lord to his own opinion."

So this man had free choice in the matter, and Jesus wasn't going to force him to follow him. So the man had to be abandoned to his own opinion. Okay, so then we get the third part of the chapter that I'm going to expound on this morning. And this is where things maybe come home a little closer to us. So it's easy to say we're not that rich.

Comparatively, we can always think of people who are richer than us and judge them. And yeah, we can look at the rich young man and say, "Well, that's a bad choice that he made to walk away from Jesus' invitation." But we wouldn't make that same choice.

So here in this dialogue with Jesus and his disciples, it comes a lot closer home to us. So Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it is for those who are richest to enter the kingdom of God."

And the disciples were astonished at his words. I think I have a few quotes here. Yeah, I have a few quotes on just commenting about the difficulty of the rich man entering the kingdom of God. So one from origin here. "It is not possible for anyone to enter into the kingdom of heaven who has not been turned away from the affairs of this world and made like unto the little children who possess the Holy Spirit. Which Holy Spirit was called by Jesus and descending from his own perfection to men as a little child was set by Jesus in the midst of his disciples."

So this is probably referencing what Jesus taught about the necessity of becoming like a little child to receive the kingdom of heaven. But it applies to today's lesson too because if you're not willing to humble yourself and follow Jesus' way like a little child, you cannot enter the kingdom.

And one quote from Hermas. "Those accordingly who are entangled in many various kinds of business do not cleave to the servants of God, but wander away being choked by their business transactions. And the rich cleave with difficulty to the servants of God, fearing lest these should ask something of them.

Such persons accordingly shall have difficulty in entering the kingdom of God. For as it is disagreeable to walk among thistles with naked feet, so also it is hard for such to enter the kingdom of God." Kind of an interesting image there. So if you're used to a soft life, entering the kingdom of God, it's about walking on thistles with bare feet.

You can just imagine someone mincing and tiptoeing through this patch of thistles. They're used to an easy path, and this is not so easy.

Back to our scripture passage again.

Jesus reiterates his point even stronger this time. So he says, "Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." So I confess I did not study into the camel going through the eye of a needle. There's different ideas and theories out there about that. I'll just say, based on the disciples' reaction we see afterwards, I think it was probably meant to be pretty well an impossibility. So however you want to look at that, that's how I'm going to take it today.

"And they, the disciples, were greatly astonished, saying among themselves, 'Who then can be saved?'" So why did the disciples get alarmed? Was it because the disciples were rich? I guess they said Judas had the money bag, but I don't know how much was in that money bag.

No, not really. These men had left their work and their occupations to follow Jesus. So they're not rich. So why are you so worried about this? Well, here's a quote from Commonwealth Alexandria that explains why the disciples got so worried about this.

"They had heard correctly as good disciples what was spoken in parable and obscurely by the Lord and perceived the depth of the words.

They were optimistically sure of salvation on the ground of their lack of wealth. But when they became conscious of not having yet wholly renounced the desires for worldly possessions, they were excessively astonished.

They despaired of themselves, no less than that rich man who clung so terribly to the wealth, which he preferred to eternal life. It was therefore a fit subject for all fear on the disciples' part if both he that possesses wealth and he that is teeming with desire for it were the rich, and these alike shall be expelled from the heavens."

So here, I think, is a key to understanding what Jesus was really getting at. Jesus is teaching here that it's the covetousness, the materialistic desires, or what keeps a rich person out of the kingdom of God.

And as Commonwealth Alexandria points out here, this voice can be found just as easily in a poor man. A poor man doesn't have the riches, but he can still have those materialistic desires. And so in the same way, he'd be kept out of the kingdom of heaven just like the rich man.

So if this is the case, where's the grain of hope in this passage? "But Jesus looked at them and said, 'With men it is impossible, but not with God. For with God all things are possible.'" So here's the ray of hope for the disciples and also by extension us.

It's God that makes it possible for us to grow in heavenly riches and to take our minds off the desires for the world. I have a few more quotes here to share on that. Commonwealth Alexandria again.

"The good man then can never be in difficulties so long as he keeps intact his confession towards God. For it appertains to him to ask and to receive whatever he requires from the Father of all, and to enjoy what is his own if he keeps the Son. And this also appertains to him to feel no want." So we notice here that if you ask and receive from the Father, you don't need to feel any want beyond that. "This word who trains us confers on us the true riches. Nor is the growing rich an object of envy to those who possess through him the privilege of wanting nothing.

He that has this wealth, this wealth of wanting nothing, shall inherit the kingdom of God." I think this is a really beautiful quote. This sums up, shows us a person that has learned to put off earthly riches and seek the true riches that come from God.

Okay, so that's all the more I was going to expand on this passage.

How should we apply this passage to ourselves today? I'll just share a few thoughts I thought of. So you can maybe see why this passage has troubled me in the past.

I live in America and through no choice of my own. And I've realized the more I read and study that I've grown up with prosperity that relatively few people in the world have.

So there's kind of this uncomfortable feeling like, have I fallen in this category of being the rich person unwittingly? Well, I think by correctly understanding this passage and looking at commentary on that, it helps us to be encouraged again about what Jesus is really meaning in this passage. So here's a few of my points.

Be a little worried, but not too worried. So we need to take Jesus' words seriously. We all know there's plenty of teachings here in America, especially. I say pretty much teach it's okay for a Christian to get anything that they desire if they have the money to do it. And you have these rich mega church pastors that live life up and live in crazy luxury.

There's plenty of teachings out there that say pretty much being Christian is pursuing the American dream. So if we're pursuing the American dream, I think this passage should shake us up a little bit. But on the other hand, we shouldn't be anxiously worrying about whether we fall into the group of rich people that aren't going to gain the kingdom.

Instead, we need to reach out to the Lord to help us get rid of covetousness and to help us value true riches more than these earthly things.

Another point I have is judge ourselves, not others. It's easy to get into this thing where you see all the things in everyone else's life that you think they could do without, you think it's an unnecessary expenditure and stuff like that. That's not the point. If that's what we take from this passage as judging others or a certain people group or something like that, I think we miss the point.

We need to be searching our own hearts for seeds of covetousness and working on ourselves.

Another point is learn to let go of our possessions.

And this is one that makes me embarrassed because I'm a worry wart type of guy. I'm worried about what would happen if I were in a wreck, or what would happen if the house burned down, or what would happen if this financial disaster or another happened.

Those kinds of things, they can build up a burden of worry and anxiety about our stuff. But if we learn to let go of those things the way Jesus is asking us to, if we lose our possessions, we're okay because we've already released our hold on them in our mind. So this is one I'm definitely working on, this thing of releasing our hold on the possessions.

Then finally, give generously to the poor. We need to recognize that giving generously to the poor is something very close to the heart of God. We can see it throughout the Old Testament, throughout the prophets, throughout the Psalms, throughout the New Testament.

Giving to the poor is important. And the more we have been given, the more opportunity we have to give. I think that's a beautiful thing too. Instead of trying to draw a line, I don't want to make any more than a certain amount or I might become a rich man, look at it as the more I happen to make in life, the more opportunities I have to give and to bless other people.

Commonwealth Alexandria has an interesting illustration about how different people, this would be you and I, respond when they read this passage. This would be from the standpoint of wealthy people who show an interest in the kingdom of God and then they encounter this passage. What are they going to do with this?

This isn't to the wealthy people who are not asking any questions about who they are and where they're going in life. It doesn't apply. But to those who start seeking out the kingdom and then run into this verse, there's three different reactions.

He compares it to a race. So some people, they read Jesus' command here and they're like, "Hopeless. I'm not even going to sign up or enter the race. I just can't do it." And so they basically end up walking away from Jesus' teachings and they live it up in this present life.

There's others who enter the race, but they don't properly discipline and train themselves, so they lose out partway along the way. And then, of course, by implication, there's others who really understand the heart of what Jesus wants, surround themselves by people that help them achieve their goal and live by Jesus' standard.

So that was my thoughts on this passage. There's a ton more I could have said about this. Really helpful resource. One that I've found life-changing is, "Who is the rich man that shall be saved by Commonwealth Alexandria?" And now there's a lot more readable version of this in the book Intimacy with God, published by Scroll Publishing. It'd be part two of that book. It's basically an easier-to-read paraphrase of who is the rich man that shall be saved. So whether you want to look that up in the early church writings or get the easier-to-read version, here's the resources on that.

Okay, I'll go over just three quick things in conclusion.

So what I want us to remember is God asks us people to give to the poor in every part of scripture.

Jesus asked us to give up our materialistic desires to enter the kingdom. And God is the one that makes it possible for us to give up those materialistic desires.