Read Mark 10:17–31
Questions from the Scripture text: Whom did the man in Mark 10:17 call “Good Teacher”? What does Jesus ask Him in Mark 10:18? What is Jesus’ answer, in Mark 10:19, for what to “do” to inherit eternal life? How long does the man say that he has done these things (Mark 10:20)? What does Jesus tell him is the one thing left to do in Mark 10:21? How does the man feel when he hears this, and what does he do (Mark 10:22)? Why is he so sad? What does Jesus say is hard (Mark 10:23)? What does Jesus say that people like this man trust in, in Mark 10:24? What does He say is easier than for a rich man to enter the kingdom (Mark 10:25)? What, then, do the disciples ask in Mark 10:26? With whom does Jesus say it is possible (Mark 10:27)? Whom does Peter think have done better than the rich man (Mark 10:28)? What does Jesus assure Peter, now in this time, about the things that he thought he had given up (Mark 10:29-30)? What else do we receive in this life? What do we receive in the age to come? What surprise does Jesus predict in Mark 10:31?
Who is good enough to go to heaven? Mark 10:17–31 looks forward to the hearing of God’s Word, publicly read, in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these fifteen verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that Christ’s goodness is the only goodness good enough to bring us into the kingdom.
This passage presents two interesting examples of those who think that they can do something to inherit eternal life. The first is obvious: the man who thought he had kept all of God’s commandments from his childhood (Mark 10:20). But, he’s here asking Jesus (Mark 10:17), so it’s obvious that he knows that he is missing something.
The great thing that he is missing is that Jesus is God (Mark 10:18), become a man, to save us from our sins. When Jesus said that “only God is good,” He was showing that the rich young man didn’t think that Jesus was God.
It’s interesting that the man does not seem so bothered by the instruction to “take up the cross” (Mark 10:21). Since Jesus had not yet been crucified, this seems like it would be the most startling command! Instead, the man is sad because of his many possessions (Mark 10:22). Oh, let us beware of how we fall in love with earthly things, comforts, and pleasures! Let us constantly be mindful of Christ’s surpassing value, that we would cling to Him so tightly that we hold only comparatively loosely any other thing!
Second, Peter makes a similar mistake. He thinks that he will be praised for having outdone the rich man (Mark 10:28). Jesus’s answer is that Peter really hasn’t lost anything; he has enriched himself 100 times over by clinging to Christ (Mark 10:30)!
Yes, there is one sense in which he has sacrificed. But the sacrifice itself is great gain. Even being persecuted is a privilege that is granted. Christianity is not “giving stuff up now to get stuff later.” Christianity is being 100 times more blessed now, and infinitely more in the next life!
To have Christ is to have every good thing. We do not do Him good. He does every good for us, and to us, and through us. He alone is good. Let us cling to Him!
What would it look like for you to be depending more on Christ’s goodness to you, and less upon your own?
Sample prayer: Lord, forgive us for when we are like the rich young ruler: too high a view of our own goodness, which is to have too low a view of Christ’s goodness. And, forgive us for when we are like Peter: thinking that our sacrifices have been a loss to us, for which we hope to be repaid. Grant that we would see sacrificing for You as a privilege, to be counted among our hundred-fold blessings in this life. For we ask it through Christ, our goodness, AMEN!
Suggested songs: ARP32AB “What Blessedness” or TPH457 “Jesus, Thy Blood and Righteousness”
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