Mark 10:17-31
17As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. 19You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.’” 20He said to him, “Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.” 21Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” 22When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.
23Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!”24And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!
25It 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.” 26They were greatly astounded and said to one another, “Then who can be saved?”27Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.”
28Peter began to say to him, “Look, we have left everything and followed you.”29Jesus said,“Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news,30who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life.31But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”
After Peter, James, and John witnessed Jesus being transfigured into His glorious state, they all come down from the mountain. Jesus heals a boy who was possessed by an evil spirit and then foretells again about His coming death and resurrection.
The disciples do not understand what Jesus is telling them, and instead, they argue about who is the greatest of the group. Jesus tells them that if they want to be great, they must become a servant to others.
They then go back to Judea where some Pharisees come to test Jesus by asking whether it is lawful for a man to divorce his wife. Jesus tells them that the law of Moses does allow divorces, but that the intent of God was for a man and wife to stay together.
Jesus then tells the disciples to stop preventing the children to come to Him, and that people need to receive the kingdom of God as a child if they are to enter it. From what follows, it becomes clear that Mark’s message is that one can only enter the kingdom if they are willing to let go of worldly things. We will see that for children who do not have many worldly things, entering the kingdom is less burdensome than for ones who have many worldly things.
In this morning’s passage, a rich man comes to Jesus and asks how he can inherit eternal life. Jesus tells him that he should follow the commandments. The man is confident that he has been following the commandments. Jesus tells him that he lacks one thing – Go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and follow Him.
The man could not do this and went away sad.
This was also shocking to the others who heard this, since most people believed that wealth was a gift from God and that it was an indication that God was rewarding a wealthy person because he or she was good.
How do we interpret this passage and apply it to our lives? Historically, there have been three major ways to interpret this.
In the earliest days of the church, the literal interpretation was probably prevalent. Christians believed that Jesus would return soon to close out this age. In Acts 4:32-37, we see that the believers gave up private ownership of their possessions and considered them as being held in common by the church. This literally fulfilled what Jesus had told them – “There is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age – houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields.”
Then as time passed and it was apparent that it might be a while before the Lord returns, the church started to interpret this still literally but applying not to the entire Christian community, but to a small minority within that community.
Today, especially within the Protestant churches, we tend to apply it to all disciples but no longer take it literally. Jesus’ command to sell all applied to that particular man, because love and dependence on wealth was what was getting in the way to becoming a disciple. For all disciples, however, its spiritual meaning is that we must root out of our lives whatever may hinder our following Jesus and doing what He commands of us.
Even though Jesus may not be commanding each of us to sell all that we have and give the money to the poor, there might come a time that we are asked to give up things that are precious to us, whether as individuals or as a church. If that time comes, trust in the Lord’s provisions and promises and boldly step out in faith and follow Him. Do not go away sad like the rich man
(the above is a summary of the message shared by Shun Takano during our worship on September 6, 2026.)
Japanese Congregational Church 