Mark 10:17-31.                                   “Who then can be saved?”                              11/10/15

¹⁷ As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

¹⁸ “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. ¹⁹ You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honour your father and mother.’”

²⁰ “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”

²¹ Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

²² At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.

²³ Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”

²⁴ The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard 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 someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

²⁶ The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?”

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

²⁸ Then Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow you!”

²⁹ “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel ³⁰ will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. ³¹ But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

Here again Jesus is trying to help us to get past a major problem that we have as people trying to get through life. What do I have to do, have, think or say in order to have a life where I am able to get on and have a life that is worthwhile. We want peace, happiness and immortality but the more that we try, the more futile it becomes.

To make matters worse, the one and only answer that there is, we do not want to accept or acknowledge, because it doesn’t fit with what we selfish human beings want. So we, as a humanity, try and try, coming up with the ‘answers to life’ so that we can make our own life: Only of course, to be let down again and again. Our every effort does not work. Always we are left lonely, frustrated and empty.

This happens all across life; business, leisure and pleasure; families, religion and politics. In every aspect of life we want to work out what we think is right and good and which will allow us to have the life that we think we should be able to have. We do not want God and his Word to dictate how we are to live. We want to have our own views of what is right and wrong, good and bad.

Yes we are happy to use God and his Word to give credence to our views and actions, but we don’t want to follow him and his Word. The end result is that we go away sad. Here let me give two examples.

The first is the rich young man here in our reading. He was well off, living a good healthy and decent life. Today he would have been held up as a model citizen. All appeared to be well for him and he was a being a good person. Outwardly it appeared that all was well.

However it is interesting that deep down something was not quite right. Even though he had everything and he seemed to be doing the right thing in his own and societies eyes, there was something missing. Deep down he had this uncertainty that he was doing enough to get to heaven. His good outward life still could not remove that nagging uncertainty within.

So he comes to Jesus and asks the question; “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”  Jesus knowing what humanity’s problem is, begins by saying: No one is good—except God alone. Upfront he is pointing out that since the Fall sinful humanity has a problem within, that we will never be able to satisfy. God alone has what is necessary for us.

But to help this man and us all he reminds us of the importance of the Ten Commandments. Here he tells us what is necessary for us to gain eternal life. In these Commandments we have that which is needed for us to live happily and at peace with God and one another.

However this man like us today says yes he has kept them, as he understands them. He has not murdered anyone, committed adultery, or robbed the bank so he is okay. He has interpreted them with his own reasoning. He has twisted them to mean only what he thinks they should mean and not as Jesus tells us in the Sermon on the Mount.

To help this man and us he then tells him: “One thing you lack, Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” To which the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth. Here Jesus gets him to see that already he has not kept the First Commandment: You shall have no other God’s before me.  His money and lifestyle were two things that he was not willing to put God before. Without going any further it is clear that this man cannot do what is necessary for him to gain eternal life.

In his comfortableness of life he was not prepared to take Jesus at his word. Jesus tells us that it is impossible for those who are rich in what this world has to offer, to enter into the kingdom of God. Those who have everything, worldly speaking, are not prepared to give up their comfortableness. Jesus conclusion for them is dire: they shall not enter the kingdom of God. Until we are prepared to give up on finding a human solution to our happiness, we will always miss out.

Our next illustration is our society and church today. We too are living well in this country. By worldly standards we are rich and comfortable, and by now we can see that many no longer need God in their lives. Yet many of these people also have a nagging feeling inside, that not all is well. There is an emptiness that all the promises that are made by our society, have not been able to fill. Many in this hopeless situation are thereby turning to drugs, suicide and other things to bury those feelings.

Many others today are holding out hope that they will perhaps get to heaven. As one person I spoke to this last week said, he hopes his good deeds outweigh the bad. At worst he consoled himself that hell is perhaps not such a bad place. He like many others have a Christian background but have little idea what Christian is and particularly what Jesus has done for us in his death on the cross.

Many others have the view that God loves us all and so unless we are really bad then we will be okay. Because they acknowledge Jesus they think that he will overlook their sin and accept them as they are. They thereby have the same attitude as the rich man in our reading, they can understand what the Bible says as they want to and all will be well.

Many within the church have a similar view, that they can twist and change what God’s Word says and God will still accept us never the less.  So they can say they believe, but it becomes their version of God’s Word, not what God has said. They are unwilling to simply accept what God has given in the entirety of his Word the Bible.

Then naturally enough when things don’t work out the way that they thought it should they become sad and disillusioned. The danger is that they too may not enter the kingdom of God.

So we are clearly given the message that we cannot do life here and in heaven by our own doing. We cannot posit our ideas on life and acceptance on what we think or how we can interpret the Word to suit ourselves. When we place our trust in the riches of our human thinking we are left with the question: who then can be saved?

So we need to hear again what Jesus said.

 “Truly I tell you, no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life.  But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

So again we are called to simply look to and trust that Jesus Christ is our Lord and saviour; and in that find the life that we so desperately need. Here again remember that Jesus went on from here and give his life on the cross so that we might have the forgiveness of sin and the assurance of life and salvation. He has won it all for us be giving up his own life; so now we can follow him with confidence and certainty.

Here Jesus makes it quite clear that even though it would seem that we will lose out when we look away from ourselves and the world around us, we will instead receive a hundred times as much in return in this life and then to have the certainty of eternal life as well. Yes he says there will be persecutions along the way, but the blessings are guaranteed.

Even though in the worlds eyes we are last, in God’s eyes we are first. So again Jesus is making it very clear that life here on earth is not about us getting our own way and doing our own thing. Instead the call is to simply follow Jesus and his Word with the assurance that it will all work out for our good. We are to recognise that we are unable to do what is necessary because of our sin, but then to accept the forgiveness and life that Jesus has extended to us. That then includes trusting that what he tells us in his Word, the Bible with regard to all other matters of faith and life as well.

“Who then can be saved?” Those who do not look to themselves and their own understanding; but who instead look to, trust and follow Jesus Christ. In him we find that he has done what is necessary for us to inherit eternal life. With that then, let us humbly and simply follow him now and always. To him be all glory and honour, now and forever. AMEN.

Pastor Roger Atze

Glandore/Underdale Lutheran Parish