The text for this meditation is written in the 10thChapter of the Gospel according to St Mark: Verses 17 - 31
17And 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?” 18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honour your father and mother.’ ” 20 And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” 21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “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.” 22 Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
17And 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?” 18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honour your father and mother.’ ” 20 And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” 21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “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.” 22 Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
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. 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.” 26 And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?” 27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” 28 Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you.” 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.”
Today’s Gospel tells us about a man who came to Jesus for advice. He wanted something very good – eternal life. He thought he knew how to get eternal life, but he wanted some assurance, some sign that he was on the right track. From all outward appearances, this man seemed to be an example of righteous living, but something was still nagging at him. Something about eternal life still left him uneasy. He wanted Jesus to tell him what was missing.
The problem already shows itself in the first verse of today’s Gospel. This man came to Jesus and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” At first glance, this may seem like a valid question, but deeper study turns up a problem.
This man’s obstacle lay in the words “I do”and the word “inherit.” You do not inherit anything because of what you do. You inherit something because of what someone else did. You inherit something because someone else included you in their will. The heir of a will might be a child or a grandchild, a niece or nephew, or even animals. The point is that the heirs really have no say in the inheritance. The person who makes the will determines who inherits what.
The problem this man had was that he thought that if he followed to the letter God’s Law, He would be obliged to love him enough to put him in the heavenly will. This man felt he had done everything he was supposed to do, but he still felt uncertain. He wanted Jesus to assure him either that he had already done enough ortell him what sort of task or behaviour he still needed to do to guarantee eternal life. Like many people, this man thought that he just needed some special knowledge or that he needed to do some special task. If he could just learn the secret, he could guarantee his place in eternity.
This is the seduction of all false religions. False religions teach that good works will eventually lead a person to salvation. They all try to answer the question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Many of these religious systems espouse lives of great moral behaviour to answer this question, but they all fail to answer the next question. What should I do when I fail to lead a righteous life? What does a Jew do when he fails to keep the laws of Moses? What does a Moslem do when he fails to observe the Five Pillars of Islam? What does the member of the secret society do when he can’t maintain that purity of life and conduct so essentially necessary for gaining admission into the celestial lodge above? These religions that are so eager to give us control over our own destiny all fail to mention what happens when we failto produce the good works of salvation.
Since the man’s question was based on the law, Jesus gave an answer that was also based on the law. Jesus began by saying, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.” With these words, Jesus wants us to really think about what the word “good”really means. In the true sense, “good”only applies to God. God is the only source of our salvation.
After Jesus jolted this man into thinking about the true meaning of the word “good,” He went on to tell this man to examine his life in terms of the Commandments: “You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honour your father and mother.’” These are the ethics the Holy Spirit brings. It deals with loving your neighbour as you love yourself.
When we properly understand the full meaning of these commands, the proper response is to realise that we have broken them all. When we understand that the Bible considers hatred to be a form of murder, we must admit that we are all murderers. When we realise that even the smallest lustful thought about someone who is not our spouse amounts to adultery, we must admit that we are all adulterers. The least bit of laziness makes us into thieves. Even if all we do is listen to gossip, we are liars. The number of ways that we can break these commands is limited only by our creativity. As God Himself said, [Genesis 8:21]“The intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth.”
The man in today’s Gospel did not understand that. For when he heard Jesus’ response,he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” The context of this passage leads us to believe that this man truly believed these words. Jesus had piled up a collection of commands that should have had this man begging for mercy. Instead, this man actually thought he had kept these commands.
It is at this point in the conversation that Jesus pointed out the man’s true failure. [Jesus] said to him, “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.” With these words, Jesus revealed the man’s heart. He did not fear, love, and trust in God above all things. Instead, his fear, love, and trust were all based on his money and possessions. In spite of all his good works, this young man had gold for a god.
Who or what do we fear, love, or trust above all things? There are many false gods that want to rule in the heart. Some of them are security, comfort, reputation, family, friends, popularity, greed, power, pleasure, lust, and pride. These and many other concerns can take our eyes from Jesus Christ. At one time or another, we all suffer from the rule of these false gods in our hearts. We – like the young ruler – do not always fear, love, and trust in God above all things. We too are guilty of idolatry.
Our Gospel tells us that Jesus loved this man with Agape’ (selfless, unconditional) love. Jesus told this man what he neededto hear, not what he wantedto hear. This man needed to learn the hopelessness of his situation. He needed to understand that he needed a saviour outside of himself. That is how Jesus showed His love to this man – even if it meant that the man would walk away sorrowful.
Jesus loves us the same way. He sends the Holy Spirit to convict us of our sin. The Holy Spirit comes to us through the Word of God and shines the searing light of the law into our hearts. He shows our true nature to us. He takes us to the depths of pure terror as He shows us the future we have earned for ourselves. He shows us the true hopelessness of our good works. Do we ever spend a day without some feeling of a guilty conscience?
It is at the lowest point that the Holy Spirit brings the soothing message of the Gospel into our lives. When we realise that there is no hope for us in ourselves, the Holy Spirit shows us the hope that is in God. He shows us how God entered history in the person of the man Christ Jesus. He reveals Christ to us as the one who kept the law perfectly in our place. Through the Word of God, the Holy Spirit takes us to the cross to show us how Jesus suffered and died to take our place as the targetof God’s wrath against sin. The Holy Spirit informs us that Jesus did not remain buried in the tomb of death, but rose victorious over sin, death, and the power of the devil. Finally, the Holy Spirit gives us the faith that trusts Jesus for salvation.
Through that faith we constantly receive the forgiveness of our sins, God declares us holy in his eyes, and we inherit eternal life. We stop asking the question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Instead, the Holy Spirit uses us to point to Jesus and declare “Look what God has done to give me eternal life.”
We will not know what happened to the man in today’s Gospel until we arrive in Heaven. The Bible does not tell us if he came back later or if he rejected the work of the Holy Spirit completely.
What we do know is that we – like him – have an empty place inside of us. We hunger for the assurance that we have eternal life. If we try to find that assurance on our own, we will fail. Only the Holy Spirit can fill that empty space inside of us. Only the Holy Spirit can give us the faith that receives the gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation that Jesus earned for us on the cross. He does this by convicting us of our sin with the Law and then comforting us with the good news of the Gospel. In this way, the Holy Spirit makes us children of God and heirs of eternal life.
When the time comes for us to leave this life, we will inherit eternal life as members of the Church Triumphant in heaven. There, in heaven, we shall leave our sins behind and live under Jesus in His kingdom, and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity. This is most certainly true. Amen
The love and peace of our Great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen
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