Mark 10:17 - 30

Jesus reminds us in this week's gospel that to join him in God's kingdom requires absolute commitment and a willingness to give up that which is most precious to us. The rich man who approached Jesus was genuine in his desire to fulfil all the requirements of the Law to attain eternal life. When Jesus quoted all the commandments that deal with right relationships to the man, he was able to tick these off, assuring Jesus that he has been doing all of this since childhood! Then Jesus ‘looked steadily at him and loved him’ – he looked on him with the eyes of love; the eyes that see to the heart of a person, and in that look knew what was most important to the man. Jesus could tell by his dress no doubt that the man was wealthy and so it is this aspect of the man’s life that Jesus chooses to challenge him about. This gospel shouldn’t necessarily be read as a condemnation of wealth – rather, it is the man’s inability to surrender his wealth that Jesus challenges. Jesus asks the man if he is willing to give up that which is most important in his life…. his wealth. The man is unable to do what Jesus asks of him and goes away sad. Why sad? He’s sad because he knows that he has been tested and failed. He knows that what he genuinely desired was within his reach but he needed to let go of his position, his status, his wealth, to be able to grasp what he desired in both hands.