"The Wrong Answer" Mark 10:17-22

Introduction

We live in a time where people don’t want real answers. Instead, we want people to tell us what we already believe. We want to be affirmed without being challenged. When someone or something challenges us, we simply turn the channel, unfriend them, or revert to calling names in order to dismiss the challenger. We have become a people who want our ears tickled, to be told we’re the good guys and those who disagree with us are bad, intent on destroying all that we hold near and dear.

Background

Today’s passage of Scripture deals with a person like that. Mark describes the man as a man of great wealth. Luke refers to him as a ruler, and Matthew identifies him as a young man. We know him generally as the Rich Young Ruler. He comes to Jesus asking a question, hoping (perhaps expecting) the answer will affirm his way of life, maybe even offer him up as an example to others. Instead, Jesus offers an answer that does just the opposite.

The interesting thing about the Ruler is that he is unique in the one-time encounter people we’ve been looking at these past few weeks. Everyone else who has come to Jesus in these past weeks have expressed a faith in Jesus and in Jesus’ ability to meet their need. The centurion, the woman with the issue, Jairus, the friends who lowered the man through the roof, even Nicodemus—all of them knew or strongly believed that Jesus was the answer to their problem, and each of them walked away enriched and transformed by their meeting with the Savior.

Not so the Rich Young Ruler. He came with a question, maybe with an agenda. Maybe he had a genuine question, needed an answer to resolve a struggle in his life. The way he addresses Jesus and the way he responds to Jesus lets us know that the answer he received was not what he wanted.

CENTRAL TRUTH: Though God wants all to be saved, Jesus will not save unless we are willing to be saved by Him.

1. The Initial Question (17-19)

Mark tells us that Jesus was beginning His journey when, seemingly from nowhere, a man comes rushing up and kneels before Him. Why he felt the need to run up to Jesus is not explained, but apparently he believed he needed to rush up to Jesus. The falling on the knee was an act of respect, as are the words he uses to describe Jesus: “Good teacher.” He follows with the question that caused him to be in such a hurry: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”

This is a question that is asked more than once of Jesus. In the Gospel according to Luke, Jesus is asked the question by a lawyer. The ensuing dialogue leads to the Greatest Commandment and the story of the Good Samaritan. In the Gospel according to John, Jesus is asked, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” (John 6:28). Jesus’ response is, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one He has sent” (John 6:29). It’s a question that nags at everyone at one time or another. “Am I where God wants me? Am I finding favor in His eyes?”

Asking Jesus the question seems a reasonable thing to do. After all, it was generally acknowledged that He had insights into spiritual matters. Throughout the Gospels, people are amazed that Jesus spoke with authority and understanding far exceeding the Pharisees and law experts.

Jesus’ response to the man’s question is two-fold. “Why do you call Me ‘good’?” I don’t think Jesus was telling the young man that He was unworthy of the adjective. More than likely, He was challenging the man’s assumption, perhaps seeing through an insincere flattery designed to curry Jesus’ favor. Perhaps Jesus was raising the issue in anticipation of His answer to the question and to the man’s expected response as well.

After Jesus points out that the only One who lays claim to the title of good is God, Jesus presents the man with an answer that recites the last six of the Ten Commandments. I was told in seminary that a class assignment in a theological school in the Northeastern United States was to rewrite the Ten Commandments to bring them up to modern times. The result was that the class rewrote the order of the commandments only, beginning with our relationship with others before our relationship with God. By omitting the first four of the Commandments, Jesus is addressing the relationships the man had with the people around him. Jesus tells the man, “Be a good neighbor (as the Samaritan was) and you will not be far from eternal life.”

1. The First Response (20-21)

When I was in seventh grade, one of my classmates made the statement, “I used to be conceited, but now I’m perfect.” I thought it was funny then; I think it’s still funny today. I am reminded of this joke when I read the Rich Young Ruler’s first response to Jesus. Jesus says to obey the last six Commandments, and the response is, “Doing it since I was a kid.”

I don’t doubt the response was sincere. I imagine if Jesus probed the young man, he would admit that he had failed at it a time or two, but on the whole he had been faithful to obey the rules. He honestly thought he had been a good person his entire life. He may have said it with a sense of pride, maybe a sense of frustration. I think it depends on why the man had questioned Jesus in the first place. Was he asking in order to be affirmed in his goodness, or was he asking out of a sense that something was lacking in his life, that he had an emptiness that needed filling?

If it was the latter, he would want Jesus to either tell him he was well on the road to eternal life or else give him a second stage. If it was the former, he probably expected Jesus to not only affirm him, but probably to laud him as an example all people should follow. Maybe he was expecting Jesus to invite him to come along and be one of the disciples or one of the close friends such as Lazarus, Mary and Martha. Whatever his reason, he seems to indicate to Jesus that he still thinks something is lacking in what he should be doing to earn God’s love.

Regardless, by telling Jesus he had obeyed the Commandments Jesus had cited, it is clear he expected Jesus to say something further.

It is only Mark that tells us Jesus looked at the young man and loved him. We’re not sure what exactly that means. Some of my commentaries suggested that the Rich Young Ruler had an eagerness about him, similar to a young David, or even a John or Peter, that showed the hidden promise of someone who could and would do great things for God. Perhaps Jesus knew what was about to come and was consumed with a love for a lost soul.

Jesus’ answer to the man’s declaration is to tell him that he is still falling short of eternal life, but that he could find eternal life by one act of surrender. Jesus tells the man to place all his trust in God by giving up his wealth, selling it and giving it away to the poor. In that way, he would become totally dependent on God and would find his answer.

It needs to be made clear that Jesus is not telling the man—or us—that we can earn our way into God’s good graces by a specific act on our part. Salvation—eternal life—is a gift from God and cannot be earned (cf. Ephesians 2:8-10). Jesus’ answer is simply trying to get the young man to address the First Commandment—“You shall have no other gods before Me”—if he hopes to find eternal life. In Luke 9:57-62, Jesus reminds us we are to consider the cost of discipleship which means that we have to put everything in second place in comparison to our faith and loyalty to God. In Luke 14:26-27, Jesus says, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brother and sister—yes, even his own life—he cannot be My disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple.” The implication is that our first loyalty must always be to Christ. Anything less is not true discipleship.

The same is true of the Rich Young Ruler. If he really wants to know eternal life, then he must be prepared to renounce that one thing that he clung to, that one thing that gave him identity and purpose, that one thing that he relied on more than anything else. Only then would he be ready to lay his life at God’s feet and truly become a disciple of Jesus.

1. The Final Response (22)

“At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad.”

Last week, we saw how Jesus used dialogue to bring salvation to the woman at the well and many in her village. We saw how, even though she was only wanting to fill her water jug, the woman was willing to listen to Jesus and was open to His invitation.

The Rich Young Ruler had come to Jesus hoping to be affirmed at most, hoping to be given a further task to ensure his place in God’s favor. Had Jesus asked him to donate a portion of his wealth, perhaps he would have done it. If Jesus had told him to give of his time each week to a worthy cause, it would not have been too much. The Rich Young Ruler was seeking an answer for one more thing to do to make himself worthy of God’s acceptance.

Instead, Jesus asked too much of him. Jesus expected him to give up that which he was not prepared to do. There was no simple, “Add this action to your commandment observations.” Because of this, the Rich Young Ruler would not take Jesus up on His offer.

Sadly, he’s not alone in his rejection of Jesus. People all over the world—people we know—fail to follow Christ simply because a) He asks too much and b) it’s too simple. Simply believe is too easy. Give up everything in obedience to Christ is too difficult. People today reject Jesus for the same reasons in our passage today.

Jesus’ love was not enough to save him. The Rich Young Ruler walked away from eternal life with a sadness more profound than he had felt when he first knelt on that road before the Good Teacher.

Conclusion

“Jesus, give me the secret to eternal life. Just make sure it fits within my understanding and expectations of eternal life. Tell me what I want to hear, not what I need to hear. Affirm me with Your words, and give my lifestyle Your approval.”

We live in a time where people don’t want real answers. Instead, we want people to tell us what we already believe. We want to be affirmed without being challenged.

But Jesus doesn’t tell us what we want to hear. He tells us what we need to hear. If we want to follow Him, we must surrender our all, take up our cross and follow Him. We must love Him supremely and obey Him willingly. Not in order to earn our salvation, but because we trust Him and know that He always has our best interests in mind, for His glory and His praise.