Rich Young Ruler

Mark 10:17-22 17 As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do so that I may inherit eternal life?” 18 But 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 give false testimony, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” 20 And he said to Him, “Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth.” 21 Looking at him, Jesus showed love to him and said to him, “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” 22 But he was deeply dismayed by these words, and he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property.

I read this passage recently, and it dawned on me that this rich man had possibly had an Abraham and Isaac moment. God asked Abraham to give up the thing he loved most, his son.

Isaac had been the long-promised child for Abraham and Sarah and was the linchpin for God’s covenant to make Abraham the father of many nations. But when Abraham obeyed despite all this, God gave Isaac back to his parents, and the covenant was ultimately fulfilled.

In the case of the rich man, Mark tells us, “Looking at him, Jesus showed love to him” and asked him to give up the thing that was nearest and dearest to him, his wealth. He was obviously a devout man who had lived by the commandments from his youth. But Jesus knew that he had this one thing that he loved even more.

What we don’t know but could possibly speculate is that if the man had agreed to give up his possessions, Jesus could very well have given them back to him (as God did with Isaac). Since he would have surrendered his riches as his own, Jesus could have used them through him in a totally different way, serving those on the margins that Jesus ministered to most often.

But we will never know. While Abraham passed his test of surrendering the thing most precious to him, the rich man did not, and he went away grieving.

As the son of a minister, there were some sermon illustrations that I heard anew in every church he served. One that I will never forget is the story of how they caught monkeys alive in the wild. As the story was told, they would take a dried gourd, cut a small hole in it, hang it from a tree, and then shake the dried seeds inside like a rattle. A monkey would come and reach inside to see what made the noise and grab the seeds. The monkey could not pull its clenched fist back through the hole, but its curiosity would not allow it to let go. The hunter could then just come fetch the monkey, trapped by its own stubbornness.

Are there things we cling to that need to be surrendered? Our resources, our time, our priorities? What could God do with them if we simply let them go and gave them back to God to be used as God saw fit? We may not be asked to give up a child or sell all that we have, but how much more good could God do with our treasures than we could imagine on our own! If only we would let go of them.

Prayer:

Father God, help us to see those things that we cling to so tightly and give us the will to surrender them to you. Amen.

This devotional was written and read by Charlie Barton.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in...