By the Rev’d Jim Lam

Season: The 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Readings: Amos 5:6-7,10-15 | Hebrews 4:12-16 | Mark 10:17-31

I suppose most of us have, in our lifetime, taught someone something. That someone may be our children, our grandchildren, or perhaps, a friend. And I daresay we all love enthusiastic learners. You know, someone who is eager, willing and keen… Someone who sounds like the “rich young ruler” in today’s gospel.

Yes, we often refer to the man who hastened to meet Jesus as the  “rich young ruler”. Mark notes that he had many possessions, so he was rich. Matthew tells us that he was young, and Luke describes him as a ruler. Imagine a rich and powerful person running up and falling on his knees before someone. We can tell that he was all eagerness, earnestness and humility.  Despite his higher social status, he was not afraid to recognise in Jesus a teacher. His longing for eternal life was so compelling that he thought he was ready to do whatever it took towards that end.

As the man knelt before Jesus, he addressed him as a “good teacher”. It is noteworthy that in Jesus’ time, people never knelt before rabbis or teachers. They only knelt in prayers before God. And the way he addressed Jesus indicated that he admitted that Jesus was better than he was. However, he might not fully understand the meaning of “goodness”. He thought that the way he had kept the commandments all his life was good. Or, at least, good enough. But Jesus told him there was something lacking. 

Jesus raised the level of “goodness” to a spiritual level. He stressed that no one was good but God alone.  He pointed out to the man that this “goodness” was different from what the man considered good. But rather, a “goodness” that’s worth giving up all his worldly possessions to seek after. In other words, only those who let God dwell in their hearts, and only those who love God more than anything, would be able to understand true goodness.

While this young man was confident in his piety and religious observances, he asked what he must do to inherit eternal life.  Perhaps he thought that he could gain this through his deeds? Yet, when he was told that he lacked one thing and that one thing was to give up what worldly possessions he had and to follow Jesus, he was “shocked and went away grieving”. It would appear that his riches were his idol, on which his heart was set and in which he trusted. While he thought that he was keeping all the commandments, he had not kept the very first: “You shall have no other gods before me.” There might have been more than one thing wanting in him, but Jesus took notice of this as the first and the most important.

This reminds me of a story I heard in my teens. As it is an old story, please bear with me if you already know it: When two people heard the call to take up the cross and follow Jesus, they gladly went to collect their crosses. The first person was given a wooden cross. He balanced it on his back and went joyously on his way.

When it was the turn of the second person, he was also given a wooden cross, but he was not so sure about that. So he pleaded his case, saying: “Lord, I am a much better person than the one who went before me. I am richer and better educated. I have a higher social status. I am respectable and virtuous. I never hesitate to do good. I deserve something better than a plain wooden cross.” 

And so the person was given the chance to pick a cross that he would like to bear. He looked and looked and found a golden one adorned with all kinds of precious stones.  Proud of his special cross, the person set out happily on his way. However, not long after, he collapsed under its sheer heaviness.

Perhaps we could say that the person was weighed down by his vanity and his attachment to worldly treasures?

Or, in Jesus’ words, “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.”

It is easy to reach a conclusion here that wealth is a bad thing. But this is not necessarily the case. The Scripture is consistent in presenting wealth as a blessing in God’s sovereignty towards those who are faithful and obedient. Obvious examples include Abraham, Jacob, and Solomon, and their wealth was considered a clear sign of divine favour.

Given the Jewish understanding of wealth as a blessing that come from God, it is understandable that the disciples were shocked by Jesus’ words that upset what they had always believed to be true. If even the rich and blessed found it difficult to enter the kingdom of God, what hope was there for the poor common people?

Let’s look again at the case of the rich young ruler. Why was wealth such a big obstacle? Jesus called the man to surrender his wealth because it was his material possessions that took the first place in his heart and so stood between him and God.  If something else had been his stumbling block, then it would be necessary for that something to be given up. Sounds harsh? However, the principle involved is that what hinders a person from wholeheartedly following Jesus should be surrendered. Only when the obstacles that separate us from God are removed can we have hope for eternal life – not as compensation for what we have given up, but as a free gift of God.

However, many are those who mistakenly take material abundance as the assurance of a happy and secure life. Unfortunately, these include not a few who consider themselves followers of Christ. Dr Ernest Liang, who is the Director of the Center for Christianity in Business at Houston Christian University, wrote that: “earthly treasures is but a tool God uses to heighten our awareness of dependence on him and to alert us to the need of adding to our stock of heavenly treasures.”

As we reflect on the story of the rich young ruler, may we be reminded that it is beyond a person’s capability to gain eternal life, no matter how much effort one puts into it. However, what we cannot do, Christ, our great high priest, has done for us and in us.  But there’s one thing we can do.  That is, to abandon what stands between us and him so that God’s power can flow through.  Only then can we nurture the hope of a future in Him and with Him.  Amen.