The Man Who Had Everything

A man comes running down the road and drops to his knees in the dust. He has money, good manners and a spotless record. He has one question. And in a few minutes he will walk away sad.

Jesus is on the move again, heading south toward Jerusalem with his friends. Only moments ago, parents were bringing their little children to him, and he took them in his arms and blessed them. Now, as he sets out on the road, this man runs up and kneels in front of him. Mark tells us he was rich. Matthew adds that he was young, and Luke calls him a ruler. He is eager. He is sincere. “Good Teacher,” he says, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

Jesus answers with a question of his own. “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.” Then he points the man back to what he already knows. “You know the commandments. Do not murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not tell lies about anyone. Do not cheat. Honour your father and mother.” The man nods. He has heard these since he was small. “Teacher,” he says, “I have kept all of these since I was a boy.” And he means it. As far as he can tell, his life is in good order.

Now comes one of the gentlest lines in the whole Gospel. Mark says, “Jesus looked at him, and loved him.” Then Jesus speaks. “There is one thing you lack. Go, sell everything you have, and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” The road goes quiet. The man's face falls. He stands up slowly, turns, and walks away grieving. Mark tells us why. He had great possessions. Jesus had offered him the one thing he came asking about, and he could not let go of what was in his hands.

Jesus watches him go. Then he looks around at his disciples. “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!” The disciples are stunned. So he says it again, even more strongly. “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.” Now they are completely astonished. “Then who can be saved?” they ask each other. Jesus looks straight at them. “With people it is impossible, but not with God. For with God, all things are possible.”

Peter, as usual, speaks up first. “Look, we have left everything and followed you.” He is thinking of the boats, the nets, the homes and families back in Galilee. Jesus reassures him. Nobody who has left house or family or fields for his sake and for the good news will lose out. They will receive a hundred times as much, now in this life, homes and brothers and sisters and mothers and children, with persecutions, and in the age to come, eternal life. “But many who are first will be last,” Jesus says, “and the last will be first.”

Why were the disciples so shocked? Many people in Jesus' day read the Scriptures as teaching that wealth was a sign of God's blessing. Deuteronomy promises plenty to those who obey, and Job ends his story with twice what he had before. So if a rich, law-keeping man struggles to enter the kingdom, who has a chance? You may have heard that the eye of the needle was a small gate in Jerusalem's wall. That idea appeared centuries later, and scholars have found no ancient evidence for such a gate. Most read Jesus' words as a deliberate, almost funny exaggeration: the largest animal around, through the smallest opening anyone knew.

The Man Who Had Everything. You'll find it in Mark chapter 10, verses 17 to 31. He ran to Jesus with a good question, and Jesus loved him. But he loved his riches more. So here's the question to carry with you. What are you holding so tightly that it might keep you from following Jesus?