28. A Man Tragically Trapped
| As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. "Good teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" 18 "Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "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 "Teacher," he declared, "all these I have kept since I was a boy." 21 Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." 22 At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth. (Mark10:17-22) |
Our story opens with this man running and kneeling before Jesus, calling Him "good" and asking how he can inherit eternal life. On the surface, it may look like this man is earnestly seeking eternal life. But Jesus goes deeper and gets to the heart of the matter. To begin with, he tells the man, no person can be good enough to obtain eternal life. For if God is the standard for goodness, then without a doubt, all of us fall short. But our Lord, like a master surgeon, doesn't stop there, he goes deeper still, by challenging the man's religiosity. When Jesus questions him about the commandments, the young man is confident that he has kept the whole law. Again, this is a false route to eternal life, since none of us can work our way into heaven. It does not matter how religious we are, the Bible says that all our good works are like filthy rags before the Lord. There is an old saying, just because you spend a lot of time in a garage, doesn't necessarily make you a car. We can go to church every Sunday, be an elder, serve on various church committees, we can lead Bible Studies, be part of prayer groups, and do many other religious things. But if the Lord does not change our hearts, no amount of law keeping, will get us into his good books.
Finally, the truth is revealed. Jesus tells the rich young man to give up his earthly wealthy life, that he may inherit eternal life. This is just too high a price to pay for eternal life, so the young man walks away.
As I said earlier, many things keep us from truly following Christ. It may be our jobs, our peers, family expectations, or simply just the pull of the world. What are we holding onto today, which is trapping us and stopping us from following Him? Do not become tragically trapped by things that will pass away, rot, rust, or become worthless. Jesus must have all of us or none of us. Like the famous hymn says: Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full into his wonderful face, and the things of the world, will grow strangely dim, in the light of his glory and grace.
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Douglas Bower is richly blessed to be married to Caitlin and will soon to be a father. He is also the Minister of St Columba's Presbyterian Church in Hatfield, Pretoria. His favourite saying is: "God is most glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in him alone."
