Mark 10:17 - Meaning and Application

Here is a hopeful meeting between Christ and a young man. Matthew calls him a young man (Matthew 19:20, 19:22), and Luke says he was a ruler, a person of standing (Luke 18:18). Mark adds details that make his approach to Jesus look very promising. He came running, which showed humility and eagerness. He also came in public, while Jesus was on the road, and he knelt before him to show honor and a teachable heart. He called Jesus “Good Master” and asked, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Eternal life was on his mind, even though the Sadducees, a group that denied the resurrection, rejected it.

This was a serious question. He was asking what he should do now to be happy forever. Most people ask how to get good things in this life, but he asked how to do good in this life so he might enjoy the greatest good in the next. That is a hopeful sign. People begin to show real promise when they start asking carefully what they must do to be saved. He asked the right person too, because Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, the one who came from heaven to show us the way to heaven.

He also asked with a good purpose, to be taught. In Luke 10:25, a lawyer asked a similar question, but he did it to test Jesus and stir up trouble. Christ looks not only at words, but at the intention behind them. Jesus answered in a way that both helped the man’s faith and directed his life. When the man called him good, Jesus pointed him toward the truth that only God is truly good, and that such goodness belongs to God alone.

Then Jesus directed him to the commandments. He named the duties that govern our treatment of other people, and he arranged them in a way that showed the seriousness of sin. He put adultery before murder to show that sexual sin is no less serious than violence. He placed the command about honoring parents last, as a reminder to keep all the rest. Instead of saying, “Do not covet,” he said, “Do not defraud,” meaning, do not be content with your own goods if that drives you to enrich yourself by harming others.

The young man seemed to stand well in relation to these commandments. He said, “Teacher, all these things I have observed from my youth.” He thought this was true, and so did others around him. But people often think they are better than they are because they do not see the full reach of God’s law. Paul had a similar experience, thinking he was alive until the law showed him his sin (Romans 7:9, 7:14). Still, this man’s answer showed that he was at least free from open and shameful sins, and that was farther along than many people. Yet even if we do not know of any great fault in ourselves, that does not justify us (1 Corinthians 4:4).

Jesus loved him. Mark says, “Jesus, looking at him, loved him.” Christ was pleased to see that he had lived an upright life, and pleased that he wanted to know how to live better. Jesus especially loves to see young people and wealthy people asking the way to heaven, with their hearts set that way.

But then came a sorrowful parting between Christ and this young man. Jesus gave him a test. It would show whether he truly wanted eternal life and was pressing toward it. If his heart was truly set on it, he would obey. Jesus told him to sell what he had, give it to the poor, and follow him. At that time, as the church was just beginning, believers who had lands often needed to sell them and place the money at the apostles’ feet, as in Acts 4:34-35. Later, persecution would also test whether he valued Christ above his estate. Jesus was showing him the worst now, so he could decide honestly whether he would come all the way. If he would not accept these terms, he should stop pretending to seek eternal life.

Jesus’ command meant that he should sell what he had beyond what he needed for support. He may not have had a family to provide for. If so, he should become a father to the poor and leave his wealth to them. Everyone, according to his ability, should help the poor and be willing, when needed, to tighten his own comfort in order to do it. Wealth is given not only to support us in this world, but also as a trust to be used for God’s glory. The poor are always among us, and God has arranged it so they may receive our help.

Can he find it in his heart to endure the hardest and most costly service that Christ may ask of him, and still trust Christ for a reward in heaven? He asks Christ what more he must do than he has already done to gain eternal life. Christ presses him to face a serious question: does he really believe in eternal life, and value it as highly as he seems to? Does he truly think there is a treasure in heaven great enough to make up for everything he may leave, lose, or give up for Christ? Is he willing to trust Christ fully, to give him credit for all he is worth, and bear a present cross while waiting for a future crown?

At that point, he turned away (Mark 10:22). He was sad at what Christ said. He was sorry that he could not follow Christ on easier terms than giving up all to follow him, and that he could not hold on to eternal life and his money at the same time. But since he would not accept the terms of discipleship, he was honest enough not to pretend he would. He went away grieving. Here the truth of (Matthew 6:24) was shown: You cannot serve God and money. While he clung to money, he was in effect rejecting Christ, as all do who choose the world over him. He made an offer for what he wanted, but walked away sad when he could not have it at his own price. Halfway commitments do not make disciples. The thing that ruined this young man was his great wealth. Prosperity often destroys the foolish, and those who live in comfort are tempted to say to God, Go away from us, or to say to their own hearts, Go away from God.

Here we come to Christ's teaching with his disciples. We may wish Christ had softened that saying that frightened this young ruler away, or explained it in a gentler way. But he knew every person's heart. He would not persuade this rich ruler to follow him just because he was rich and important. If he would go away, Christ let him go. Christ keeps no one against his will. So we do not see Christ calling him back. Instead, he used the moment to teach his disciples two things.

The first is how hard it is for people with plenty in this world to be saved, because few who have much to give up can be persuaded to leave it for Christ, or to use it for good. Christ states this plainly. He looked around at his disciples, because he wanted them all to hear and remember it, so their thinking about worldly wealth, which they were prone to overvalue, would be corrected. He said, "How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!" (Mark 10:23). They face many temptations and obstacles that poor people do not face.

He explains himself further in (Mark 10:24), where he calls the disciples children, because he wants to teach and provide for them as a father would. He means that the danger comes not simply from having riches, but from trusting in them and leaning on them for protection, provision, and security. Such people say to their gold what they should say only to God, "You are my hope" (Job 31:24). A person who prizes worldly wealth that highly will never value Christ and his grace rightly. A rich person who does not trust in riches, who sees their emptiness and their inability to make the soul happy, has already passed the test and can part with them for Christ. But even a poor person, if he sets his heart on what little he has, and puts his happiness in it, will be kept from Christ.

Christ strengthens this teaching in (Mark 10:25): it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person who trusts in riches, or is inclined to do so, to enter the kingdom of God. The picture is so extreme that some have tried to make the camel and the needle's eye fit more closely. Some think there may have been a small gate in Jerusalem, called the needle's eye because it was so narrow, through which a camel could not pass unless it was unloaded and made to kneel, like the camels in (Genesis 24:11). In that case, a rich person cannot get to heaven unless he is willing to lay aside the burden of worldly wealth, humble himself, and enter by the narrow gate. Others say the word translated camel can also mean a thick rope or cable. Compared with a poor man's thread, a rich man is like a cable. It is stronger, but less flexible, and it will not pass through a needle's eye unless it is untwisted. So the rich person must be loosened and untangled from his riches. Then there is some hope that, thread by thread, he may be brought through the eye of the needle. Otherwise, he is fit only to anchor himself to the earth.

This teaching greatly surprised the disciples. They were amazed at his words (Mark 10:24), and they asked among themselves, "Then who can be saved?" They knew what Jewish teachers commonly said, that God's Spirit chooses to dwell in rich people. They also knew how many promises the Old Testament makes about earthly blessings. They knew too that nearly everyone is either rich or wishes to be, and that rich people often have greater chances to do good. So they were astonished to hear that it is so hard for rich people to enter heaven.

Christ calms their minds by pointing them to the almighty power of God, who can help even rich people over the obstacles in the way of salvation (Mark 10:27). He looked at them to hold their attention and said, "With people it is impossible. Rich people cannot, by their own wisdom or strength, get past these barriers. But God's grace can do it, because with God all things are possible." If the righteous are saved only with difficulty, we may say it even more strongly about the rich. So whenever anyone reaches heaven, all the glory must go to God, who works in them both to will and to do.

The second thing he teaches is the greatness of the salvation of those who have little of this world and leave it for Christ. He speaks of this when Peter says for himself and the others, "See, we have left everything to follow you" (Mark 10:28).

“You have done well,” Christ says, “and in the end you will find that you have done well for yourselves. You will be richly rewarded. This is true not only for those who leave only a little, but also for those who leave much, even as much as this young man had. If they cannot bring themselves to give it up for Christ, they will still receive far more than it was worth.”

The loss involved may be very great. Jesus names worldly wealth first, with houses before lands. A person may give up a house, which is for living in, and land, which is for earning a living, and so become poor and homeless. This has been the choice of suffering believers. They say goodbye to houses and lands, even when those are useful and dear to them, because they are heirs of a better home from heaven, and of the inheritance of the saints in the light, where there are many rooms.

Jesus also names dear family ties. He speaks of father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters. In these relationships, as in many of life’s best gifts, a person’s comfort is bound up. Without them, the world would feel like a wilderness. Yet if we must choose between them and Christ, we must remember that we are joined more closely to Christ than to any created person. So, to stay true to him, we must be willing to part from the whole world, and, like Levi, say to father and mother, “I have not known you.”

This is one of the hardest tests of a good person’s faithfulness, when love for Christ stands against a lawful love, even a duty-filled love. It is easier to leave behind a sinful desire for Christ, because there is something within us that already rises against sin. But it is much harder to leave a father, a brother, or a wife, because these are people we know we ought to love. And yet, if need be, we must do even that rather than deny or reject Christ.

The sacrifice is great, but it is made for Christ’s honor and for the spread of the gospel. It is not suffering by itself that makes someone a martyr, but the cause for which he suffers. For that reason, the gain will also be great.

Those who give up these things will receive a hundred times as much in this present time, houses and brothers and sisters, not in the exact same form, but in what answers to them. They will have plenty of comfort while they live, enough to make up for all they have lost. Their bond with Christ, their fellowship with believers, and their hope of eternal life will be to them as brothers, sisters, houses, and everything else they need. God’s providence gave Job twice what he had before, but suffering Christians receive a hundredfold in the comfort of the Spirit, which sweetens even ordinary blessings.

Still, Mark adds these words, “with persecutions.” Even when they gain by Christ, they should still expect to suffer for him, and they will not be beyond persecution until they reach heaven. In fact, the persecutions seem to be included among the gifts of this present time. It has been given to believers not only to believe in Christ, but also to suffer for his name.

And this is not all. In the world to come they will have eternal life. If they receive a hundredfold in this world, one might think they should expect nothing more. Yet, as if that were a small thing, they will have eternal life besides, which is far more than any earthly loss can measure.

Because the disciples spoke so much, and perhaps more boldly than they should have, about leaving all for Christ, Jesus told them that even if they were called first, others would be called after them and would be preferred before them. Paul is an example, one “born out of due time,” yet he worked harder than all the apostles (1 Corinthians 15:10). So the first were last, and the last first.