A question from a man in the crowd initiated this subject. Then Jesus proceeded to instruct His disciples following up the incident. The position of this section in Mark's Gospel is significant. It occurs after Jesus' teaching about the importance of receiving the kingdom with trust and humility (vv. 13-16), and it precedes Jesus' third prediction of His passion (vv. 32-34). The young man thought he could obtain the kingdom with works and self-assertion, not as a little child. Jesus' following call to commitment prepared for His passion announcement.
10:17 Mark tied this incident into what immediately preceded more closely than the other evangelists did. He wanted his readers to see this young man as expressing exactly the opposite of what Jesus had just taught His disciples. The man was a rich (v. 22) young (Matt. 19:20) ruler (Luke 18:18). His approach to Jesus was unusually earnest and respectful, but he viewed eternal life as something one must earn.
Matthew wrote that he asked what he should do to get or obtain (Gr. scho) eternal life, but Mark and Luke said that he used the term "inherit"(Gr. kleponomeo). The man clearly did not believe that he had eternal life and wanted to learn what he needed to do to get it. Probably Matthew recorded the exact word he used (the ipisissima verba) and Mark and Luke interpreted what he meant (the ipisissima vox). It was important for Matthew to tell his original Jewish readers that the young man was talking about getting something that he did not possess. Mark and Luke wrote for Gentiles for whom "inheriting"clarified what was in the rich young ruler's mind. He was talking about getting something that he as a Jew thought that he had a right to obtain because of his ethnic relationship to Abraham.
"In the rich young ruler's mind entering heaven, inheriting eternal life, and having eternal life were all the same thing, and all meant go to heaven when I die.' Jesus neither affirms or denies this equation here.246He understands that the young man wants to know how to enter life, or enter the kingdom."247
10:18 The man had a superficial understanding of goodness. Jesus' response confronted the man with the implications of trying to do some good work to earn eternal life and calling Jesus "good."Was he ready to respond to Jesus' instructions as to God's Word?
10:19 The Old Testament taught that if a person kept the Mosaic Law he would live (Deut. 30:15-16). This was theoretically possible but practically impossible. Jesus reminded the man of what the law required by citing five commands in the second table of the Decalogue. The commands Jesus mentioned are easily verifiable in conduct. Mark alone recorded the prohibition against defrauding, evidently a particular expression of stealing appropriate to the wealthy.248
10:20 The man's superficial understanding of God's standards became apparent in his claim that he had kept all those commandments from his youth up. He regarded obedience simply as external conformity without internal purity (cf. Phil. 3:6). This was the natural implication and consequence of the Pharisees' teaching. At age 12, a Jewish boy became a "son of the covenant"(Heb. bar miswah, from which comes Bar Mitzvah). From then on he was responsible to live by God's commands. It is probably from this time that the man meant he had observed the law.
10:21 Only Mark recorded that Jesus loved the rich young ruler when he replied as he did. Evidently the man had sincerely tried to earn eternal life by obeying the law. His superficial understanding of what God required was more his teachers' fault than his own.
Jesus put His finger on what kept this man from having eternal life. He expressed it in the terms that the man had been using, namely doing something. He was trusting in his wealth probably as an evidence that his good works made him acceptable to God. The Old Testament taught that God normally blessed the righteous with physical prosperity. He needed to abandon that essentially self-confident faith, and he needed to trust in Jesus. He had also made wealth his god rather than God. His reluctance to part with it revealed his idolatry. By selling all he had, giving it to the poor, and following Jesus he would confess his repudiation of confidence in self and affirm his trust in Jesus. Then he would have treasure in heaven, something that would last forever.
10:22 Abandoning his physical security and trusting in Jesus was too great a risk to take. The rich young ruler's wealth brought him sorrow instead of joy. This is the only time in the Gospels when someone called to follow Jesus did not do so.
Jesus used the incident just past to teach His disciples about riches. Matthew's account is the fullest.
10:23 The case of this unbeliever had important significance for Jesus' believing disciples. Rather than being a preview of divine eternal blessing, wealth could be a barrier to obtaining it. Jesus did not envy the rich, as most of His contemporaries did. He pitied them.249Wealth does not exclude a person from the kingdom, but it gives him a handicap.
10:24 This verse is unique to Mark. The disciples' amazement arose from the popular belief that riches were a result of God's blessing for righteousness. They thought riches were an advantage, not a disadvantage in one's relationship with God. Here only in the Gospels Jesus addressed the disciples as "children"(Gr. tekna). Their amazement revealed their spiritual immaturity.
The longer textual reading at the end of verse 24 gives the sense of Jesus' statement, but it was probably not a part of the Gospel originally. The shorter statement is perfectly true as it stands and accounts partially for the disciples' second amazement (v. 26). Jesus' statement in verse 25 also helps us understand their surprise.
10:25-26 One writer paraphrased Jesus' proverb as follows.
"It is easier to thread a needle with a great big camel than to get into the kingdom of God when you are bursting with riches."250
The camel was the largest beast of burden in Palestine. The needle Jesus referred to was a common sewing needle (Gr. hraphis). The disciples reacted with amazement because they thought that wealth indicated righteousness (cf. Job, Abraham, Solomon).
10:27 Jesus' point was that salvation is totally God's work (cf. Eph. 2:8-9). God can make anyone realize his or her complete dependence on Him.
10:28 Peter, speaking for the other disciples, was still thinking in physical rather than spiritual terms. He turned the conversation back to the subject of giving up all to follow Jesus (v. 22). The rich young ruler had refused to forsake all and follow Jesus, but the disciples had done just that. "We"is emphatic in the Greek text. Mark did not record the rest of Peter's statement: "What then will there be for us?"(Matt. 19:27). Mark did not need to. The implication is clear enough from Peter's statement without his question.
10:29-30 Jesus graciously did not rebuke Peter's selfishness but rewarded his self-sacrifice with a promise. Disciples who follow Jesus wholeheartedly can anticipate three things. First, God will give them more in kind spiritually of what they have sacrificed physically. Second, they will receive persecution as Jesus' disciples. Only Mark mentioned this, undoubtedly for his original persecuted readers' benefit. Commitment to discipleship means persecution as well as rewards. Third, faithful disciples will enjoy their eternal life to an extent that unfaithful disciples will not (cf. John 10:10; 17:3).251
"God takes nothing away from a man without restoring it to him in a new and glorious form."252
The present age refers to the inter-advent era and the age to come the messianic kingdom.
10:31 The first in rank and position in this age, such as the rich young ruler, will be last in the next. Conversely the last in this age, such as the Twelve, would be first in the next. These words summarized Jesus' teaching on discipleship on that occasion and in this section of Mark's Gospel (vv. 1-31). This was a saying that Jesus used at other times as well during His ministry (cf. Matt. 20:16: Luke 13:30). Here these words also warned Peter against looking for immediate physical rewards for his self-sacrifices (cf. Matt. 20:1-16).
All three of the lessons in discipleship that Mark recorded in this section of his Gospel dealt with self-sacrifice (10:1-31). The lessons that Jesus taught following His first passion prediction dealt mainly with future glory (8:31-9:29). Those He taught following His second passion prediction concerned present suffering primarily (9:30-10:31).
