Mark 10:17-31
The Question on Inheriting Eternal Life
17 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: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall 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.
23 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”
24 The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 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.”
26 The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?”
27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”
28 Then Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow you!”
29 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel 30 will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. 31 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
All Things Are Made Through Jesus
10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.
Obstacles to Following Him
29 If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
What must I do to inherit eternal life is a very good question...But this question gets turned upside down, when the question is prefaced with two words Good Teacher...And then the Disciples surround His answer with other questions and comments...
Jesus is the best with our language and speech, because He created it...Language, communication and speech comes from God...These things and all things are made through Him...And Jesus was very good at turning things upside down and making us think -and think in terms of God and Godliness...He often tries to get us out of thinking about this world, and to think in terms of the Kingdom of God and the Spiritual World...
When the rich man called Jesus good, He sort of denies Himself as being good...Because He replies that only God is good...And if He is not good, then He is not God in the flesh..But Jesus did not always speak in plain and simple terms...Sometimes at least for me, I have trouble getting to the bottom of what He is always trying to teach us...He spoke a lot in parables and let each individual listener interpret what He was saying...So when the four gospels were written, we now have each individual reader interpreting what He was saying...And we often get a variety of meanings to His teachings, even on the same teaching and subject...
But most, if not everyone agrees that Jesus was a Good Teacher...But He wants us to think about goodness...He wants us to relate much of our thinking and thoughts to His Father...Goodness to Him, is not of this world, this world has its share of issues and problems...He wants us to think of Another World, the Kingdom of God...Goodness starts with His teachings and the teachings of the Good Teacher...Jesus relates everything in His teachings to His Father, and goodness, and being good is just one of those things...In this world, we are filled with temptations and sins...Goodness did not begin with a man or a nice man long ago...Jesus sets the bar for goodness...God is the ultimate way (of goodness) and our standard of how to be good...He is what goodness actually is...He is the Only One, who is Absolutely Moral in everything He does...
The basis of the man's question is about eternal life...When He tells His questioner to follow Me...That is very much the answer to the rich man's question...We are not to be burdened, brought down, separated from following Him with things like money, material things, or any thing that makes itself an obstacle or roadblock to be able to follow Him...Jesus even says, if a body part causes one to sin -cut it off...The eye is tempted by this world, and temptations keep us from following Him...We are tempted very much and often by our eyes with carnal pleasures and desires, but we are made good in God's eyes with His Son, His good teachings, His Son's life, His Son's death on the cross, His Son's resurrection, and His Son's ascension back to heaven...We are made good by following Him...The answer to the question of "What must I do to inherit eternal life?"...Inheriting eternal life is done by believing and knowing that there is only One True God, and believing and knowing the One He sent, Jesus Christ...