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Entering the Kingdom of God - Mark 10
Entering the Kingdom of God - Mark 10
The story of the rich young ruler shows some interesting insight into the understanding of the very nature and makeup of the 'kingdom of God'. The young man asked: "What must I do to inherit eternal life" (17). Jesus responds by saying: "you will have treasure in heaven" (21). When the young man leaves disheartened by Jesus demands, Jesus speaks of how difficult it is for such who have riches to "enter the kingdom of God" (23, 24,25). The disciples' response was to ask, "who then can be saved" (26). I take these as parallel concepts. To be saved is to have eternal life. To have eternal life is to have treasure in heaven. All of these are found by entering the kingdom of God.
Being in the kingdom of God is being in the relationship with God whereby HE is the king and ruler that one lives by. It is HIS teaching that one follows. Jesus in fact spoke to this when he said: "come, follow me" (vs. 21).
Earlier, in the sermon on the mount, Jesus had warned that you cannot serve God and riches (Matt. 6:24). Such, more often than not, get in the way of serving God. "The cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word" (Mark 4:19). This is what happened to this young man.
This young man was a GOOD young man. He could say without contradiction from Jesus, "These I have kept from my youth…" Jesus response: He loved him. YET Jesus added: "ONE thing you lack". Along with his godly practices, he had also developed a love for his possessions. This very thing is what Jesus now brings up. When told to sell all he had and give it to the poor, the young man became disheartened. His true love manifested itself. Money had usurped the throne of God in his heart. He went away, sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
But, we say, that won't happen to ME. I can handle it! I will evenly balance my 'needs' and my love for God. Then a funny thing happens, our 'needs' begin to grow proportionately with our 'haves'. The more we have, the more we 'need'. Thus, it often turns out that the cares of the world and deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things choke out the word of God in our hearts. Paul warned: "covetousness is idolatry". Thus Jesus puts before us a difficult choice: eternal life, treasure in heaven, and the kingdom of God; OR earthly riches. In the words of Joshua: choose you this day whom you will serve.
Hugh DeLong
