Jubilee: The Rich Young Ruler (Mark 10:17-27)

In Mark 10, Jesus asks a rich young ruler to make a choice. A choice to either continue living with a divided heart, loving his money and possessions, unable to love the Lord with all of his heart, mind, soul, and strength, and therefore forfeiting eternal life. Or to choose to love God and God alone. To choose to live out of his joy, not his fear and discomfort. To accept the gift of abundant and eternal life freely offered to him, and forego anything that distracts him from full-hearted devotion to God.

Of the 38 parables in the New Testament, 17 are related to possessions and giving. Over 2,100 verses mention something related to either wealth and material resources or giving to and caring for our neighbors. That’s roughly 26% of the entire New Testament. So it’s clear that this is a topic Jesus cares deeply about.

The wealth and the possessions that the rich young ruler had, and that we have, are not bad things. Jesus could have asked the man to destroy them all, but he didn't. He asks him to give them away, because the problem comes when we are not so transformed by God’s gracious gift to us that we turn them into idols. Idols of comfort and stability. Idols that blind us from the needs of those around us, as we seek to accumulate more and more wealth for the sake of ourselves.

If we’re being honest, we’re all a lot more like the rich young ruler than we want to admit. And we try to let ourselves off the hook by giving away our leftovers, rather than giving up something we think we need - when what we really need is Jesus. So we choose the offering that’s easy, and walk away sad, missing out on the life Jesus is offering, as we hold on to what Jesus is asking us to give away.