By this point in the gospel of Mark, Jesus has made it clear to His disciples that the End is coming. But what that End is going to look like is actually getting less and less clear to them. Surely, there must be a victory coming; but why then does Jesus keep talking about being captured by His enemies and losing His life? And then when he talks about their part in it all, it is also about losing their lives. How could His disciples be expected to make sense of all that? But with us, it is a different story: We live over 2000 years on the other side of the cross and the resurrection. It all makes sense now. Or does it?

I think you would agree that all of us have been guilty of interpreting things we hear to mean what we want them to mean. That’s human nature. Consider that passage we read, where Jesus asks His disciples, who they say He is. When Peter answers correctly, Jesus responds with a statement that has since become a cornerstone of our Christian culture:

Matthew 16:16-19 (NIV) Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

According to this passage, the Church has been given the keys of the Kingdom, and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it. That is Jesus’ promise. Sounds glorious. Sounds exciting… because it sounds like Jesus is finally talking about the total triumph of good over evil in our world.  But is that what He meant?

That word translated here church, is the Greek ekklesia = assembly, those called together; namely, the group of believers.

In preparation for what is going to come after the conclusion of the Messiah’s mission, Jesus is making clear to the disciples that even though He will leave them (physically), His authority (the “keys”) will remain with them. The Mission will be continued by the Church. And Jesus defines here both its identity and its power:

• The Church that will do this is a church based on the reality that the Messiah, the Son of God, came to this world in the flesh to accomplish the Mission assigned to Him by the Father. (That’s what Peter’s declaration tells us.)  But what was that Mission? Jesus has never deviated from this definition: To enact the Plan of Salvation. That is the reason why the Son ushered into this world the Kingdom of Heaven.
• The Church that accepts this responsibility will have the power to continue that Misssion; that is: the work of Salvation: Just as Jesus had the power to free humanity from sin and death by proclaiming the Word of God, so does the Church have that power now. Our proclamation of that Word is not merely human; it is filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.

This is what I believe Jesus has just declared. And the fact that the Church’s proclamation of the Word of God will have the same “Jesus power” to set all of us free from the slavery of sin, proves that the enemy has been defeated. No power in Hell can withstand this power; no power in Hell can take this power away from us.

My question to you is now: Do you read more than that into this passage?

I ask because many have.

The paradox of the “Church triumphant”

I have mentioned before that the prophecies of the Messiah in the Old Testament, address two distinct roles that this Messiah would come to play in the history of humanity: The suffering Messiah is one, and the Lion of the tribe of Judah is the other. Both were meant to be fulfilled in the same person: the Son of the Living God. But as it was with Elijah and John the Baptist, both fulfilments need not occur simultaneously.

Which now leaves us with a problem, when we read those prophecies. We face a quandary, a question of interpretation:

When Jesus speaks, which Messiah are we hearing?

I would argue that every event in the Gospels, starting with His claims about Himself, and culminating with His death on the cross and subsequent resurrection, identify Jesus of Nazareth as the suffering Messiah, the One referred to in Isaiah…

Isaiah 49:1-6 (NIV) Listen to me, you islands; hear this, you distant nations: Before I was born the Lord called me; from my mother’s womb he has spoken my name. He made my mouth like a sharpened sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me into a polished arrow and concealed me in his quiver. He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendor.”

But I said, “I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing at all. Yet what is due me is in the Lord’s hand, and my reward is with my God.”

And now the Lord says— he who formed me in the womb to be his servant to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to himself, for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord and my God has been my strength— he says: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”

This is the Messiah that was sent on a mission of Salvation for the whole Earth, and yet it would look like failure, as He Himself says in the above prophecy (I have labored in vain…)

Isaiah 50:4-7 (NIV) The Sovereign Lord has given me a well-instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed. The Sovereign Lord has opened my ears; I have not been rebellious, I have not turned away.

I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting. Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame.

If you have read the gospel of John, the way this prophecy started should sound familiar. Jesus claimed that kind of close relationship to the Father: John 5:19 Jesus therefore answered and said to them, Verily, verily, I say to you, The Son can do nothing of himself save whatever he sees the Father doing: for whatever things *he* does, these things also the Son does in like manner.

This Messiah came to live as a man among us, yet lived that life fully inside God’s will, perfectly, without even a hint of turning aside; and even so, the earthly reward He would receive for that would be beatings, and torture. Still, He would persevere.

Isaiah 52:13-15 (NIV) See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. Just as there were many who were appalled at him— his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness— so will many nations be amazed at him; and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand.

His ultimate destiny is to be raised and lifted up, to prove to the universe that God the Father’s Plan was right, and more than that, that it works. The ultimate victory is God’s, and His prize is the return of His children to the home He made them for in the first place. But the way He would win that victory would challenge all human logic, defy every human expectation, even be a blatant affront to our human pride. The only way to get there was through the cross:

Isaiah 53:1-12 (NIV) Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God,  stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished.

He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.

After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors.

For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

This is the Messiah that Jesus came to be. And it is in His position as that Messiah that He tells Peter that He has determined to pass on to him, and to all of us (the Church), the continuation of His Mission. So, what does that continuation look like?

We know He called us to follow Him.

But what does that really mean?

I don’t mean this as a trick question. On Earth, Jesus was the suffering Messiah. In Heaven, Jesus is now King of Kings. Which footprints are we called to follow: the ones on the golden streets of Heaven or the muddied ones He left down here on Earth?

Which One’s life should my life resemble?

You know what my answer is. But this is not necessarily the most popular answer. After all, given the choice between being a “child of the King” (with all the privileges and power that that implies) or being a follower of the suffering Messiah (expecting the hard reality of the beatitudes (Matthew 5) to be the rule in our lives), which one do you think most people would prefer?

How we answer this question determines who we are as the Church. It is the difference between the concept of the Church Triumphant and that of the Church Militant.

In his Practice in Christianity, Søren. Kierkegaard starts section five with this prayer:

Lord Jesus Christ, it is indeed from on high that you draw a person to yourself, and it is to victory that you call him, but this of course means that you call him to struggle and promise him victory in the struggle to which you from on high call him, you, the great victor.

Just as you keep us from all other error, keep us also from this, that we delude ourselves into thinking ourselves to be members of a Church already triumphant here in this world. Your kingdom certainly was not and is not of this world. The place of your Church is not here in the world; there is room for it only if it will struggle and by struggling make room for itself to exist. But if it will struggle, it will never be displaced by the world either; that you will guarantee.

But if it deludes itself into thinking it is to be triumphant here in this world, then, alas, it does indeed have itself to blame that you withdrew your support, for then it has succumbed, then it has confused itself with the world.

Be, then, with your militant Church so that this might never happen, so that it— and this is truly the only way in which it could happen— would be obliterated from the earth by becoming a triumphant Church.

(From the translation by Hong and Hong.)

The danger Kierkegaard saw in us thinking we are the Church Triumphant is that it leads us to expect to reap all the benefits of the victory of Christ without having to go through any of its labor. In this viewpoint, the sufferings of Christ are a thing of the past; a thing He had to go through for our sake. But now that He has, it is all over, it is all accomplished. Now we can pick up from where He left… namely as Kings. That is the delusion: that we can live – that indeed we are called to live – as “children of the King” in this world, flowing from blessing to blessing, prospering always and lacking nothing.

And of course, if we want to, we can find all sorts of Scripture to support that view because, after all, there are two roles of the Messiah in Scripture… All we need to do is to appropriate to ourselves the verses that talk about His victory over His enemies (insert there, our enemies); and appropriate the verses about His ultimate heavenly Kingdom full of rewards as if they were meant to describe the working Kingdom of Heaven that Jesus brought to Earth.

So, which viewpoint is right?

Is it a matter of interpretation?

Maybe. But just because it requires interpretation it doesn’t mean that the answer is not clear. Sometimes people use that excuse, of a passage in Scripture having several possible interpretations, to claim that that passage must be accepted as ambiguous. Because, why should your interpretation be better than mine? But that argument has a flaw: I agree that my interpretation has no right to trump yours because we are both the same, we are both fallible human beings. BUT if Jesus has gone out of His way to give us His interpretation, then who do you think is right?

This is a key to understanding many of the Old Testament prophecies. We can argue all day that some people interpret this this way and that the other way. But that is all immaterial if Jesus has already told us what that prophecy meant.

And this is one of the major roles of the Gospel: Jesus, by word and deed, revealed to us the meaning of many many prophecies; and He did that on purpose, to prove again God’s claim in Isaiah that He is the only God who can predict the future because He is in control of the future.

Therefore, if we turn to His prayer to the Father for His disciples (and all of us who would believe by following them) we can see His explicit expectation of what kind of Church He called us to be.

John 17:13-19 (NIV) “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.

As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

That settles the whole argument. We are sent into the world exactly the same way He was sent into the world. Therefore, as He was hated by the world, we will be hated by the world. And all the consequences that that hate brought into His life culminating at the cross, are potentially there for us in our lives. We have been called to be the Church militant, to willingly live the same struggle that he lived.

There is no denying that Jesus is King now, triumphant. But that victory and that Kingship are not in this world. And right there in that prayer in John 17, Jesus told the Father, and us, that our called place is in this world.

So, what does the victory of the cross look like for us?

Since we are to remain in this world, that victory has to be the fulfillment of Jesus’ Mission in our lives. We live in this world but not according to the rules of the world because we are now citizens of the Kingdom of heaven; and we choose to live according to its rules. That means that the things the world values may be completely different from the things we value.

Victory is a life characterized by Repentance

If we think back to when we were first called, what did Jesus tell us? What did John the Baptizer tell us? Wasn’t it: Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand?”

Repentance is not just saying “I am sorry.” The Greek word used in those passages means “turning back”. The call of the Gospel implies that we have been going the wrong way by living our lives according to the rules of the world. And the response required of us is to acknowledge that and then make the choice to turn around, leave that path, and follow the Way of the Kingdom of God.

It isn’t just about sins and wickedness. It is about recognizing that the values of the world, values that we have grown up accepting uncritically, will inevitably lead us astray. Jesus explained it this way in the Sermon on the Mount: You cannot love both God and Mammon (Mammon=money, the powers of the world). Such a divided heart eventually breaks.  (And guess who mocked Him for that teaching “Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they derided Him.” (Luke 16:14).

Repentance is our victory:

It means we willingly reject the status quo of the world…

We reject the things the world tells us we want, the things it tells us we deserve. In Mark chapter 10, it is the Pharisees who come in defense of that status quo.

1 – The status quo in regards to the pleasures of life:

Mark 10:1-9 And rising up thence he comes into the coasts of Judaea, and the other side of the Jordan. And again crowds come together to him, and, as he was accustomed, again he taught them. And Pharisees coming to [him] asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away [his] wife? (tempting him).

The reason Mark points out that the objective of this question was to try to tempt (entrap) Jesus is because that question they asked was an established unsolved problem of the time. The rabbinical literature before Jesus’ time showed that there was no final consensus on what constituted an allowable cause for divorce according to the Torah. The Torah says very little about the subject of the marriage covenant and the grounds for divorce. It acknowledges divorce happens and gives the legal instruction for the requisite document, but that is almost all there is in it. In such absence, centuries of tradition led to different schools of thought.

In her 2009 PhD dissertation, Marriage and Divorce in the Herodian Family: A Case Study of Diversity in Late Second Temple Judaism, Ingrid Johanne Moen cites a well know passage from the rabbinical literature:

The School of Shammai says: “A man may not divorce his wife unless he discovers her to be sexually impure.” For it is written, “[He may divorce her] if he found something [sexually] defiling about her.” And the House of Hillel says: “[He may divorce her] even if she spoiled a dish for him.” For it is written, “Because he has found anything objectionable.” Rabbi Akiva says: “[He may divorce her] even if he found another more beautiful than her.” For it is written, “And if she no longer finds favor in his eyes…”

That is, some rabbis held that calling for divorce required a serious violation of the marriage covenant whereas others held that almost any reason would do… particularly, any reason the husband could come up with. Moen also points out (and this should come as no surprise) that in that society, a woman initiating a divorce was viewed less favorably than a man doing it. And this was true even among the higher levels of the society (both Jews and Romans) to whom divorce was a much easier and lighter matter.

It is against this well-known rabbinical background that the Pharisees put this challenge to Jesus. So, Jesus asks them a question that forces them to go back to the Torah.

But he answering said to them, What did Moses command you? And they said, Moses allowed to write a bill of divorce, and to put away.

Jesus asks them, What did Moses say? (Not what do the rabbis say?) And they answer truthfully, all that Moses says about effecting the divorce is that a writ of divorce is required. So, Yes, there appears to be a scarcity of clear instruction on the matter. Does that mean that we (the rabbis) get to make up the missing information… to our taste? Is this then a matter of interpretation?

Well, as you expect by now, it is Jesus’ turn to flip their question back on them:

And Jesus answering said to them, In view of your hard-heartedness he wrote this commandment for you; but from [the] beginning of [the] creation God made them male and female. For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be united to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh: so that they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.

The Pharisees (being men) wanted to have the right to divorce at any time – a kind of power, keeping the woman on a tight leash… And Jesus, knowing their hearts, reveals to them the heart of God the Father. The Son of God, who knows intimately what the Father says and why He says it, has now declared God’s original intention.

All of a sudden, none of this is subject to interpretation. All of a sudden, we are no longer free today to pretend that the story of Adam and Eve in Genesis is some kind of mythology or parable. Jesus has declared that God’s choice to create humanity as male and female is a fact, and that it was God’s explicit intent; and using that fact as the fulcrum for His logic, He declares that therefore there must have been a reason for that. And to Jesus, the reason is obvious.

We may want to claim that it is not obvious to us. But that is neither here nor there. Our human opinion matters very very little. Because this is the Son of God speaking. Jesus has declared that God made humanity male and female with the intention that man and woman enter into a covenant of marriage… a covenant that God approves (because He is the God of covenant promise); and therefore once that human covenant has been entered into, it is a serious thing… almost as strong as the covenants that God spelled out for His people to keep with Him.

(I believe this is why Paul talks about this the way he does in Ephesians 5:22-33).

There is a difference though… The covenants between God and His people are inviolable. When his people broke them, they reaped the consequences of the curses spelled out in Deuteronomy 29. But this covenant of marriage between human and human (not human and God) is, unfortunately, rather fragile.

Why?

Because between human and God, no matter how far we humans can fall, God will never change. His side of the covenant will be upheld forever. He is Faithful. But between human and human, both of us can and do often fall. By living in this fallen world, accepting its rules, we become corrupted, we forget what faithfulness really means, we forget what Love is meant to be. And divorce happens.

That is what Jesus has told the Pharisees. It is simply because we are so hard-hearted that God gave Moses that out, for this one covenant.

Now, if you have been living in that society, immersed in the rules of the world, assuming that those are the rules of life, enjoying the status quo, this revelation of God’s Heart, of His perfect intention, is going to hit like a hammer…

Mark 10:10-12 And again in the house the disciples asked him concerning this. And he says to them, Whosoever shall put away his wife and shall marry another, commits adultery against her. And if a woman put away her husband and shall marry another, she commits adultery.

The disciples can hardly believe it. So, they ask Him again… Hoping they heard wrong. Maybe in private, He will reveal to them something that will make it more palatable. But Jesus only answers with the Truth: Their society had made divorce so easy that now it had deal with serial divorcers. And Jesus tells them that that is no better than serial adultery. They are shocked.

Matthew gives us the rest of that conversation

Matthew 19:10-12 His disciples say to him, If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry.

Quite a conclusion! This reply, from the disciples should be enough for us to realize how permissive their society had become, and how biased it was in favor of men. They had all the power. That wife had better stay on her toes and do all that they want, or else they could just divorce her. Can you imagine? And the disicples were so immersed in that culture that their reaction is: In that case, it’s better not to marry! As if they could not conceive that a marriage based on mutual love, mutual respect, and mutual trust was possible without having that worldly power of divorce in their breast pocket.

Now, Jesus’ reply to them, again reminds us of how fragile this covenant between humans is: We, male and female, are utterly fallible… God knows that…

And he (Jesus) said to them, All cannot receive this word, but those to whom it has been given;

What “word” is Jesus talking about? Is he referring to Peter’s statement that it is better not to marry? Or is He referring to the whole “problem” of the fallibility of human beings in this area of our lives? I think He is referring to both, because of the way He explains it:

for there are eunuchs which have been born thus from [their] mother’s womb; and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs of men; and there are eunuchs who have made eunuchs of themselves for the sake of the kingdom of the heavens. He that is able to receive [it], let him receive [it].

This is quite an answer. Jesus’ bottom-line regarding marriage in this fallen world is that it is not mandatory. It was God’s perfect plan when He made Adam and Eve. But when they sinned, and that sin corrupted the world, everything in this Creation got messed up. (Romans 8:19-23). This is why the lion chases down the gazelle and kills it to eat. This is why germs exist that make us sick.

Even our DNA is messed up. This is the origin of genetic illnesses. And it is also the origin of human beings who are born with a sex-drive that is different from the average population. Humans are still born male and female, but some are born without the need (desire) to ever marry. And some realizing the difference in themselves choose to never marry (in honor of God’s original plan, which they feel they cannot fulfill). And some (like Paul the apostle) choose to never marry because they want to dedicate the total energy of their life to the Kingdom of God.

That to me is the simplest understanding of Jesus’ answer: The bottom line is that marriage and sexual relations are not mandatory. They are not required for us to be fulfilled children of God in this world. And that is completely different from what the world tells us.

You know what I mean: In a world without God, without His absolute definition of the Good, the only definition of “good” is that which feels good. In fact, whatever feels good to you, that the world declares is your good, is “your truth”. And sexual pleasure turns out to be defined by this world as the ultimate good, the ultimate inalienable right that every human has. That is what the Pharisees wanted.

That is still today this world’s status quo. Jesus calls us to a different standard.

2- The status quo regarding our self importance

Mark 10:13-16 And they brought little children to him that he might touch them. But the disciples rebuked those that brought [them]. But Jesus seeing [it], was indignant, and said to them, Suffer the little children to come to me; forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of God.

The disciples rebuked those who brought the children to Jesus. What does that tell us about the disciples’ worldview? Maybe they thought the Messiah was much too important to be distracted by the racket children make. Or maybe they did not want Jesus’ attention diverted from themselves. Either way, the issue here is of relative importance…

Jesus’ time is limited. He Himself has been emphasizing that lately, with all this talk about being captured, and beaten, and killed. So, naturally, we want to spend as much time as we can with Him. And we deserve it! We have been following Him. We are His best friends. We matter! And then these people come with their kids to interrupt our time with Him. Come on! Get in line… we were here first. We are more important.

This is the world talking. Who is the most important person in your life? If you ask the world, the answer is simple: You. You matter. If you don’t stand up for yourself, no one is going to stand up for you. Life is defined in this world by me getting as much as I can of what I want, as fast as I can, before it is all over. This is because the only kind of love that makes sense to the world is self-love. Even when poets (or romcoms) extol the beauty of romantic love, what they are praising is the fact that I have found my soul mate: the person that perfectly satisfies my definition of happiness.

But Jesus came to teach us about the Father’s perfect Love, rooted in service and sacrifice: The Love that is willing to give it all up (all possessions, all advantage, all importance) for the sake of the good of the Other.

Philipians 2:1-8 If then [there be] any comfort in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of [the] Spirit, if any bowels and compassions, fulfil my joy, that ye may think the same thing, having the same love, joined in soul, thinking one thing; [let] nothing [be] in the spirit of strife or vain glory, but, in lowliness of mind, each esteeming the other as more excellent than themselves; regarding not each his own [qualities], but each those of others also.

For let this mind be in you which [was] also in Christ Jesus; who, subsisting in the form of God, did not esteem it an object of rapine to be on an equality with God; but emptied himself, taking a bondman’s form, taking his place in [the] likeness of men; and having been found in figure as a man, humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, and [that the] death of [the] cross.

This is Jesus’ viewpoint of self-importance. And to make that point he holds up a little child as the paragon of the right kind of worldview. A small child cannot have any self-importance because they are totally dependent on their parents. They don’t get to choose what they do or what they eat, how they are clothed, or where they live. It is all done for them. And you know what? It doesn’t bother them one bit.

Whereas our sense of self-importance is intimately tied with our desire to be in control – with our power to choose to do whatever we want – that idea of power never crosses a child’s mind. They have no power, no control, and it doesn’t bother them. Why? Because they have grown up knowing that their parents will provide all they need. They have implicit trust in the goodness of  their parents.

Do we have implicit trust in the Goodness of our Heavenly Father? Or have we forgotten what it is to trust that way?

Verily I say to you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, shall in no wise enter into it. And having taken them in his arms, having laid his hands on them, he blessed them.

The world’s status quo is “every man for himself”. Jesus is calling us to trust that God is still today Jehovah Jireh, for us as He was for Abraham: The God who provides.

3- The status quo regarding the root of our security

Mark 10:17-18 And as he went forth into the way, a person ran up to [him], and kneeling to him asked him, Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? But Jesus said to him, Why callest thou me good? no one is good but one, [that is] God.

Jesus responds with a challenge that says… are you just flattering me or are you seriously recognizing that I will tell you what is Good? Are you going to obey me, regardless of what I say?

Mark 10:19-22 Thou knowest the commandments: Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honour thy father and mother.  And he answering said to him, Teacher, all these things have I kept from my youth.

And Jesus looking upon him loved him, and said to him, One thing lackest thou: go, sell whatever thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me, [taking up the cross].

But he, sad at the word, went away grieved, for he had large possessions.

I love this passage in Mark. He is the only one of the gospel writers that notes how Jesus looked at this rich young ruler. He looked at Him with Love. Jesus knew that, in his heart, that young man wanted to do the right thing. And more than that, I believe Jesus saw that he had in his heart the power to choose the right thing.

But that choice still has to be made.

Having the power and using it are not the same thing. We have to be willing to overcome the weight of the status quo the world has piled on our shoulders.

In this case it is all about our security, the assurance of our future life. Can we be sure it will be comfortable? Can we ensure that we will not end up hungry or homeless? There is always risk in this life; unexpected things happen, we know that. So, we ask ourselves, how strong can we make the bulwarks of our life against that unknown future?

You see… we cannot see the future. 

No one in this world can. Therefore, faced with that blindness, we turn to this world for some other way to avert all the bad things that could happen. And the world says, “There is a simple answer:  Money. Money can buy anything. Therefore, money is the only thing (in this world) that can ensure your future. Who else is going to do it for you? Put your trust in money.”

Everybody in this world knows this is the way it is; that is the status quo. And yet, this Jesus tells me to give it all away? That makes no sense, Jesus! If I don’t ensure my own future, who in this world  is going to do it for me?

And there is the answer, contained in the very question: Nobody in this world is going to do it, because nobody in this world can. But God the Father has the Future in His hands. The question is, am I willing to trust Him with my future? The rich young ruler could not get himself to do that. Why? Because He could not imagine the Father’s Love.

Mark 10:23-27 And Jesus looking around says to his disciples, How difficultly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!

And the disciples were amazed at his words. And Jesus again answering says to them, Children, how difficult it is that those who trust in riches should enter into the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

And they were exceedingly astonished, saying to one another, And who can be saved?

But Jesus looking on them says, With men it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.

Again, we have evidence here that the disciples were still under the spell of the world’s status quo: To them, to us, the ultimate security, the ultimate guarantee of happiness, the one thing that would assure us of the power to do whatever we want to do – even the power to follow Jesus – is money.

And Jesus’ words have shattered that lie. The disciples admit that it makes no sense in their worldview. And Jesus’ reply is, “That’s OK, we are not talking about your worldview, we are talking about God’s.”

And after a moment of wrestling with the presuppositions a lifetime of status quo has imprinted on them, Peter is the first to speak… because he is beginning to “get it.” What the world prizes is all upside down… and this is why Jesus has been calling us all along to leave that world behind:

Mark 10:28-31 Peter began to say to him, Behold, *we* have left all things and have followed thee.

Jesus answering said, Verily I say to you, There is no one who has left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, [or wife], or children, or lands, for my sake and for the sake of the gospel, that shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time: houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions, and in the coming age life eternal. But many first shall be last, and the last first.

And Jesus essentially tells Peter, “You got it! It may seem that you are giving up all sorts of things for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven, but your Father is more than able to give you those things, the things you really need in this world (remember the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 6:25 ff).

And then, in keeping with truth in advertising, Jesus adds, “but all this, this living in the Father’s will, depends on that precisely, you being willing to live in His will. And for making that choice, the world will hate you and persecution will come. But that’s OK. To the world it may look like you are losers, but the last shall be first.”

The thorns of this world

The pleasures of the world, our striving to justify our own self-importance, and our struggle to guarantee the security of our future… Jesus lumped all those together in one metaphor: the seed that fell among the thorns:

Mark 4:18-19 And others are they who are sown among the thorns: these are they who have heard the word, and the cares of life, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things, entering in, choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

Victory can only be ours when we refuse to let those thorns choke our life away. Only then can the seed of the Word find our heart to be good and fertile soil.

And then we can fulfil our Misssion as the Church, and our labor will bear fruit; one thirty, and one sixty, and one a hundred [fold].