But
his face fell at that saying, and he went away sorrowful, for he was one who had great possessions. Jesus looked around, and said to his disciples, “How difficult it is for those who have riches to enter into God’s Kingdom!”
Mark 10:22-23
Mark 10 [21.] Jesus looking at him loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack. Go, sell whatever you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me, taking up the cross.”
Mark 10 [22.] But his face fell at that saying, and he went away sorrowful, for he was one who had great possessions. Jesus looked around, and said to his disciples, “How difficult it is for those who have riches to enter into God’s Kingdom!”
Mark 10 [24.] The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus answered again, “Children, how hard is it for those who trust in riches to enter into God’s Kingdom! It is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter into God’s Kingdom.”
Meaning:
A man had run to Jesus asking how to inherit eternal life. He had kept the commandments from his youth, and Jesus, looking at him, loved him. Then Jesus named the one thing he lacked: “Go, sell whatever you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me” (Mark 10:21). These verses record the man’s response and Jesus’ comment on it. Only now does Mark reveal the key fact that explains everything: the man was very rich.
- “His face fell at that saying”
The man’s eager face clouded over. The word Mark uses describes a gloomy, overcast look, like a sky darkening before a storm. He had come running and kneeling (Mark 10:17); now he leaves slowly and sadly. He had expected to be told of some further good deed. Instead Jesus asked for his heart, and the price was more than he was willing to pay. Jesus did not run after him or lower the cost. He let him go, because following him cannot be bought with half a heart.
- “He went away sorrowful”
This is the only person in Mark’s Gospel who receives a personal call from Jesus and walks away. The fishermen had “immediately” left their nets and followed him (Mark 1:18), and Levi had left his tax office (Mark 2:13-14). The man’s sorrow shows that he knew what he was turning down. He truly wanted eternal life, but he loved his possessions more. Jesus had warned in the parable of the sower that “the deceitfulness of riches” can choke the word so that it bears no fruit (Mark 4:18-19). Here that warning comes to life.
- “For he was one who had great possessions”
Jesus had listed the commandments about our neighbour (Mark 10:18-19), but the man’s real problem lay with the first commandment: no other gods. Wealth had become his master. “You can’t serve both God and Mammon” (Matthew 6:24). Jesus did not ask every follower to sell everything, but he asked this man to let go of the one thing that stood between him and God. The contrast with Zacchaeus, another rich man who met Jesus, is striking. Zacchaeus gladly said, “Behold, Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor” (Luke 19:8), and salvation came to his house.
- “Jesus looked around”
Mark often notes the way Jesus looked at people, as when he “looked around at them with anger” in the synagogue (Mark 3:5). Here he looks around at his disciples, turning the sad scene into a lesson. “How difficult it is for those who have riches to enter into God’s Kingdom!” The words shocked them, as the next verses show (Mark 10:24-25). Many in Israel saw wealth as a sure sign of God’s blessing. Jesus taught that riches easily breed self-reliance, distraction and fear of loss, all of which keep people from entering the Kingdom with the trust of a little child.
The Significance of Mark 10:22-23
- What we cannot give up controls us
The man discovered that his possessions owned him. Each disciple should ask what he or she would find hardest to surrender to Christ, because that may be the very thing that competes with God for first place.
- Riches are a responsibility
Wealth is not sinful in itself, but it is dangerous. Paul tells Timothy to charge the rich “that they not be haughty, nor have their hope set on the uncertainty of riches, but on the living God” (1 Timothy 6:17-18). Those who have much are called to be generous and to hold their money loosely.
- Sorrow need not be the last word
Mark does not tell us what became of the man. Jesus will soon say that what is impossible with men is possible with God (Mark 10:27). No heart is too tightly bound for God to set free.
Cross-References:
Matthew 6:19-21: "Don’t lay up treasures for yourselves on the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consume, and where thieves don’t break through and steal" The choice the rich man faced.
Matthew 6:24: "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can’t serve both God and Mammon." Wealth can become a rival master.
Mark 4:19: "and the cares of this age, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful." Riches choke the word in the heart.
1 Timothy 6:9-10: "But those who are determined to be rich fall into a temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful lusts, such as drown men in ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil." The danger of loving money.
Conclusion: When Jesus asked the rich man to sell his possessions, give to the poor and follow him, the man’s face fell and he went away sorrowful, because he had great possessions. He wanted eternal life, but not at the cost of his wealth. Jesus then turned to his disciples and declared how hard it is for the rich to enter God’s Kingdom. The scene warns every reader that whatever we refuse to give up can keep us from following Christ.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible