Bible Study on Mark - Part 16, Mark 10:13-31

This week’s lesson contains some of the most important teaching of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark. We began with more comments on Mark 10:13-16. People were bringing children to Jesus for a blessing, and the disciples were trying to keep them away. Maybe they thought Jesus was too busy to be bothered with children or that children were not that important to Him. Jesus was very upset and said, “Let the children come to Me... for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven” (Mark 10:13-14).

Some churches and groups believe that children are sweet and innocent and sinless, or at least are not responsible for any sins until they are older. They are therefore automatically eligible for and belong in heaven. There was a book series some years ago, Left Behind, where all the children on earth were suddenly raptured directly into heaven.

This idea is not at all what Jesus means in this passage. The Scriptures teach that ever since the fall of the first people into sin, everyone is conceived and born in sin and has a sinful nature. See passages like Genesis 6:5 and Psalm 51:5 and Ephesians 2:1-3.

That is why Jesus said that everyone needs to be born again, born from above, in order to enter the Kingdom of God. That new spiritual birth is a gift from God and comes by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God and by the Word connected with water in baptism. See John 3:3-6 and 1 Peter 1:23, for example. Baptism is the means by which little children, as well as older children and adults, can receive that new birth - and they need it, too. See the promise of Acts 2:38-39, for example.

What Jesus is really emphasizing in this passage is in Mark 10:15. We receive the Kingdom of God as a gift, by simple childlike faith. There are many things little children cannot do for themselves. They are dependent and trusting and simply receive most things. The Kingdom of God is also received by God’s grace and not earned by our work and efforts. Jesus showed His care and concern for the children, too, by picking them up and personally blessing them (Mark 10:16). We are thus reminded that children are important to our Lord and need to be baptized and taught and spiritually cared for.

We see what Jesus is saying even more clearly in the verses that follow. Jesus was journeying closer to Jerusalem, with the last week of His life coming in Mark 11. A man then ran up to Him and knelt before Him, with a question: “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” He was a typical Jewish man of his time and was thinking about himself and his own efforts to make himself acceptable to God (Mark 10:17).

Jesus replied with His own question, as He often did. “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.” Jesus was actually good, perfectly good, as the sinless Son of God and a true man, the only person without sin (Mark 10:18). (See also Hebrews 4:14-15, for example.) The man did not realize this, though, and was focused only on his own goodness and what he needed to do.  Jesus then listed many of the 10 Commandments, focusing upon those having to do with life with other human beings.

The man knew these commandments and quickly responded, “Teacher, all these I have kept since my youth" (Mark10:20). Like many Jews, he focused on the literal letter of the laws. If one had not literally killed someone or committed actual adultery with someone, then he was acceptable to God and had kept those commandments. Jesus had taught, as the Son of God, that these commandments meant much more. One could break these commandments by thoughts and words, too, that harmed others. And everyone does in some ways. (See Matthew 5:21-28, for example, and Matthew 5:48. See also Galatians 3:10 and James 2:10 and the blunt words of James in James 3:2.)

Jesus loved this man and wanted him to know the truth about himself and his real spiritual weaknesses and sins. He focused then on commandments having to do with coveting and having another “god,” something more important than the one true God. Jesus told him, “You lack one thing; go sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” Jesus knew that this was a rich man and that his actual “god” was his great possessions. He would not come and follow Jesus or his Heavenly Father, unless He was willing to put God above all his wealth and possessions. The man was shocked and dismayed by what Jesus said, and he went away sorrowful (Mark 10:21-22). Maybe at some point he woke up and realized what Jesus was telling him; but at this point, he was not about to give up his possessions, no matter what. His wealth was the barrier to the really important thing - following Jesus in faith. He was a sinner, much more than he realized.

Jesus went on, then, to tell His disciples how difficult it was for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of heaven. (Other Scriptures say the same thing about the danger of riches. Jesus had given the same warning earlier in Mark 4:18-19, in the parable of the sower and seeds that fell among thorns. See also James 2:5-6 and James 5:1-6.) The disciples were shocked and amazed. The general Jewish attitude was that if you were rich, you must be good and are being blessed by God.

Jesus went on to say that it was easier for a camel (the largest animal around those parts at the time) to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. That was clearly an impossible situation. Jesus went even farther in adding, “Children, how difficult it is (period!) to enter the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:23-25). For anyone!

The disciples were “exceedingly astonished” and asked, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible.” It is impossible to save ourselves by our own works and efforts, no matter what we do. If wealth is not a problem, then some other weaknesses in us would be and are. “All of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). (Read also Romans 3:9-20.) It is a hopeless situation for us all, left on our own. There is nothing we can do for ourselves to enter the kingdom of God (Mark 10:26-27).

But then Jesus added, “With man, it is impossible to be saved - but not with God. For all things are possible with God” (Mark 10:27). What we cannot do, God has done for us, in Jesus and His saving work for us. And the Holy Spirit then comes to us and gives us the gift of faith in Him by His grace, through the Word of God and Baptism. (For more on this, listen to the latest sermon posted on the podcast site, based on John 15:26-27 and 16:4-15 for Pentecost. You can also read Ephesians 2:1-10.)

And we receive this good news with childlike faith in God’s work and His promises. (Other Scriptures that speak of the fact that with God nothing is impossible are: Genesis 18:14, Job 42:2, Jeremiah 32:17,27 and Luke 1:37. Jesus also prayed in Mark 14:36, knowing that all things are possible with God, but that His Heavenly Father’s will must happen, not our will and desires.)

Peter heard all this and began to say, “See, we have left everything and followed You.” He seems to have been ready to add, “We did what you asked the rich man to do. What reward do we get?” (Mark 10:28). He was still thinking in terms of what he and the others would do and what they would earn from God. He was missing the point Jesus was making - salvation by grace as an undeserved gift of God.

Jesus went on to say that blessings would come, by God’s mercy, for those who trusted in Him and in the Gospel. They would come through the church, the family of Christian believers. Persecutions would also come to them; but by God’s grace they would also receive eternal life (Mark 10:29-30).

We will see more of how this all works out in the weeks ahead. In the meantime, we trust, not ourselves and our efforts, but God and His work in Jesus. It is not, ”What must I do?” but “What has Jesus done for me?” With Him, our future is secure, now and into eternity.