Mark 10:17-31 – 17 And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” 20 And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” 21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to 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.” 22 Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
23 And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” 24 And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?” 27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” 28 Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you.” 29 Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, 30 who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. 31 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
This man’s spiritual deficiency in Mark 10:17-31 is the presence of something in his life, not the absence. His self-importance was derived from what he owned. This was the arena in which he should have been spiritually desperate. Likewise, Jesus could come into our lives and easily identity what’s our main lacking thing; the thing that’s preventing us from following him as we should. Typically it’s something regarding personal preservation, promotion or prosperity. It’s something that convinces us that our well-being depends upon holding onto it and oftentimes it’s intangible, not tangible. God will not share his glory and the Spirit inside us earnestly desires to have his way with our hearts. This is reminiscent of what Jesus taught in Matt. 6: 19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Jesus is most concerned about a pure heart, so that’s why he will never affirm our personal attempts at righteousness, nor will he leave us in our idolatry. To do so would be unloving. This is the most loving thing Jesus could have said to this man, even if it’s tough to hear. How’s that? Because this is an example of something that needed to be severed from oneself just as Jesus taught in 9:43-48. If the factors surrounding one’s self-importance are embraced instead of amputated, then there’s only one destination at the end of the road. Jesus was giving this man the key to be delivered from eternal destruction according to Prov. 11:4 Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.