The story of "The Rich Young Ruler" in Mark 10 is a story that continues to challenge my heart and my thinking.
Have you ever considered the spectrum of characters presented in this series of stories in the Gospel of Mark? Have you ever wondered why these stories; these accounts were provided in this order? Have you ever noticed that the story of the Rich Young Ruler with its theme of “youth” is immediately preceded by the account of Jesus welcoming children to come to him? At first glance, these stories appear to have no connection. But have you considered these might be grouped together very specifically. I think the reason they are grouped specifically is to show us how to approach the Kingdom of God and how we should develop in our faith.
What we see eloquently laid out before us are two distinct set of circumstances and choices we have in our own lives: the hard hearts of Pharisees and the pure hearts of children. In dramatic literary fashion we can practically feel the tension as the Rich Young Ruler struggles to choose which way he will teeter like a child on a seesaw when presented with the choice for his life moving forward.
His choices are laid out before us like a Greek tragedy. The tragedy is he couldn’t fully let go of the “kingdom” he had built and fully trust in THE KINGDOM. There was something in his life that occupied that space in his heart, and he just couldn’t let go of it. He was clinging to something holding him back from fully turning himself over to Christ.
There are those that have used this story solely to combat having possessions. But the true lesson here is it wasn’t the money he couldn’t let go of. It was the experiences he had in the past that taught him even more than the Law. What his experiences had taught him was the time a person invests they can never get back. He was faced with the cold hard fact he craved when people treated him like he was important. He enjoyed hearing how great he was. And if he gave up his stuff, then it would be the act of unraveling all he had built. The time he had spent building his “kingdom” would have been for nothing. It would have been admitting that he wasn’t perfect, that he wasn’t the person he came to Jesus thinking he was.
Until we are ready to quit depending on our “kingdoms” we have built, and we are ready to be helpless, fully dependent children, the things we do will just be a checklist, boxes we mark that we use to support the ILLUSION we’ve got it all figured out.
You know it doesn’t take much for our “kingdoms” we build to fall, for the walls of success, accomplishment, and prestige to come toppling down around us. All it took was two minutes with Christ for the Rich Young Ruler to crash head-to-head with the idea that everything he thought was right in the world was simply illusions he had created.
PRIDE IN THE PAST was the “kingdom” the Rich Young Ruler had built. We all have our own Kingdoms and I’m not even going to begin speculating on all the things we build for ourselves. But the reason this story resonates with me, and probably many of us, is that I see a lot of myself in the Rich Young Ruler. A lot of HIS kingdom is a lot of MY kingdom.
When I’m uncertain, when I feel I’m not in control, my pride takes over. I start going into defense mode. I start becoming very protective of my trust in myself. I have found in my own life, when I am not intently focused on God’s will for me, I cling to my own understanding and successes even tighter to try to pull myself out of whatever mess I’ve created.
So what is God asking you to let go of? What is the thing that you think defines you that IS ACTUALLY holding you back from being completely helpless and dependent on him? What is something God is asking you to do you haven’t done because there is something else you think is more important, something that causes you to think “I don’t have time for that” “I’m too busy” “I’m spread too thin" “I’ve got too much going on right now?” What’s the thing you think is so far out of the question, but it is ACTUALLY the thing you have been denying yourself that will ultimately draw you closer to your Creator, your God, your Father, by giving over to him, fully dependent as a child.?
Challenge yourself to understand the question Jesus is asking you currently in your life. Maybe he’s asking you to admit you are missing out on a blessing and a life to the full because you won’t give up that little insignificant thing that you think defines you. Maybe he’s asking you to do the thing you have put off doing far too long, and that’s simply letting go of yourself and letting God begin to work in your life.
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