Mark 10:21-22 21And as he looked at him, Jesus 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.” 22But being shocked by the word, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions.
The man who had come to Jesus had everything going for him except the most important decision he could ever make. The man seemed sincere in his quest for eternal life. He had been listening to Jesus’ teaching and determined that Jesus’ words spoke of the hope of eternity. But like the disciples, this man struggled with the pull of the world and its false promises. It may be significant that this story comes right after Jesus told his disciples about the need to have simple faith in him to enter the kingdom of God. He is an example of the need for the simple trust of a child like Jesus spoke in verse 15, but there was the one big challenge for him. He had done well in obeying the law, but obedience without faith is not enough for salvation.
Jesus knew the challenge this man faced but loved him nevertheless. The type of love (ēgapēsen) Jesus showed is God’s unconditional love for the world (John 3:16). This is the only reference to Jesus loving anyone in Mark. There was something special about this man. The word for looked at (emblepsas) is a more intensified form meaning to look intensely or to scrutinize. Jesus saw right through this man into his deepest challenge. He held on to his possessions too much. He wanted the best of both worlds: eternal life and his riches.
The one thing he lacked was the full faith of sanctification. The keyword all stands out in verse 21. It was not enough to give the poor a token gift from his great wealth. It was all or nothing for this man. A child is an example of coming to the kingdom with all in simple trust. For this man to sell all would require a deeper faith than he had at that moment. There was nothing wrong with his obedience to the law, since Jesus does not criticize him for that. But obedience without faith will not let one enter God’s kingdom. Obedience is focused too much on what a person can do. Faith relies on what God can provide.
This story teaches an important lesson about discipleship, that following Jesus requires that nothing can stand in between us and him. This man was shocked (stygnasas) in the way of saddened and dismayed by the word. The word (logō) could represent Jesus’ whole saying, but it could refer also to a specific word like all. The man many have been willing to sell some of his possessions, but to give everything to the poor was too much for him. It made him deeply sad because he would not pay the cost of following Jesus. He was deceived by the false promises of the world (4:19). Accepting Jesus’ invitation to the kingdom does not require that we follow a bunch of rules but that we come in simple faith that commits everything in trust to God.
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