Jesus' encounter with a rich ruler in the 10th chapter of the Gospel of Mark has, in too many sermons, been wrongly used to condemn wealth. The young ruler did not have a wealth problem. He had a "loving God" problem. His attachment to material things was merely a symptom. The root issue was his devotion to good morals and ethics without experiencing, first, the radical love found in God's presence.
God's radical standards are always proportionate to His radical love. In other words, moral behavior is intended to be a fruit of radical love not a substitute for it. Before Jesus tells the rich ruler to sell everything and give to the poor, a radical request of abandonment indeed, Mark tells us that "Jesus looked at the rich ruler and loved him." In Jesus, the motivation for sacrifice is not found in fear or coercion but in love. We end up living a life of abandonment because it is the supreme response to His love.
Obedience, when rightly lived out, is more theological than behavioral. Our relationship with a loving Father leads us to say "no" to things that, prior to knowing His love, we thought were necessary; and, without experiencing His love, make no sense. It is not likely that we will walk in radical abandonment without a profound, continual encounter with the living God.
Jesus does not want to be another command we follow but the source of our life-giving center. He did not come to simply repackage religious obligation. He came to bring a life that we never thought possible. He came to forever change us if we submit to His transformational love. His death and resurrection, which the Church will celebrate over the next week, is a constant reminder of that which is available to us.
So let's not merely draw near to Jesus or hang around people who follow Jesus. Let's bring Him into the life-giving center He desires to be. Let's walk out abandonment, not to become "super-Christians" but because of His "super love."
"All things are possible with God (Mark 10:27)."
Ex nihilo,
R.J. Rhoden
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