Have you ever been asked, “Are you saved?” When I’m asked that, I usually respond with, “Saved from what?” This question, for most Americans, means, “How do I get to heaven when I die?” But, is this a biblical concern?
The question is similar to the question that Jesus gets asked in today’s reading.
However, the Rich Young Ruler wasn’t thinking about the afterlife and heaven.
Instead, he thought God would act, as he had in the time of Moses and the Exodus, to bring about a new Age, here on earth.
He was looking forward to a time when the Romans would be overthrown and the Temple restored to its full glory.
And, when this happened, this ruler wanted to be among God’s people . . . rather than a part of Pharaoh’s army, “drowned in the Red Sea.”
The shock: to be a part of God’s people when things are put right doesn’t mean you’ve followed the Mosaic Law, which was seen as a demonstration of your loyalty to the nation of Israel. This is why the Young Ruler lists those commandments—he was demonstrating his loyalty.
Instead, the people God will redeem are those who are already at work to bring about God’s new Age.
This is why Jesus asks the man to sell all he has and follow him. By selling what he has and following Christ, he will already be working to bring comfort to the disenfranchised, the poor, the hungry, the orphan, and so forth.
In other words, Jesus is saying that God is already at work bringing about a new sort of world, a new Exodus. And, the Young Ruler is called to be a part of that new Kingdom, here and now.
Jesus’s death and resurrection mean that “new creation” has already begun to breakthrough.
A birth is happening and we’re called to radical discipleship—“Come and follow me.”
The Reading
And, as he went forth into the roadway, someone came running to him and knelt and asked, “Good teacher, what may I do in order that I may inherit the life of the Age?” “Why do you call me good? There is no one good save one: God. You know the commandments: You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.” And he declared to him, “Teacher, all of these I have kept since my youth.” And Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, “You lack a single thing: Go, sell whatever you possess and give to the destitute, and you shall have a treasury in the heavens, and come follow me.” But the young man, saddened by the counsel, went away in sorrow, for he was someone who had many possessions. And looking around Jesus says to his disciples, “How hard it will be for those possessing riches to enter into the Kingdom of God.” And the disciples were amazed at his words. And Jesus, speaking out again, says to them, “Children, how hard it is to enter into the Kingdom of God; It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God.” And they were greatly astonished, saying to themselves, “Can any of them then be saved?” Looking directly at them, Jesus says, “For men this is impossible, but not for God; for all things are possible with God.” (Mark 10:17-27)