April 28, 2025; Mark 10:17-52

Daily Dose of Hope

April 28, 2025

Day 1 of Week 5

 

Scripture - Mark 10:17-52

 

Prayer:  Dear Lord, After a hurried weekend, sometimes we rush into the week.  Help us slow down and focus on you.  Help us set aside our scattered thoughts and distractions.  Help us have laser focus on you and your Word.  Lord, in these next few moments of silence, we yearn to hear your still small voice...Come Holy Spirit and guide our reading, our interpretation, and our thoughts.  In Your Name, Amen.

 

Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope, a Deep Dive into the Gospels and Acts.  We are finishing up Mark 10 today.  We might call this the chapter of Jesus saying a lot of hard things.  Let’s get started.

 

The first part of today’s text is familiar to many of us.  A man comes to Jesus and asks, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”  Jesus says, “Well you need to follow all the commandments.”  He lists them, you shall not murder, commit adultery, steal, or give false testimony.  You shall honor your father and mother.  Then, he adds one - you shall not defraud.  This wasn’t in the ten commandments, possibly Jesus added it because many of the wealthy were wealthy because they had taken advantage of the poor.  If that was the case with this man, we don’t know.

 

The man simply says, “Yes, I’ve done all those things since I was a boy.”  Then, Scripture says, “Jesus looked at him and loved him.”  The word for love used here, in the Greek, is the highest form of love in the New Testament, meaning love that characterizes God.  There must have been something really rare and admirable about the man, because this is the only place this form of love is used in Mark.  Because he loved the man, Jesus looks at him and says there is still one thing you lack.  

 

It was assumed that if one followed the law perfectly (we know that’s impossible but if one did a good job following the law) then they would receive eternal life. Jesus is saying, that is not the case.  Jesus isn’t denying that this man is following the law.  This is obviously a man of high integrity who is clearly doing all he can to be obedient to God’s laws.  “One thing you lack,” Jesus said.  “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 

 

The text says that the man’s face fell. He went away sad because he had great wealth. This is the irony. The children in the former story (we read this on Friday) who possess nothing are told that the kingdom of God is theirs; yet thi