Today we are going to look at Mark 10: 17-22:

17 As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. 19 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.’” 20 He said to him, “Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.” 21 Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” 22 When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

One of the things that is important to do with all the Bible, but especially with Mark’s Gospel is to see things in context. Today, we see Mark tell us this story of the rich young ruler, and I want you to pay attention to two things. 

First, see where this passage falls, what does it come after?  Well, we saw yesterday in the previous story the children, who had little value, coming to Jesus and finding a welcome. As we discussed yesterday, the children would have no worth in the culture find it in Jesus.  But we see this wealthy young man, who would have been at the top of the food chain, see that the worth given to him by culture because of His wealth isn’t the key. 

And notice the humility of the children, compared with the pride of the young man. What pride you ask?  Notice his statement to Jesus, I’ve kept all the commandments from my youth.  He came to Jesus today looking not for worth but justification.  

In his mind, his worth came from who he was and what he had.  Jesus said, no your worth comes not from what you have.  He is sad because if he had sold his possessions, he would have lost his worth.  

In reality, his worth was not something that he (or anyone) could lose.  Worth is not found in stuff, worth is found in who we are – someone who Jesus loves and had died for.  

Worth is not found in anything of the world.  Worth is found in who we are.  We are made in the image of God.  The children yesterday understood that. The young man today did not.  Finding our worth, our purpose, our identity in anything but Jesus is a recipe for disaster.  It is a path to sadness, to emptiness.  The young man today thought he was losing everything today. In reality, he was THISCLOSE to gaining everything.  He just didn’t know it.  In Jesus, His worth is nothing something that can be taken.  

The same is trite for you and me today. 

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