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October 14, 2018
Jason Meyer | Mark 10:13-27
And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.
And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” And Jesus, looking at him, 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.”Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”—Mark 10:13–27
Introduction
It is possible that I am the happiest pastor on the planet right now to be back in Mark this week. This divorce and remarriage series has been the single most difficult sermon series I have ever preached. You know it is has been hard when I am excited to preach about money today!
Let us begin by connecting some of the dots between where we have been and what we will see today. Remember that the Gospel of Mark testifies that Jesus is the Son of God. The first eight chapters are filled with moments in which that truth exploded on the scene like a glory bomb. Walking on the Water, Stilling the Storm, Feeding the 5,000—story after story demonstrating his deity.
Then we came to a major turning point in Mark 8 after Peter confesses that Jesus is the Christ. They were up in the Northern parts of Israel (Caesarea Philippi), and now they are on a collision course in a journey to Jerusalem. Jesus has been telling the disciples repeatedly that he is going to be betrayed and murdered in Jerusalem, but he will rise again. They have been blind to this reality—they cannot understand a suffering Son of God, a suffering Messiah. It is a most unwelcome, incomprehensible thought. Messiahs crush enemies—they are not crushed by enemies.
On this journey, the disciples have demonstrated their blindness again and again. Peter rebuked the Messiah and tried to teach him what messiahs should and should not do. They have refused to ask Jesus for help so they can understand what he is saying. Instead, they have been talking amongst themselves. The topic is “who was the greatest” (Mark 9:34). Jesus tried to turn this topic on its head by talking about the greatness of servanthood. “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all” (Mark 9:35). Part of the greatness of servanthood is receiving little ones and not rejecting them (Mark 9:36–37). Listen to verses 36–37 and ask yourself how they fit with today’s text.
And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.”
The very next story is about how the disciples fail to receive someone—they stop him because even though he was doing Kingdom work, he was not one of their group (Mark 9:38). Jesus commanded them not to stop him (Mark 9:39). He followed this command with a warning about causing little ones to stumble. Those who stiff-arm little ones and hold them back from the Kingdom will themselves be in danger of the fires of hell (vv. 42–50).
Chapter 10 opened with the Pharisees trying to trap Jesus in a question about divorce. The Pharisees seem to assume the legality of a husband sending a wife away with a certificate of divorce. Jesus continues his warning about stiff-arming someone and sending them away.
Jesus has just warned the disciples about the severe punishment that would come upon people who crush the fragile faith of a weak believer by rejecting them or shunning them. The problem with the disciples is that they are not receiving people in Jesus’ name. And those are strangers that they have not met. How much heinous would that be if it was not a stranger, but your wife?! Sending her away in divorce is the ultimate form of rejecting and shunning.
Now we come to the text for today. Will the disciples learn their lesson? Will they show a servant heart by receiving little ones when they come?
Outline
Here is the main point: Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a child will not enter it. To understand what that means we have to walk through the text in a detailed way.
1a. The Blindness of the Disciples (10:13)
And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them.
This seems hard to imagine. I am not sure how Jesus could have prepared the disciples better for this moment. He put a child in their midst back in chapter 9 (vv. 36–37). He not only gave them a hint—he gave them the test question and the answer.
And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.”
But these disciples are spiritually slow to see. How will Jesus respond?
But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.
Is your view of Jesus big enough to include him being indignant with you? Jesus does not respond to people in a robotic way: “Oh that’s OK—don’t worry about it—no big deal. All I ever say is that I love you. I want to make sure you never think I am indignant or bothered about anything.” That is not a relationship, that is a robot.
We do not get that picture at all. There is a relationship between anger and love. When you love something, and you find it attacked, righteous anger should flare up to protect it. Yes, Jesus loves the disciples. That is why he never abandoned them. He never said, “That’s it. I can’t take it anymore. I am done with you.” He loves them by correcting them: “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.” Just like what happened with the man who was casting out demons. Jesus had to say, “Stop stopping him.” Here he says, “Stop hindering them.”
This text raises all kinds of questions for us in our ministry to children at the church. I am going to come back to this text for our January sermon on the Word, but here let me say one thing. I wonder if we enter into ministry to children with a sense of expectation. When we dedicate the children of the church and we say …
Together with your parents and this people who love you dearly and care about the outcome of your faith, I dedicate you to God, surrendering with them every worldly claim upon your life in the hope that you will belong wholly to Jesus Christ forever.
… And you see a rose on the piano announcing a birth, do you pray also for new birth? Do we do this with joyful anticipation that Jesus loves it when the children come to him? That he loves to lay his hands on them and bless them? Do we do so by faith that knows the boundless heart of Jesus for children?
But here is where we start to misuse this text if we make it only about physical children. The text uses physical children as a symbol for spiritual children and who enters the kingdom of God. Did you notice the word “such”? “… For to such belongs the kingdom of God”? (v. 14). The kingdom belongs to people like this. What does Jesus mean? He clarifies in the next verse (v.15).
Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”
This story is about who can enter the kingdom of God. Jesus says, “You cannot enter the kingdom of God unless you receive it like a child.” We will ask in a moment what it means to be childlike or receive the Kingdom like a child, but do not miss the next verse:
And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.
What is your view of Jesus? How do you imagine him? Is he so serious that he is morose? We are sometimes reticent to come to him because we don’t feel like we have earned the right to come to him. This is a picture that rebukes us: He is more willing to receive us than we are willing to come. He takes the children in his arms and blesses them by laying his hands on them.
The disciples had the wrong picture of Jesus. Why would they keep the children from coming to Jesus? Could it be that they thought Jesus had no time for the children? He was doing important Messiah-level work. He can’t be bothered by these insignificant children. Who should get a meeting-time with Jesus? Surely not children! Your next appointment is with the CEO of this company, the president of this ministry, the Chief Priest. And then, “Now your next appointment, Jesus, is with a bunch of kids”—like a play date? Yes! Jesus is eager to put his hands of blessing on them. That is why he is indignant. “Don’t you dare keep them from me or speak for me as if I don’t want to see them.” Oh, may this story purify our picture of Jesus—and the heart of God that he puts on display.
Transition: The connection between 10:13–16 and 10:17–27
The connection between receiving the Kingdom/entering the Kingdom in 10:13–16 becomes crystal clear with the three-fold repeated phrase “enter the kingdom” in 10:23, 24, 25.
v. 23: And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!”
v. 24: And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God!”
v. 25 “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
2. The Blindness of the Rich Young Ruler (10:17, 20, 22) and the Correction of Jesus (10:18–19, 21)
And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’ ” And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” And Jesus, looking at him, 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.” Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.—Mark 10:17–22
This response seems puzzling at first blush. I think the clue for putting the puzzle together comes from the context. This story is surrounded by other stories of spiritual blindness. Mark pairs these together: The blindness of the Pharisees followed by the blindness of the disciples. In the next sermon, we will see even further how Mark has paired together the blindness of the Rich Young Ruler (vv. 17–22) and the disciples (vv. 23–28).
The Rich Young Ruler calls Jesus “Good Teacher.” Jesus is already poking holes in this young man’s understanding of goodness. Jesus is not saying that God is good and “I, Jesus” am not. He is giving a standard of goodness— no one is good but God alone. Paul says the same thing in Romans 3 (quoting the Psalms): There is no one righteous, no not one, there is no one who does good, not even one.
Jesus is already pointing out that this man is lacking in his understanding of the meaning of good and the identity of Jesus. He is really blind as to who Jesus is. He doesn’t say “don’t call me good—only God is good.” He says, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.” In other words, are you calling me “good” because you see that I am God and am good like no one else? There is something lacking in your idea of goodness and your understanding of who I am.
Question: Why does Jesus respond “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone” (v. 18). Answer: He shows that the man is blind to the meaning of true goodness and blind to the true identity of Jesus as God.
Does Jesus believe that keeping the commandments will cause one to inherit eternal life? The commandments are not supposed to be a ladder by which we climb our way up to God. The commandments are used as a mirror here to show this man his sin and need for a Savior. But again, this young man was blind to his sin. He said that he had kept them all from his youth. Now it is possible that this man was externally blameless according to the righteousness of the law (as Paul says in Philippians 3:6). But that does not equal salvation. It does not mean the possession of eternal life. He asks Jesus this question because he is unsettled about how to answer the question. Have I done enough? Have I been good enough?
It may be that Jesus is already poking holes in his understanding of his self-righteousness because he quotes most of the second half of the Ten Commandments, but there is an addition: “Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.”
It could be that Jesus is zeroing in on how this man became rich? Is his wealth not a sign of the blessing of God, but the defrauding of the poor?
Question: Why does Jesus quote the commandments?
Answer: Because he wanted the commandments to show this man his sin and his need.
Jesus said, “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.”
Does he agree with this man’s assessment? I don’t think so. I think he is challenging this man’s blindness and exposing it with this command: You just need to do one thing then—sell all that you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.
In other words, Jesus has asked this man if he has kept the commandments and the man said “Yes.” All of them he has kept all the time (since his youth). So Jesus essentially says, “OK, let’s start with commandment #1: Have no other gods before me.” How are you doing with that one? He is saying, “I want you for a moment to imagine your life without money.” What if it was all gone and all it gets you—respect, admiration, mansions, servants, freedom to do what you want, when you want, where you want.” If money is not a god, then you will be able to give it up. Will you give it up to follow me?
Now note that this piercing word came from a loving heart. Jesus looked intently at him and loved him. He is caring for this man’s soul right now, even though it will be experienced as a hard word. You can say hard things with a loving heart (speaking the truth in love).
Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
There are two descriptive words here that unpack this man’s response: “disheartened,” and “sorrowful.” The first is a rare word that only appears one other time in the New Testament in Matthew 16:3. “And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.”
Some translate this word as “disheartened” or “downcast” as if his face fell, but I prefer the sense of “alarmed” or “distressed.” This is a strong reaction—he is alarmed, not just sad. One Greek dictionary translates this word as follows:
“to experience an emotional state of great surprise because of something which appears incredible and alarming.”[1]
Second, the word “sorrowful” is also a strong word. The word is used of the disciples when Jesus says that one of them is going to betray him in Mark 14:19. They are grieved and devastated, and one by one ask “Is it, I?” It is a grief that strikes to the heart. It is disorienting and devastating. “We are going to lose Jesus and one of us is going to betray you—and it could be me?” The feeling of losing Jesus and betraying Jesus cut them to the core.
Why was this man so “grieved?” I think an illuminating parallel comes in Matthew 22:37. It says that Jesus was grieved and troubled in the Garden of Gethsemane. Was it only the suffering that grieved him? It was the thought of separation from God—facing the wrath of God for the first time—rather than the unbroken love of the Father. I think the meaning of the term here is similar for this man. He is having to contemplate being separated from something that is so precious to him that it could be called the love of his life. It is idolatry. Money for him was what the Father was to Jesus. Losing money would be losing the love of his life, his identity, his joy and hope.
This is the response of someone trapped in the snare of idolatry. You may remember the illustration I have used before in terms of how people can catch monkeys. Put something shiny in a jar and as long as your hand is open it can fit through the opening, but once the hand makes a fist and grabs hold of the shiny object, the monkey can’t pull its hand out. When the trappers come, all the monkey has to do to run away is let go of the shiny object, but he won’t. It is like a live trap.
That is what has happened to this man. Jesus asked him to imagine life without money (sell all you have) in which he only has Jesus (follow me). The man can’t let go of his money. The alarm goes off in his heart and he is grieved and wounded because he had great possessions. Perhaps he thought that he was in control of his possessions, but his possessions had taken possession of his heart.
What a contrast is found here between the little children and the rich young ruler. The children in the former story possess nothing but receive Jesus’ blessing— they even have the Kingdom (the kingdom of God belongs to little ones like this). The rich young ruler seems to possess everything (financial attainment and moral accomplishment), yet still lacks something and walks away from the Kingdom. He refuses to become like a vulnerable, dependent child.
He did not follow Jesus. He is a picture of Mark 4:18–19.
And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.
Transition: Warning Against Idolatry
For every one time that we are warned about lust, we are warned about 10 times about money—especially the love of money. That raises the question today. Is money a source of security for you? Have your possessions begun to possess you slowly—like the frog being cooked in the kettle gradually—degree by degree? We are one of the wealthiest societies in the history of the world.
One of the greatest tests of whether or not money has become idolatry is the call to give. Fill These Cities has given us this opportunity. Everyone knows that they are supposed to give. It is usually not a lack of knowledge. (“I never knew I had to give. Now I know, so now I will.”) Some go after this by whaling on the will because they think that is the problem. You know you need to do it, but you lack the motivation. So I am going to keep drumming up excitement until you give.
But the problem is really the heart. We do what we do because we want what we want because we love what we love. And we love what we love because we believe what we believe. We don’t give willingly and cheerfully when the heart is caught in the grip of idolatry. We love money not because we love the color or the texture of the bills or the coins—we love the security it gives. We believe that we are vulnerable without it. We can’t give it away because it is a god. The only way we can give it away is if something else captures the heart so that money goes back to being just money.
Look what Jesus has done. Jesus is also a rich young ruler. The Son of God had riches and wealth and status like no one has ever dreamed of having. But he gave it all away. He entered the deepest possible experience of poverty. Born in a manger, part of a poor family, no place to lay his head, stripped of all possessions on the cross as the soldiers cast lots for his remaining garments. Instead of heaven’s crown, he wore a crown of thorns. He was once robed in splendor, but they mocked him and put a purple robe on him. The deepest poverty and loss was enduring the wrath of the Father—crying out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” All of this eternal, ultimate wealth he gave to spiritual beggars who had nothing to commend them to God.
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.—2 Corinthians 8:9
We now have attained a place of rest and safety and security in Christ—the peace of God that guards our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus. Our hearts are now set free so we can give— ur giving puts on display the fact that we are rejoicing in the gift of Christ. We can join the journey of generosity. My pastoral heart is so blessed to see some of you pray and obey and give generously to 25 x ’25. You have shown that God is your security, not money. You have been freed to be open-handed with money, not tight-fisted. Some of this has come because people on the journey of generosity took larger steps forward. We thank God for putting this in your heart to give. The South Campus building is a reality because of it. My pastoral charge to you is to seek the Lord and continue to ask how you can grow as a disciple in this area. What is he asking you to do? Discipleship is a commitment here to pray and obey.
My greatest pastoral concern is for the people who are not on the journey at all or have started and are stuck at the beginning. Some people at Bethlehem are not even on the journey. They have never given. I am calling you to get on the Calvary road of generosity—not because we want something from you, but want something for you—the joy of getting your foot out of the trap. I can imagine right now the Lord Jesus coming to you and opening up the big bear trap of money so you can be free. If you have not given, I genuinely fear for your soul—that the deceitfulness of riches would choke and kill the call of Christ on your life.
Others do not yet know the joy of giving in a consistent way. We call it proportional giving because you give a percentage of your salary. Getting to 10 percent (or the Old Testament tithe) should not be finish line, but the starting line. One way to lean into the Lord and make him your trust and security would be to prayerfully aim to increase the percentage every year, even if it is by one percent every year. Grow in the grace of generosity. This is grace when this call lands on you as not how do I have to give, but what can I give? How much can a heart in the grip of Christ’s grace give? What can we give when God is our security and not money? I will never forget the response of one of my kids when they wanted to put all their money in the offering plate. I said, “You do not have to give it all, you could keep some.” This child said, “Oh Daddy, why do I need money? I have a Daddy.”
This is a gospel heart toward money. In the gospel, we have a Father. We hope in him. Hear him say to you today, “Child of weakness, watch and pray, find in me thine all in all.”
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[1] Louw, J.P., & Nida, E.A. (1996). Vol. 1: Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd edition.) (312). New York: United Bible Societies.
Outline
Main Point: Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a child will not enter it.
Discussion Questions
Application Questions
Prayer Focus
Pray for a grace to receive the grace of Christ’s gift and to have him become your security instead of money.