The rich young ruler.

I’m excited for the members meeting tonight, where we’ll be voting in Deana and Michael! It was wonderful witnessing Michael's baptism and hearing him recount Christ's mercy to sinners. I’m also excited about the Trader Joe’s shepherd’s pie I brought to heat up for dinner at the meeting. This morning, Mark preached through Mark 10:17-31, Jesus’ encounter with the rich young ruler. A few random points that I found interesting:

Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. I’ve always thought that Jesus’ response to the young man’s designation of Christ as “Good Teacher” as an indication that the designation was correct because Jesus was God. This may be true, but Mark pointed out an interpretation that makes more sense with the thrust of the passage. Jesus is pointing out to the young man that he is sinful because he seems to be deceived about his state before the law (v. 20).

Jesus, looking at him, loved him (v. 21). What a wonderful demonstration of Christ’s mercy to point out sin when the young man did not see it, even though it caused him much sorrow, for he had great wealth.

It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. Mark noted that this does not in fact refer to a gate in Jerusalem where it was so narrow that people had to unload their animals to get through. Such a gate was constructed later on, during the Middle Ages. Instead, the metaphor is a metaphor; Jesus’ point is that it is impossible to enter the kingdom of God without God (v. 27), not that you can actually do it on your own if you accommodate yourself to the strict, narrow entryway.