The Rich Young Ruler

Mark 10: 21               

And looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, “One thing you lack; go and sell all you possess, and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

The body of Christ is so confused about finances. The misconceptions and misunderstandings are prolific. I find that it is difficult for many pastors to teach on the subject because they fear their congregation will misunderstand them and think that the pastor is trying to get something from them. This is an area that is important for us to understand, especially in today’s economy. We need to understand what God has to say about finances so that we can plot our course according to his way.

This story of the rich, young ruler is one of the most misunderstood and misquoted of them all. The first thing we might notice is that Jesus felt a love for this man. He was a ruler and he was abundantly rich. We have been taught that Jesus liked neither rulers nor rich people. Well, you can throw that teaching straight in the garbage because it is in direct contradiction to the word of God. This fellow was a man after Jesus’ own heart. Jesus looked upon him with love, not disdain. Jesus was so touched by the heart of this man that he wanted to fellow to follow him.

Now here we have a well propertied ruler. The guy had kept his life straight, obeying the commandments all the days of his life. This was apparently a profitable lifestyle because the chap ends up (at a young age) a ruler and very wealthy. Jesus saw in the man the very characteristics that he was trying to teach to his followers. This man was a living testament to Jesus’ teaching; except for one thing. Jesus said that he lacked one thing. What was that one thing? Jesus did not tell us. But he told the man to sell his stuff and follow Him. Apparently, Jesus intended that in following Him, the young man would gain the one thing he lacked.

We have turned this story into an anti-wealth message when it is exactly the opposite. Tomorrow we will delve further into this story and see what the Lord will teach us from it.