Mark 10:20-22 - He went away sad

10:20,21

The man claims to have obeyed all these, and outwardly this was quite possibly true. It seems from the whole episode that this was not a proud boast on the part of the man. He seems to have known that this was not good enough to earn eternal life. “Jesus looked at him and loved him”. Jesus had a deep concern for the man. He then tells him that he lacks one thing. He should sell everything he had, give it to the poor, and then follow Jesus. Note that even if the man had sold everything, he would not have earned eternal life. He still needed to follow Jesus.

10:22

The man’s face fell, and he went away. Now what is going on here. The man had great wealth and the thought of giving it all away seemed impossible to him. He was so attached to his wealth, and it was his security. So he was not prepared to give it up in return for following Jesus. But if we look at ourselves, most of us have not had to make such a commitment in order to follow Jesus. Is it because we haven’t had so much that we haven’t put such a trust in wealth? This would seem to be in line with what Jesus says in the subsequent verses. At the same time, we should remember that in comparison to much of the world, those of us who are of average wealth in the West are incredibly rich.