loudandclear

Mark 10:1-31

(notes by Niko Gruber)

 1 Then Jesus left Capernaum and went down to the region of Judea and into the area east of the Jordan River. Once again crowds gathered around him, and as usual he was teaching them.
 2 Some Pharisees came and tried to trap him with this question: “Should a man be allowed to divorce his wife?”

 3 Jesus answered them with a question: “What did Moses say in the law about divorce?”

 4 “Well, he permitted it,” they replied. “He said a man can give his wife a written notice of divorce and send her away.”

 5 But Jesus responded, “He wrote this commandment only as a concession to your hard hearts. 6 But ‘God made them male and female’ from the beginning of creation. 7 ‘This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, 8 and the two are united into one.’ Since they are no longer two but one, 9 let no one split apart what God has joined together.”

 10 Later, when he was alone with his disciples in the house, they brought up the subject again. 11 He told them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries someone else commits adultery against her. 12 And if a woman divorces her husband and marries someone else, she commits adultery.”


 13 One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could touch and bless them. But the disciples scolded the parents for bothering him.
 14 When Jesus saw what was happening, he was angry with his disciples. He said to them, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children. 15 I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.” 16 Then he took the children in his arms and placed his hands on their heads and blessed them.


 17 As Jesus was starting out on his way to Jerusalem, a man came running up to him, knelt down, and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
 18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked. “Only God is truly good. 19 But to answer your question, you know the commandments: ‘You must not murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. You must not cheat anyone. Honor your father and mother.’”

 20 “Teacher,” the man replied, “I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was young.”

 21 Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him. “There is still one thing you haven’t done,” he told him. “Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

 22 At this the man’s face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.

 23 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God!” 24 This amazed them. But Jesus said again, “Dear children, it is very hard[f] to enter the Kingdom of God. 25 In fact, 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!”

 26 The disciples were astounded. “Then who in the world can be saved?” they asked.

 27 Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But not with God. Everything is possible with God.”

 28 Then Peter began to speak up. “We’ve given up everything to follow you,” he said.

 29 “Yes,” Jesus replied, “and I assure you that everyone who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or property, for my sake and for the Good News, 30 will receive now in return a hundred times as many houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and property—along with persecution. And in the world to come that person will have eternal life. 31 But many who are the greatest now will be least important then, and those who seem least important now will be the greatest then.”

(((After being asked what Jesus’ thoughts on divorce were He answers with something that goes beyond the law.  Although it wasn’t God’s original intention to allow divorce, Moses allowed it because of the hard hearts of the people.  So in Jesus’ response He goes for something above the law.  While the law didn’t prohibit divorce, it breaks up what God has done.  To break up something God has joined together, would be going against God, which is sin.)))

(((We see like yesterday that children were not thought highly of in this society.  So the disciples try to prevent the children from seeing Jesus, because they think it was a waste of His time.  Jesus then uses their foolishness to teach them.  He tells the disciples that anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it. Jesus wasn’t teaching that the disciples should be immature in their faith, but rather that they should be accepting and loving of all people.  As we get older we often lose the trust and faith that children have so much of.  Even as we get older we can still learn much from children.  Jesus was also turning their society upside down by showing love for children who were often marginalized.)))

(((Then a rich man approaches Jesus asking what he needs to do to inherit eternal life.  The man starts by claiming all the good things he has done in his life.  Jesus at first seems to agree with him, but then tells him that he has forgotten one thing.  Jesus asks him to sell all his possessions and give all the money away.  This doesn’t mean that if we want to follow Jesus that we have to sell everything, but Jesus knew this man’s heart.  He knew that the rich man was putting money before God.  This man put money as the most important thing in his life rather than God.  So he would be willing to do a lot of things for God, but wasn’t willing to put anything before His gain of possessions.  Jesus then uses this to say a hard truth.  He says that 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.  Jesus knew that for many people they would put money as their life goal, rather than bringing glory to God because of money’s implications for right now.)))

(((In America, it is easy to look around and think that we don’t have much money and that this doesn’t apply to us.  But that is anything but true.  About half of the world’s population lives on two dollars a day.  For many of us, we spend more than this every meal of the day.  Because of this sobering fact we can see that Jesus was not just talking about mega rich people like Donald Trump, but He was talking to all of us.  If we put God first in our lives, that means He is first everywhere even in our finances.  This is true if you make 20 dollars a week or 20,000 a week.)))