Some thoughts on Mark 10

Mark 10:13-16

The disciples prevent the little children from being brought to Jesus presumably because they thought they had nothing to offer Jesus and/or didn't have capacity to receive anything from him. Jesus explains to the disciples that in fact the Kingdom of God belongs to those like children. They "receive" the Kingdom of God because they have nothing in their hands. They don't even need to have the something which is gives them the capacity to receive (e.g. certain ritual/moral/intellectual preparation). To be human, and particularly to be sinful, is to be in position of utter dependence upon the grace of God for every good thing - including the Kingdom of God.

Mark 10:17-31

The next passage continues the same theme, as Jesus again explains who will inherit the Kingdom, and identifies his disciples as "children" who will (10:24).

The incident of "the man who had everything" (Alan Cole) also highlights the distinction between God and humanity. Only God is good, and only for him is nothing impossible. It is not that rich men cannot enter the Kingdom of God, but that even rich men cannot enter the Kingdom of God because for all men it is impossible.

Jesus' command is not so much that the rich man gives everything he owns to the poor, but that he leaves behind what he has to follow Jesus (that what he does with his wealth is incidental can be seen by comparing with vv.28-29 where the emphasis is again on leaving). Giving away his wealth is not a work that the rich man has to do to earn the right to enter the Kingdom of God, but is just a natural corollary of following Jesus in his itinerant ministry - following Jesus is actually entering the Kingdom of God. Peter boasts that they have "left everything" but Jesus cuts him short by pointing out that actually they has received far more than they have lost.

Money is like the banana in a monkey trap. If the monkey is unwilling to let go of the banana he will never escape. Only by letting go and coming with nothing to offer, whether good works or good things (all of which are gifts from God, not good things we offer him), do we follow Jesus. We can't serve both God and money, and we can't receive the Kingdom of God into a hand already full of stuff.