Two Men, Two Kingdoms: The Rich Young Ruler (RYR) — Part 2

The Rich Young Ruler declines the offer of Jesus. It is just too radical for Him. He hears the words of Jesus, probably with confusion and disbelief. He was certainly sorrowful. “At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth” (Mark 10: 22 NIV). He chose the kingdom of the world, the kingdom of self over the Kingdom of God. He lacked the faith he needed to follow Jesus’ instructions. Did Jesus offer him faith, but he just couldn’t receive it? Was he to deeply committed to his self-reliant life? Was his unwillingness to follow Jesus’ instructions the act that prevented faith from taking root in his heart? I don’t know.

This faith needed by the RYR was the same faith needed by Joshua. These two men of different ages faced the same age-old problem: the ‘fortified city’. Joshua knew that the fortified city of Jericho stood in the way of Israel entering the Promised Land — Jericho had to be conquered and destroyed. The Kingdom of God is to Christians living under the New Covenant what the Promised Land was to Israel living under the Old Covenant. Just as Jericho was the ‘fortified city’ that stood in the way of Israel’s entrance into the Promised Land, trust in his wealth was the ‘fortified city’ that stood in the way of the RYR entering the Kingdom of God. As long as he trusted it for life and walked in the spirit of self-reliance, it would block his entrance into the Kingdom. Jesus, gently and lovingly pointed this out to the man: “Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, ‘One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow me” (Mark 10: 21 NKJV). The ‘fortified city’ had to be destroyed. Selling what he had and giving it to the poor was the way to accomplish this destruction — different from walking around the walls seven times and blowing a horn, but intended to have the same effect, 

 Like Joshua, hundreds of years before but in about the same geographic location, the RYR was asked to walk by faith. Joshua had to decide — was he going to walk by faith and follow the seemingly ridiculous commands of the Lord? Similarly, the RYR had to decide — was he going to give up his security, all of the things that gave him his value and acceptance in the world, to walk by faith and follow these crazy instructions of a “good teacher”? Imagine his shock, disbelief, amazement! But if he didn’t walk by faith, his wealth — that ‘fortified city’ — would block his way into the Kingdom of God. He was sad at this word of Jesus. He just couldn’t do it. Jesus answered the question the RYR asked: “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus gave specific instructions to the RYR just as the Lord has done for Joshua. And if the RYR had said “Ok, I’ll do as you say, but I have no idea how to go about any of this”, Jesus would have provided the wisdom, discernment, courage, boldness, and resolve to do as He commanded, like the Lord did for Joshua. 

 I found this quote in a book titled “The Power of the Blood Covenant” by Malcolm Smith. I think it explains the situation of the RYR.

 “Faith does not believe about Jesus; it does not simply believe something is true . . . Faith is trust . . . it is the commitment to obey and bring our lives into conformity to the newly discovered truth. To submit to Jesus . . . demands that we turn away from all that we falsely believed to be the meaning of and way to life. The word that describes this aspect of the Gospel is repentance, which means  a radical change of mindset. It is the realization that all of one’s life has been wrong because it has been lived from the wrong center. It is not repenting of a certain sin, but a change of mind about oneself, realizing that he or she is lost and does not know that way to life. It is a definite act in which one turns from what he or she thought was life, now recognizing it as death . . . The issue now is whether we will accept the divine amnesty, let Him send away our sins from us, and be reconciled to God. Will we turn from our self-sufficiency and submit to love?”

Jesus called the RYR to repentance as his first act of faith, but he could not change his mind about himself — he could not accept that he was lost. How could he be? Life was too good.

How do we know that Jesus was offering the RYR life in the Kingdom of God? Because after the man leaves, Jesus turns to his disciples, who are listening to this exchange between the man and Jesus in amazement, and tells them three times that it is difficult for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God. The second time He tells them “Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the Kingdom of God” (Mark 10: 24 NKJV). That is the key: when we trust — put our faith — in riches (or any of the many idols that people have been following for millenia) for our sense of worthiness, our acceptance, and value as human beings (our life), we are choosing the kingdom of the world, the kingdom of self as our eternal home; we are not choosing Jesus. Right, of course. But for many of us, our wealth (or some other idol) becomes over time the ‘fortified city’ that blocks our entrance into the Kingdom. Those walls must be torn down and the ‘city’ destroyed. And just like with Joshua, God will ‘take command’ of this effort, but we must show up and follow instructions — in faith, we must follow Jesus. God says “I will do it, but you must do it with me.” But sadly, for many who profess Christianity, this will not be possible. Life is too good.

Jesus told his disciples “it is hard for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God”, and His disciples, greatly astonished, said “who then can be saved” (sozo, in Greek, the root word for salvation). Like all Jews in the time of Jesus, they assumed that the rich would enter the Kingdom of God when YHWY returned, ahead of everyone else. But, notice this other thing. In their minds, ‘entering the Kingdom of God’ was equivalent to ‘salvation’. Salvation is life in the Kingdom of God — life today, lasting for eternity.

We read this passage incorrectly when we think it applies only to the ‘rich’. A ‘poor’ person (poor in the material sense) can place their trust in riches as much as any other person. Even though they currently don’t have wealth, they can dream of how much better, how much more secure life will be when they get the wealth they are dreaming about. And it is not about wealth per se. It is about where we find our security, value, and acceptance as human beings: our wealth, possessions, accomplishments, honor of men, etc. It is a timeless story as relevant to men and women in the 21st century as the 1st.

What do we learn about the Kingdom of God from this brief encounter between Jesus and the RYR? Kingdom life is a life in-Christ. It is about wanting Jesus, not what Jesus can do for us. It is a life of faith — trust, surrender, and submission to the Lord. The story of the RYR also teaches about entrance into the Kingdom of God. It is about our heart — are we willing to let go of our trust in the external things that have given us a type of life? Can we escape the false notion that we are in control, when really the things we look to for life control us? How do we break free? Can we even see the ‘fortified cities’ in our lives, let alone destroy them? How can we get the faith we need? How, Jesus?

Jesus answers this question in the final verse of this story. The disciples had just exclaimed in amazement, looking at each other, “Who then can be saved?” In response to this question Jesus answers the “who” and the “how”:

“With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God” (Mark 10: 27 NIV).

With God, ten-foot thick walls can be demolished by marching and blowing a horn; the sea can part to allow a nation to cross, the sick can be healed and the dead raised, a blind man can receive sight, the ‘fortified city’ in the heart of a rich and powerful man can be destroyed; he can find his way out of the kingdom of darkness and into the Kingdom of the Son, where there is restoration. With God, a dead man on a cross can be resurrected to bring abundant life to all who “repent and believe” in the Kingdom of God — not the coming Kingdom, but the Kingdom now. With God, we can have restoration life — a life of healing and wholeness, a life of power, a Spirit-filled life, a life of meaning, and fulfillment. A life of freedom and fire. And most importantly, a life fitted with the power and authority needed to accomplish the purpose for which we were created — to release the Kingdom of God into the kingdom of the world, also known as “seeking and saving the lost”.

How, Jesus? By asking Him to set us free from this kingdom of self, by listening to His instructions, receiving the faith that only He can give us, and doing what He calls us to do. It might be radical, it might be simple. But I know one thing — whatever He asks will result in a life more satisfying than any we could possibly imagine for ourselves.

 Hallelujah

On to Bartimaeus.

On a personal note, I am trying to write the truth based on what I believe Jesus said, not on my own personal experiences. I am wrestling with Scripture, trying to fit the pieces together. The fact is, these posts are very challenging for me. It is good for me to write, that is the primary way I learn, but I don’t want to give the impression that I am living out all of these truths. I am not! But I am drawing closer to the heart of Jesus. I am sensing His grace, mercy, and love for this broken-hearted man in new ways. I see new depths of sin in my life, but I am also experiencing new life, new hope, more peace, and a more pervasive joy. ‘Repent’ has taken on new meaning — and not in a bad way. I am praying for more of Jesus, more love for Him, more obedience, and a greater degree of surrender. I am praying to receive the Father’s love each day. And I am praying for many of you. I believe I am experiencing life in the Kingdom of God — not completely or perfectly, but as God intends for me today. That is good news.

In the next post we will encounter Bartimaeus crying out “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” The cry of the gospel. That is increasingly my cry as I ponder the depths of Christ’s love for all of us.

Final note: As I wrote the Bartimaeus post, I stumbled across some more ideas about the ‘fortified city’ in the life of the RYR. Because it grew out of a comparison I made between Bartimaeus and the RYR I’ll keep it in the post on Bartimaeus. It is interesting.