Mark 10:17-27 Pentecost 21
Pastor Ron Koehler
Grace—Tucson
October 13, 2024
I don’t suppose many of us have given much thought to the word priority. I mean, we use it; we know what it means—to put something first. Since that is true, why do we talk about priorities—plural? Many things cannot be the most important thing! Not even two things can be the most important thing! This is what happened: The English word priority has been around since the 1300s—and it meant the first thing. But at the time of the Industrial Revolution (1700-1800s), as machines brought greater productivity, a movement of efficiency swept across England, Europe, and America and the word began to be used to refer to the ordering of important things—a list of priorities…plural. Despite that, it is true that two things cannot be the most important thing. With the focus of our worship today in mind, we might even recall something Jesus said which says that very thing: You cannot love both God and money (Matthew 6:24). That is certainly the concern Jesus had to address with an important and wealthy young man who had messed up priorities when it came to what it means to live for God. As we think about the interaction between Jesus and the man, we learn something about priorities. We learn that… Followers of Christ Have Their Priorities Straight One day Jesus was walking along and a young man sprinted up to him and dropped to his knees, begging Jesus for an answer to his question. What kind of nagging question prompted a man to throw himself at the Savior’s feet? A big one! Really, it is THE big question of life. “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Later the jailer in the city of Philippi would ask Paul and Silas “What must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30). The same question these men asked is prevalent among sinful human beings. All people have that nagging voice inside that asks what happens after we die, or what do we have to do to live eternally—even people who lead “good” lives like this man apparently did. “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” We don’t always like it when someone answers a question with a question, but Jesus did that here—and with good reason. He asked, “Why do you call me good? No one is good—except God alone.” That sounds kind of funny— as if Jesus was not claiming to be good and distancing himself from God. But exactly the opposite was true. This man needed to reflect on who should be called “good” and whether Jesus was simply a teacher…or something more. Jesus was and is not simply “good”, but great. He was and is certainly much more than just a teacher, he is true God and the world’s Savior. But would the man listen and come to believe this? Jesus continued and responded to the man’s question. ”You know the commandments. ‘You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not give false testimony. You shall not defraud. Honor your father and mother.’” When he asked Jesus how to be saved, did Jesus really just point him to the commandments?! Did he really only point him to a handful of the commandments—just the ones that had to do with how we treat other people?! That was his answer?!