マルコによる福音書10:17-22 Mark 10:17-22

How should we live if we believe in Jesus and follow him? Let’s think about that from today’s Bible passage.

A man came to Jesus and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” This person was living his life seeking eternal life, which God gives. However, he seemed to be unsure whether his current way of life would enable him to receive eternal life. This is probably why he asked Jesus this question. In response, Jesus said, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” “Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud” are the sixth to tenth commandment. And “Honor your father and mother” is the fifth commandment. Jewish people had learnt the teachings of the Ten Commandments well from childhood. So, what Jesus said means, “You know that if you keep the Ten Commandments, you will receive eternal life.”

To our surprise, the man replied, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” He must have been a very serious person. But “all these I have kept from my youth,” is a bit of an exaggeration, isn’t it? Was he really able to keep the Ten Commandments perfectly in his heart as well as in his actions? All of us humans break the Ten Commandments in our hearts. For example, if we hate someone in our hearts, we have broken the commandment “You shall not murder.” However, Jesus did not say, “That can’t be!” Rather, he said, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” This means, “Thoroughly believe in God and love your neighbour.” However, when this man heard Jesus’ words, he left feeling disheartened and sad. This was because he was a rich man with a lot of possessions, and he couldn’t sell them all and give them to the poor.

So, what should this man have done? He should have honestly told Jesus what he could do. For example, he could have said, “Jesus, I can’t sell all my possessions and give them away, but I can give half and follow you.” Zacchaeus, a rich man who was the head of the tax collectors in the town of Jericho, said to Jesus when he believed in him, “Lord, I will give half of my possessions to the poor.” What did Jesus say to him? Did he say, “Give all of your possessions, not half of them!”? No, Jesus said, “Today salvation has come to this house” and acknowledged that Zacchaeus had been saved. This was the same as acknowledging that Zacchaeus had become able to receive eternal life.

Eternal life is not something that we can receive in exchange for our works. Rather, it is something that we can receive as a gift from Jesus by believing in him. Jesus said these harsh things to the rich man to make him realise this. Our works are a way of expressing our gratitude for Jesus’ grace. So, all we have to do is believe in Jesus and surrender ourselves to him. After that, we can simply tell Jesus what we can do, and follow him.