The Divine Diagnosis and the Impossible Camel Text: Mark 10:17-31
Introduction: The Idol Detection Kit
We live in an age that is simultaneously obsessed with wealth and deeply confused about it. On the one hand, we have the greasy prosperity preachers who would turn the grace of God into a cosmic vending machine for personal gain. On the other, we have the envious socialists who believe wealth is inherently evil, provided it belongs to someone else. Both are idolaters. The first worships wealth, and the second covets it, which the apostle Paul tells us is the same thing. Both are trying to use mammon to build their own little towers of Babel.
Into this confusion, the Lord Jesus Christ walks with a scalpel. The account of the rich young ruler is one of the most penetrating diagnostic sessions in all of Scripture. It is not, as some have foolishly supposed, a blanket condemnation of private property or a command for all believers to take a vow of poverty. If that were the case, the early church would not have had property owners like Barnabas who could sell land to provide for the saints. No, this is something far more personal, far more surgical. Jesus is not giving a universal economic policy; He is exposing a particular man's god.
This man comes to Jesus with all the external signs of piety. He is earnest, he runs. He is respectful, he kneels. He is the kind of man you would want on your elder board. He asks the most important question anyone can ask: "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" But embedded in his question is a fatal flaw. He thinks salvation is a transaction, a task to be completed, a wage to be earned. He thinks he can "do" something to get God to give him the inheritance. Jesus, in His profound love for this man, a love Mark is careful to note, proceeds to dismantle his entire system of self-righteousness, brick by brick, until the man is left standing naked before the one thing he loves more than God.
This passage forces us to ask ourselves the same question. What is the one thing you lack? What is the one thing that, if Jesus told you to surrender it, would cause you to walk away sad? Because that thing, whatever it is, is your god. It is your camel, and the eye of the needle is very small indeed.
The Text
And as He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and began asking Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “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.’ ” And he said to Him, “Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up.” And looking at him, Jesus loved him and said to him, “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But at these words he was saddened, and he went away grieving, for he was one who owned much property. And Jesus, looking around, said to His disciples, “How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!” And the disciples were amazed at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” And they were even more astonished, saying to Him, “Then who can be saved?” Looking at them, Jesus said, “With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.” Peter began to say to Him, “Behold, we have left everything and followed You.” Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake, except one who will receive one hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions, and in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last, first.”
(Mark 10:17-31 LSB)
The Flattering Question and the Divine Prerogative (v. 17-20)
The encounter begins with a man who is zealous, but blind to the true nature of both goodness and his own heart.
"And as He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and began asking Him, 'Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?' And Jesus said to him, 'Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.'" (Mark 10:17-18)
The man addresses Jesus as "Good Teacher." He is using the word "good" as a polite honorific, a bit of flattery. But Jesus immediately stops him and presses the word to its absolute meaning. He is not denying His own goodness; He is forcing the man to reckon with its implications. He is saying, "Do you know what you are saying? If you call me good, you must recognize that I am God, for only God is truly good." Jesus rejects the compliment on the man's terms in order to force him to consider it on divine terms. This is the central issue. The man thinks he is talking to a wise rabbi; Jesus is revealing Himself as the divine standard of all goodness.
Jesus then directs him to the law. "You know the commandments..." He lists several from the second table of the law, the ones dealing with horizontal relationships. This is a brilliant move. The man's problem is a violation of the first table, his relationship with God, but Jesus uses the second table as a mirror. The man confidently replies, "Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up." From an external, Pharisaical perspective, he probably had. He hadn't murdered anyone. He hadn't committed adultery in the flesh. He was a respectable, law-abiding citizen. He believed he was righteous because he was comparing himself to other men. But he had not yet been measured against the righteousness of God.
The Loving Scalpel and the Sad Retreat (v. 21-22)
Here we come to the heart of the diagnosis. Notice that Jesus' motivation is love.
"And looking at him, Jesus loved him and said to him, 'One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.' But at these words he was saddened, and he went away grieving, for he was one who owned much property." (Mark 10:21-22 LSB)
Because Jesus loved him, He would not let him continue in his self-deception. He puts His finger on the man's idol. "One thing you lack." This one thing was everything. The command to sell all he had was not a new law for salvation. It was a test to reveal that he had broken the first law all along: "You shall have no other gods before me." His great possessions were his god. His wealth was his security, his identity, his functional savior. Jesus essentially told him, "You say you have kept the law. Wonderful. Now, let's see if you've kept the first commandment. Dethrone your money and follow Me, the true God."
The Lord offers him a glorious exchange: earthly possessions, which are temporary and can be stolen, for treasure in heaven, which is eternal and secure. But the man cannot make the trade. His heart is anchored to his stuff. The text says he was "saddened" and went away "grieving." This is the sorrow of a man who has come face to face with the true price of his idol. He wanted eternal life, but he was not willing to give up the thing that was keeping him from it. He wanted to add Jesus to his portfolio, but he was unwilling to liquidate his assets. And so he walked away from the source of all life, clinging to his pile of dead things.
The Impossible Camel (v. 23-27)
Jesus uses this tragic encounter to teach His disciples a foundational truth about salvation.
"And Jesus, looking around, said to His disciples, 'How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!' ... It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." (Genesis 10:23, 25 LSB)
The disciples were "amazed" and then "even more astonished." Why? Because in their culture, wealth was often seen as a sign of God's blessing. If this man, who was so pious and so blessed, couldn't make it, then who could? Jesus' statement about the camel and the needle's eye is a deliberately absurd hyperbole. He is not talking about a small gate in Jerusalem called "the eye of the needle" where a camel had to get on its knees. That is a pious fiction invented to soften the blow. The blow is the whole point. Jesus means a literal sewing needle and a literal camel. He means it is impossible.
And that is precisely His conclusion. When the disciples ask, "Then who can be saved?" Jesus gives the answer that is the bedrock of the gospel: "With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God." Salvation is not difficult; it is impossible for man. We cannot save ourselves. We cannot "do" anything to inherit it. We are the camel. The kingdom is the needle's eye. But God, in His omnipotent grace, can do the impossible. He can take a man who trusts in his riches, crush that idol, regenerate his heart, and pull him through the needle's eye into the kingdom. That is the miracle of salvation.
The First, The Last, and the Hundredfold Return (v. 28-31)
Peter, ever the spokesman, points out the contrast. They had done what the rich man refused to do.
"Peter began to say to Him, 'Behold, we have left everything and followed You.' Jesus said, 'Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left... for My sake and for the gospel's sake, except one who will receive one hundred times as much now in the present age... along with persecutions, and in the age to come, eternal life.'" (Mark 10:28-30 LSB)
Jesus does not rebuke Peter for this. He affirms it. There is a glorious reward for radical discipleship. But look at the nature of the reward. It is not a promise of personal financial enrichment. It is a promise of covenantal community. You leave one house, and you gain a hundred houses to be welcomed into. You leave one family, and you gain a hundred families in the brotherhood of the church. This is the wealth of the kingdom: relationships, fellowship, love, and mutual support. God's people are His provision for His people.
And lest we turn this into a new kind of prosperity gospel, Jesus adds the crucial phrase: "along with persecutions." The Christian life is not a life of ease. It is a life of blessedness in the midst of battle. We gain a new family, and with it, we gain the enmity of the world that hates our Father. The two go together. To sign up for the hundredfold is to sign up for the persecutions.
Jesus concludes with a great reversal:
"But many who are first will be last, and the last, first." (Mark 10:31 LSB)
The rich young ruler was the very definition of "first" in the eyes of the world. He was wealthy, respected, and outwardly righteous. But in the economy of the kingdom, he was last because he would not let go of his idol. The disciples, by contrast, were "last." They were fishermen, tax collectors, nobodies. But because they had left everything to follow the true treasure, they would be first. This is the constant pattern of God's kingdom. He brings down the proud and exalts the humble. He rejects those who trust in themselves and saves those who, knowing it is impossible, trust in Him alone.
Conclusion: Your Personal Camel
It is easy for us to sit here and cluck our tongues at this rich young man. But the question the text puts to each one of us is this: what is your camel? What is the thing that makes salvation impossible for you? It might be money. But it could just as easily be your reputation, your career, your political tribe, your comfort, your sexual autonomy, or your intellectual pride.
What is the one thing you are clinging to, the one thing you believe you cannot live without? That is your idol. That is the god that stands between you and eternal life. Jesus, in His love, comes to you today and says, "One thing you lack. Let it go. Sell it. Give it away. And come, follow Me."
The man in the story walked away grieving because he loved his camel more than his Creator. He chose the impossibility of self-reliance over the glorious possibility of God's grace. The good news of the gospel is that you do not have to make the same choice. The good news is that God can save rich men. He can save proud men. He can save you. He does the impossible. He threads the needle.
But He does it by grace alone, through faith alone. And that faith begins when you stop trying to "do" something and simply surrender, when you confess that it is impossible for you, and you fall on the mercy of the God for whom all things are possible. Let go of your camel, and lay hold of Christ.