Stroll through Scripture for Sunday, February 18, 2024

Based on Mark 10:17–31

It’s after the Transfiguration and the rest of the Gospel is going to keep getting more and more uncomfortable as Jesus makes his way to Jerusalem. This week’s Gospel reading is the conversation between Jesus and the rich man and Jesus’ teaching on wealth.

A man comes up to Jesus and asks the question that frames the conversation — “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Inheritance is a financial term. It’s a term that assumes a few things — that the person deserves or really has a right to something because of who they are related to. It’s really a question of how much, not if.

Notice what Jesus does though. He addresses the title that the man has given Jesus: “Good Teacher.” One wonders if the man called Jesus that to butter him up so that he could get the answer he wanted to hear. Jesus doesn’t fall for it though saying, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.” In other words, why not call me by my real title, rather than attempt to butter me up?

Jesus then tells the man about the commandments — the answer he wanted to hear. The man responds this time with the label of “Good.” Instead he says, “Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.” In other words, look at how good I am, Jesus. The label of “good” just got shifted by the man from Jesus as the “Good Teacher” to “hey look at how good I have been.”