Pentecost 22 (year B)- Mark 10:23-30- The Danger of Materialism

Last Sunday, the Gospel dealt with the story of the rich young man and his two main temptations: legalism and materialism. In today’s Gospel, we hear Jesus follow up with His disciples. He discusses the temptation of possessions or wealth, that is, materialism. In Mark 10:25, we have Christ’s famous saying, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God”(ESV).

Notice how the disciples, Peter in particular, find this teaching hard to accept. If salvation is so difficult, they wonder how anyone can be saved. They have already made some sacrifices of worldly goods, social position, and human ties in order to be Jesus’ disciples. Are those sacrifices not enough? Is salvation impossible? So Jesus reassures them in their doubts.

Jesus tells the disciples that despite hardships, faithfulness to Him and His gospel does bring great rewards- in this world and the next. His point is in Mark 10:27 (ESV), “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” 

At this time, the disciples are still legalists and materialists. They are still focused on tangible rewards. They tend to view eternal life as something they must earn by good deeds. They like to think that their sacrifices of things such as homes or jobs merit special divine consideration. Eventually, after the Resurrection, they do get the point. And they do trust God enough to move forward in faith and hope. They even put their very lives on the line to keep following Jesus.

Down through the centuries, we Christians still struggle with these types of issues. We prefer to ignore that God in Christ asks us human beings to put everything dear to us on the line in order to follow Him. Even our dearest earthly attachments are of less value than eternal life with God. And even our greatest worldly sacrifices are useless or impossible unless God is at work through them. Human obedience to the commandments and human good deeds are expected, but they cannot save us. Human deeds and human offerings are only valuable as expressions of our underlying faith in God and our surrender to Him. And such faith and surrender are themselves impossible unless even they are motivated by divine grace.

Some Christians say, “Well, I’m far from rich, so I don’t have to worry about giving up great possessions.” But again, that’s missing the point. The issue is not determined by dollar value. A person can be too attached to anything in this world. And almost everyone has one or more of these worldly or material attachments.

Looking at human frailty, no one deserves to enter the kingdom. Yet with God, all things are possible. By His grace, He can transform us. He can help us to move beyond earthly and material attachments and follow Christ. God can strengthen our faith in Christ and our service to Him. He can help us and use our feeble attempts at obedience for His purposes. God can take our small sacrifices and magnify them. And when we get too attached to the things of this world and hesitate (as we all are prone to do), He can forgive us and renew us by His grace.