Jesus looked at him and loved him
"Good teacher", he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. 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.’”
"Teacher," he declared, "all these I have kept since I was a boy."
Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.
Mark 10:17-22
"How do I get into heaven?"
Not "how do I truly worship God?"
Not "what would you have me do?"
Not "how do I love the way you love?"
“How do I get into heaven?”
On his knees, the man makes every motion of worship, but like each of us his words betray the heart within. His desire is not for God, but eternal life, a prize, a reward for his efforts.
Jesus looked at him and loved him.
The man has misunderstood the kingdom of God. He has dutifully kept the commandments, hoping they might somehow save him. Like much of today’s church, he sticks to black and white, “apolitical” issues: he reserves sex for marriage, avoids committing crimes, and generally seeks to be kind to those around him.
But he will not give up his own comfort for those who starve around him.
So he has not understood the kingdom of God.
As his death approaches, Jesus will confront religious leaders who espouse similar views with words of fire:
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. […] You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?
Today there are no such words.
All we find today is that Jesus looked at him and loved him.
What did Jesus see when he looked at him? Did he see this man’s spiritual descendants becoming a rich and comfortable church finding no sense of urgency despite hundreds of thousands of annual malaria deaths? Did he see well-meaning people taught by society and Christian leaders that conservative sexual ethics are indispensable but greed in the guise of comfort is fine? Did he see children struggling in poverty in the shadow of multimillion dollar church buildings?
Where did this love and patience come from? When I think of modern examples of this man’s stance I get angry, and stressed, and anxious. Don’t you know, Jesus, that people will genuinely believe they are acting in your name? Don’t you see how much evil will be done “because it’s God’s will”? Can’t you tell this man that what he is doing is wrong — insult him and condemn him and break him down until something finally changes?
Perhaps it was strategic — the best shot at getting the man to repent.
Or maybe he saw that the man had come by his sin honestly, with the result of harm but not the intent?
Was the rest of his character somehow a mitigating factor?
Or did Jesus, the Lord of all, simply see that this was a man made in his own image and therefore worthy of love? No matter what?
Perhaps love can be unconditional and uncompromising when it comes to genuine evil. Jesus does not tell the man he is saved, nor does he tell him he is beyond saving. His words are as simple as they are challenging:
"One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
Jesus does not disguise how difficult it will be to follow him: “Sell everything you have.” But neither does he come across as cruel or angry. He gives the man a choice: this is what it means to follow God. Either do it, or don’t.
And the man, to his credit, takes Jesus’s words seriously. He does not argue with Jesus, calling him an SJW or a Marxist. He does not try to reinterpret Jesus in a way that lets him avoid confronting his sin.
He recognizes the cost of following Jesus, and decides it is not something he’s willing to pay.
So he goes away sad.
Jesus looks at him, and loves him.
And that means we will have to find a way to love him too.