Yeshua and the rich man. A story that could not relate more to today's society. A man who has seemingly everything, is a God-fearing man, yet lacks understanding spiritually. The exact reason why Yeshua came among us.

It seems as if that rich man was in great urgency. He ran towards Yeshua, he knelt before Him, acknowledging Yeshua as someone superior to Him (as many Rabbis were perceived). The rich man was concerned about eternal life. He was successful in this life, kept God's commandments, a God-fearing man.

Yeshua told us in the Gospels that The Kingdom of God (or heaven) is not something we see, but is something intangible^[1]. The Kingdom of God is within us, nothing on the outside.

When reading the passage in Mark, we will soon recognise that although the rich man has — on the outside — kept all of God's commandments[^2], on the inside he is clinging onto his worldly riches. He owned much property and therefore he was saddened and went away grieving.

There is a parallel to be noticed between the rich man and the Pharisees: Both keep God's commandments to the "T" yet they fail in the spiritual application of it. The Sermon on the Mount is Yeshua's masterclass on Torah understanding and application: in Truth and Spirit^[2].

The rich man, it seems, trusts his property more than he trusts God. He puts his worldly treasures above those of God. He is deeply attached to his worldly possession, more than being attached to God.

Let us recall what Yeshua said on the Sermon on the Mount: why worry about tomorrow. Your Father in heaven knows what you need even before you ask Him for it.

It is possible to read this passage in Mark not as a means to glorify poverty or to glorify having nothing, or using it against riches and wealth as the so called Poverty Gospels do. Nor to praise and glorify wealth as the Prosperity Gospels do.

Rather, it is possible to read it as such that any attachment to worldly things greater than our devotion and attachment to the Father will make it nearly impossible to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Therefore, it seems, Yeshua says "With God, all things are possible".

When we devote ourselves to God, totally, when we are not afraid to give away everything we have knowing that the Father will provide us with everything we need (not necessarily everything we want), then we truly are not far from the Kingdom of God.

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Footnotes