Jesus' Eye Salve

Okay, so a rich young man runs up to Jesus in Mark 10:17-27, kneels before Him and asks, “Good Master, what should I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus’ answer may seem puzzling. Instead of going into a theological dissertation, He turns and asks the man His own question. “Why callest thou me good?” The Amplified makes it even clearer: “Why do you call Me essentially and perfectly morally good?” Then Jesus adds, “There is no one good, expect God alone.”

In this statement Jesus is telling the man two things. First, that He is God, and only on that basis can He be called good. In other words, if we don’t believe Jesus is God, we have no business calling Him “good.” That pretty much settles the issue of people wanting to call Jesus a good man, a good teacher, a good prophet, yet denying His deity. It just won’t do. Unless Jesus is God, then He is not a good “anything”.  

Secondly, no one is good enough to inherit eternal life. The young man, by his own works, was incapable of securing it. Isaiah 64:6 reminds us that “we are all as an unclean thing and all our righteousness are as filthy rags.” And if that’s not enough, Romans 3:23 says, “For we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God.” All means all. To drive this point home, Jesus, in Mark 10:19 starts talking to the young man about the commandments to which the man promptly replies, “Teacher, I have carefully guarded and observed all these and taken care not to violate them from my boyhood.” Really? Is that possible? Can anyone really keep all the commandments perfectly when you realize they encompass our thoughts, words and deeds? The answer is a resounding NO! The man was blind to his own failings. But God sees.

So what was Jesus’ reaction? This part is great. “Jesus, looking upon him, loved him.”  There’s more that follows, but I need to stop here a moment. Jesus looked right through this man and could see those areas where he didn’t measure up to God’s standards and . . . loved him. In the same way, Jesus can look right through us and love us anyway. Even so, Jesus needed to confront the man with truth. After He loves on him, He tells the young man, “One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come take up the cross and follow me.”

Why did Jesus say that? Is it wrong to have riches? Must we be poor in order to be pleasing to God? No. Not at all. But because Jesus could see right through this man, He knew that the man’s riches had become god in his life, the thing he loved most and depended upon most. That’s why they had to go. God will always ask us to give up what comes between us and Him. Jesus also told the man he must take up the cross, the instrument of death, death to self, and follow Him. It’s interesting to note that Luke, in 18:18, calls this young man a “ruler.” That word in the Greek is archon and means “first, chief, first in rank or power.” It’s hard for someone who is first or chief in their lives to follow or submit to another.

This message still applies today. We will never earn eternal life on our own. Most of the time we can’t even see ourselves for the poor creatures we are. Thus, we need the One who is truly Good to do that. And we need to give up those things that come between us and God. We need to die to self. We can’t be chief in our lives. That’s God’s place. But God is more than able to help us do this. That’s why Jesus, right after the rich young ruler walks away, tells his disciples, “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God,” But then, happily, He adds this: “with men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible.”

But there’s another lesson we need to take away, one on a corporate level. In Revelation 3:17-18 Jesus rebukes the church of Laodicea; the church that was neither hot nor cold; the church that Jesus called “rich” and “blind” and admonished to buy from Him, “salve” to put on their “eyes” that they may “see.” So many of our churches are fast becoming like that Laodicean Church of Revelation. They feel they are “rich and have need of nothing” but God, who can see through the facade, calls them “wretched, poor and blind.” Is this why so many of our churches are becoming irrelevant?

Oh, Lord, may we purchase Your eye salve so that we may see our true condition!

Until next time,

Sylvia