The One Thing Lacking
What is the hidden idol holding us back from fully following Him?
Mark 10:17-31
Read the whole passage before anything else. Everything below exists to help you understand what you just read.
17As he was going out into the way, one ran to him, knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?”
18Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except one—God.
19You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not give false testimony,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honor your father and mother.’”
20He said to him, “Teacher, I have observed all these things from my youth.”
21Jesus looking at him loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack. Go, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me, taking up the cross.”
22But his face fell at that saying, and he went away sorrowful, for he was one who had great possessions.
23Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it is for those who have riches to enter into God’s Kingdom!”
24The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus answered again, “Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter into God’s Kingdom!
25It is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter into God’s Kingdom.”
26They were exceedingly astonished, saying to him, “Then who can be saved?”
27Jesus, looking at them, said, “With men it is impossible, but not with God, for all things are possible with God.”
28Peter began to tell him, “Behold, we have left all and have followed you.”
29Jesus said, “Most certainly I tell you, there is no one who has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or land, for my sake, and for the sake of the Good News,
30but he will receive one hundred times more now in this time: houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and land, with persecutions; and in the age to come eternal life.
31But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
What just happened?
Jesus is on the road again. He just finished telling his disciples that the kingdom belongs to those who receive it like children. Now a man sprints up and falls to his knees. In the first century, wealthy men of status do not run. It is considered undignified. They certainly do not grovel in the dirt before a traveling rabbi.
The man is desperate. He wants eternal life, and he views it as an inheritance he can secure through action. He asks what he must do. The exchange that follows is one of the most famous and unsettling conversations in the Bible.
It forces the question of what we actually worship when our religious performance is stripped away.
Goodness and the Law
Jesus stops the man at his first word. The man called him Good Teacher. Jesus challenges the premise. If only God is good, why are you throwing that word around? Jesus forces the man to think about the standard of absolute perfection.
Then Jesus lists the commandments. Notice which ones he lists. He quotes the second half of the Ten Commandments. These are the horizontal laws, the ones dealing with human relationships. Murder, adultery, theft, perjury, and honoring parents.
Mark records one unusual addition. Jesus includes 'Do not defraud.' That is not strictly in the Ten Commandments, but it echoes Deuteronomy. For a wealthy landowner in first-century Judea, defrauding peasants or laborers was a common way to build an estate. Jesus points directly to the fault lines of wealth.
The Diagnosis
The man gives an astonishing answer. He claims he has kept all these rules since he was a boy. He feels morally complete, yet he still ran to Jesus asking what he lacked. He knows his rule-keeping has not produced the life he is looking for.
Mark includes a detail that changes how we read everything that follows. Jesus looks at him and loves him. Jesus does not shout at him. He does not point out the arrogance of claiming moral perfection. Driven by love, Jesus gives him a fatal diagnosis.
The man lacks one thing. He must sell everything, give the money to the poor, and follow Jesus. The Greek word for the man's reaction means his face darkened or clouded over. He walks away grieving. His money was his actual god.
The Camel and the Needle
Jesus watches the man leave, then turns to his disciples to deliver the lesson. Wealth makes it nearly impossible to enter the kingdom of God. The disciples are blown away by this.
First-century religious culture operated on a simple equation. If you were rich, God was blessing you for your obedience. If the rich, blessed, law-keeping man cannot get into the kingdom, the disciples realize no one has a chance.
Jesus doubles down. He uses a deliberate, absurd exaggeration. He pictures the largest animal in Palestine trying to squeeze through the smallest opening in a household. A camel through the eye of a needle. It is impossible. That is exactly his point. Salvation cannot be earned, bought, or negotiated by human effort. It requires a miracle of God.
The Economics of the Kingdom
Peter states the obvious. The disciples actually did what the rich man refused to do. They walked away from their fishing nets, their tax booths, and their families. Jesus validates Peter's claim.
He promises a massive return on investment, but it is not the kind of wealth the rich man held. Jesus promises a hundredfold return in this present time. By joining the Jesus movement, these men and women gain an instant, massive family. They gain access to the homes and resources of a sprawling network of believers.
But Jesus slips in a harsh reality check. He adds two words to the list of rewards. 'With persecutions.' Following him brings ultimate security and eternal life, but it guarantees conflict in the present.
What is Jesus actually saying?
Why do you call me good? No one is good except one—God.
- What it meant there
- Jesus challenges the man's casual use of the word good. He forces the man to recognize that absolute moral perfection belongs to God alone. If the man truly believes Jesus is good, he must reckon with Jesus speaking with divine authority.
- What people often think it means
- Many think Jesus is admitting he is a flawed human and denying his own divinity.
It is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter into God’s Kingdom.
- What it meant there
- A vivid, comical, and absolute metaphor for impossibility. Human wealth cannot purchase divine favor. Without God's intervention, a rich person is too tied to their resources to submit to the kingdom.
- What it does not mean
- A reference to a small gate in the wall of Jerusalem. That is a myth invented in the Middle Ages to soften the text. Jesus meant a literal camel and a literal sewing needle.
What are we supposed to see?
- 1WHAT HE CONFRONTS
Jesus confronts the illusion of self-sufficiency. The rich man thought his moral track record and his bank account made him secure. Jesus proved that his possessions actually possessed him.
- 2CHARACTER
Mark notes that Jesus loved the man before telling him to sell his possessions. The harshest commands of Jesus are diagnostic. They are designed to excise the specific idol killing the person he loves.
- 3WHAT HE VALUES
Jesus values radical, unhindered allegiance. He does not want a percentage of our devotion. If a specific thing is keeping us from following him completely, he demands we remove it.
Where this sits in the whole Bible
Exodus 20:12-16 → Deuteronomy 24:14 → Mark 10:19
Jesus quotes the Ten Commandments but inserts 'Do not defraud.' This pulls from Moses' command not to oppress hired workers, pointing out the systemic sin often tied to extreme wealth.
Psalm 49:6-9 → Mark 10:25-27
The Psalmist writes that those who trust in their wealth cannot ransom their own souls, for the price of a life is too costly. Jesus confirms this exact theology. Man cannot buy salvation.
Mark 10:21 → Philippians 3:7-8
Paul later describes exactly what Jesus asked of this man. Paul took his massive religious pedigree and his status, counted it all as garbage, and traded it to gain Christ.
The man came running to Jesus in public, full of eager enthusiasm. He left in silence, walking away. Enthusiasm is not the same as surrender.
Don't rush past this
We desperately want Jesus' command to be metaphorical. We want to read this and conclude that Jesus only wants us to be willing to give up our money in our hearts.
But Jesus told this specific man to literally liquidate his assets. The discomfort of this passage is that Jesus reserves the right to ask for the actual, physical things we use to protect ourselves from needing him.
Turn it inward
Three questions from this passage. Answer them or just sit with them — nothing here is required to finish the lesson.
God, you see exactly what I use to protect myself. You know the things I trust more than I trust you. Give me the courage to hear your diagnosis, and the faith to walk away from my idols instead of walking away from you.
Identify the one asset, habit, or relationship that makes you feel secure apart from God. Give away a significant portion of that money, or fast from that habit for three days, just to prove to yourself that it does not own you.
History, language, objections and sources. None of it is needed to understand the passage.
Did Jesus deny being God in verse 18?
Scholars debate the exact rhetorical strategy here. However, historic Christian orthodoxy maintains Jesus is not denying his deity. Rather, he poses a dilemma. The man is calling him good.
If only God is good, the man must either retract his flattery or recognize that he is speaking to God in the flesh. Jesus is trying to wake him up to the gravity of the conversation.
Is it a sin to have wealth?
No. The biblical canon features wealthy men and women who followed God faithfully, from Abraham to Lydia.
The danger Jesus highlights is not the money itself, but what money does to the human heart. It creates a powerful illusion of control. It makes it incredibly difficult to rely entirely on God, which is the foundational requirement for entering his kingdom.
The Myth of the Needle's Eye Gate
For centuries, well-meaning teachers have claimed that the eye of a needle was a small gate in the wall of Jerusalem. The story goes that a camel could only get through if it was stripped of its baggage and crawled on its knees.
This preaches well, but it is entirely false. There is zero archaeological or historical evidence for such a gate in the first century. The myth first appeared in a commentary by Theophylact in the 11th century.
Jesus was not describing a difficult process. He was describing a literal impossibility. A giant animal cannot fit through a tiny piece of metal. Jesus was driving home the point that salvation requires a miracle, not just a shedding of baggage.
Do Not Defraud
When listing the commandments, Jesus uses the Greek word apostereō, which means to steal, rob, or defraud. This word is specifically used in the Septuagint (the Greek Old Testament) in passages dealing with wealthy landowners withholding wages from poor laborers.
Jesus is taking a subtle, precise shot at how great fortunes were usually amassed in the ancient world. The man claims he has kept all these rules, but his vast wealth suggests otherwise.