Mark 10:17-22

¹⁷ While he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what do I have to do so I will inherit eternal life?” ¹⁸ Jesus said to him, “Why are you calling me good? No one is good other than the one God. ¹⁹ You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder; Do not commit adultery; Do not steal; Do not bear false witness; Do not defraud; Honour your father and mother.'”[1] ²⁰ He said to him, “Teacher, I have kept all these since I was young.” ²¹ Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, “You are missing one; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in the sky; then come, follow me.” ²² When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, because he had many possessions.

missing one

Any pastor today would have been thrilled to welcome this young man into the church. He had the résumé we dream about—morally disciplined, spiritually earnest, financially capable, and eager to serve. He wasn’t hiding secret sins. He wasn’t careless or immature. He was the kind of person we would immediately imagine as a leader, a donor, a pillar of the community. On paper, he looked like the perfect disciple.

But Jesus didn’t look at the paper. He looked at the heart. And He saw the one thing the young man had never surrendered—the one strength he trusted more than God, the one area he still controlled, the one identity he refused to loosen his grip on. For this man, it was wealth. Not because wealth is evil, but because it had become the place where he found security, identity, and power. Jesus wasn’t trying to impoverish him; He was trying to free him. But the young man couldn’t imagine life without the thing he trusted most.

And that is where the story becomes uncomfortably universal. Most of us don’t have great wealth, so we assume we’re safe from this danger. But Jesus’ challenge wasn’t really about money. It was about surrender. Every one of us has something we cling to—some strength, some talent, some dream, some relationship, some reputation, some comfort—that we quietly treat as untouchable. We may have nothing to sell, but we may still have something we refuse to yield.

Jesus puts His finger on that one thing not to shame us, but to liberate us. He wants disciples, not managers. He wants followers, not people negotiating the terms of their obedience. And He knows that the one thing we hold back is often the very thing that keeps us from serving Him fully and loving others freely.

Lord, give us the courage to surrender the one thing we hold on to—the thing that keeps us from serving You and others.

[1] Exodus 20:12-16; Deuteronomy 5:16-20.