GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 10:22
A Stunning Message
It’s not unusual to have trouble fitting what one hears into one’s own conceptual world. There’s a story about a vaudeville clown who was getting dressed for his performance when he noticed that the theater was on fire. Half-dressed, he ran to the stage and shouted, “The theater is on fire! Everyone must evacuate immediately!”
The audience thought this was one of his finest performances and burst into loud applause. The more he shouted, the louder their applause became.
Turning from this story to another that illustrates a similar difficulty in understanding, one can consider St. Mark’s account of the wealthy young ruler who approached Jesus to ask what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus pointed him to the moral law, which the man claimed to have diligently obeyed. It is reasonable to take his claim at face value. “But Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, ‘You lack one thing: Go, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.’ But he, stunned at the word, went away grieving, for he had acquired many possessions.” (Mark 10:21-22)
There is some debate among translators about whether the word rendered as “stunned” might be better translated as “appalled” or “saddened.” Based on the context, however, “stunned” seems to be the most accurate rendering. Everyone who heard Jesus’ words, even his closest disciples, was stunned by them.
The passage suggests that the young man had worked hard to acquire his possessions. Now this wandering prophet was telling him that, to attain eternal life, he must let go of everything he had worked to acquire. Stunned and grieving, the young man walked away.
This is the only instance in which Jesus imposed such a requirement; it is not a general command. However, the message remains clear: nothing should stand between the believer and true discipleship.
Just as the vaudeville audience struggled to fit the chaotic shouts of the half-dressed clown into their reality, the young man in the Gospel account could not fit Jesus’ words into his own worldview. The connection between these stories offers a timeless lesson.
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