How do you know you’ll be alright? When the winters come, when the health goes, when the work dries up or the market turns?
In Mark 10:17-31 a good, respectable, wealthy man runs up to Jesus, kneels in the dust, and asks what he must do to inherit eternal life.
Jesus looked at him, loved him, and said one thing that sent him grieving away.
In this Word for the Week we look at what was really holding that man back, what the camel and the needle’s eye actually mean, why Jesus says salvation is impossible for us to achieve but possible for God to give, and what Jesus promises to everyone who follows Him.
Info Retention Quiz
1. Where does the rich man’s encounter with Jesus take place in Mark’s overall story?
A) At the start of Jesus’ ministry in Galilee
B) On the road to Jerusalem, after Jesus begins teaching about His suffering
C) After the resurrection
D) In the temple during Holy Week
2. What does the word “inherit” suggest about eternal life?
A) It is a wage earned through good works
B) It is a prize for the most religious
C) It is a gift received, like a son inheriting a farm
D) It is a reward for giving to charity
3. Why did Jesus ask “Why do you call me good?”
A) He was denying that He was good
B) He was turning the man’s attention from flattery to God as the true standard
C) He did not like being called teacher
D) He wanted to test the man’s memory of the commandments
4. What is unusual about Mark 10:21?
A) It says Jesus was angry
B) It is the only place Mark says Jesus loved an individual
C) It records Jesus laughing
D) It says Jesus wept
5. According to the Word for the Week, what was holding the man back?
A) His pride
B) His lack of knowledge of the law
C) Trusting in his wealth and land as his security
D) His fear of the disciples
6. What is the point of the camel and the needle’s eye?
A) A camel could squeeze through a small Jerusalem gate if it knelt
B) It is a deliberately impossible image showing we cannot save ourselves
C) It is a rule about how much money people should own
D) It describes how rich people should pray
7. What does Jesus say makes the impossible possible?
A) Giving all your money away
B) Keeping the commandments better
C) God, for whom all things are possible
D) Joining the disciples
8. What does the “hundredfold” Jesus promises to His followers consist of?
A) A larger bank balance
B) A new family, shared homes and fields, along with persecutions, and eternal life
C) Freedom from all hardship
D) Political power
Answers
B
C
B
B
C
B
C
B
WORD FOR THE WEEK is a weekly short reflection on the Bible for rural Wales and beyond, from Y Grwp (Grace Rural Wales Partnership, Charity No. 1170827).
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