Take 5 minutes and read Mark 10:17-22.
Jesus is setting out on this trip and right before he leaves this guy comes running up to him. I didn't realize until recently that in this time in history that culturally guys didn't run too often. It showed power if you were a guy and never needed to run. So unless it was some athletic event you tried to avoid running. This matches up with the kind of person I see Jesus being. Guys are willing to run even if it looks weak if it means that they get a chance to talk with Jesus.
When the guy gets to Jesus he falls to his knees to ask Jesus a questions. He is quickly seeming to me like one of those bleeding heart types who wears his heart on his sleeve. He wants to know what he needs to do to get into Heaven, and he thinks Jesus is the guy he should be asking. At this point the guy seems super genuine and very serious about his question.
Jesus plays around with him a bit and eventually tells him basically that he needs to live a perfect life to get into heaven. Whereas most of us would sadly walk away at this point because we know we have already ruined any chance of that, this guy does something unexpected. He lies to Jesus. He goes fake on him. His response to Jesus is, "I've done that since I was a kid."
We all hate people being fake. Nothing kills a friendship like fakeness. Jesus doesn't call him out on this or judge Him because of it either. Verse 21 says that Jesus' response was that he loved him. Before Jesus responded or did anything else the Bible tells us that he loved him. That's incredible.
Jesus goes on to tell him that he needs to give up everything he has to the poor and follow Jesus. This bums out the guy because he was really rich and didn't want to do that. Jesus wasn't telling us that we all need to take a vow of poverty. He knew this guy, and knew that he loved his wealth more than anything else. Jesus was saying to him and to all of us. If you want to follow me you need to commit to it completely. This isn't a part time thing.
That ended up being the deal breaker for this guy who showed so much potential at the beginning of the story. I hate it that the story ends with him being fake and walking away from Jesus sad. Nobody sings Jesus loves me and finishes it with, "Yes Jesus loves me, but I love money. Yes Jesus loves me, but I can't follow him." That's depressing, but a lot of us do it with a whole lot of things not just money.
It is overwhelming that Jesus' loves us even when we are fake. He loves us fake but wants us real. Completely.
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