42. Mark 10:17-31: Stuff
10:17-22 We draw near to the threshold of Jerusalem (ch.11). This set of teachings rounds out Jesus’ essential teaching on discipleship. A deferential man accosts him with a question: “ Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” He’s not asking about salvation as we tend to. It’s not post-mortem life in another sphere (“heaven”) he’s interested in (he would not have known about that because it did not exist as a part of Jewish faith). Rather, it’s the new age here on earth after God intervenes to judge evil and set all things right that he asks about. Why does the man call Jesus good and Jesus reject this appellation? Remember that Jesus was in conflict and competition with the four other views offering guidance for how Israel should be the Israel God wanted it to be: the Sadducees, the Pharisees, the Essenes, and the Zealots. This seeker perhaps knows Jesus’ reputation as a teacher and come to find out what his vision for Israel is in light of the coming cl...