Title: Weaknesses into Strengths (Mark 10:17-27)
Contents
weakness into strength
Mark 10:17-27
Achilles, the hero of war in Greek mythology, was a warrior without weakness. Swords, spears, and arrows hit him nowhere, and they didn't hurt him. Therefore, whenever he went to war, he was victorious. It was because of his mother Thetis that he became immortal. When his mother gave birth to her son, he immersed him in the country's Styx River and took it out, so the Styx River became a shield for him. But in one war, he was accidentally hit directly above the heel by a poisoned arrow fired by the enemy. But what is this? Achilles, who had not been hurt no matter what, was accidentally struck by a poisoned arrow by the enemy, and he died. Because, when his mother threw him into the river Styx, she was holding the baby's ankle with both hands, but the river was not in the water. So, that part that became Achilles' only weakness is still called the 'Achilles heel' today.
This myth is meant to show that no one is without weaknesses. And that weakness can sometimes act as a factor in a person's decisive failure.
One day, a very good man came to Jesus. This man was educated in obedience to God's Ten Commandments from a young age, and he was a decent person, not at all comparable in terms of morality, wealth, and honor. But he also lacked one thing. The urge to get ‘eternal life’ always wrapped around him. Then he met Jesus. And he asks Jesus how to gain eternal life. What is Jesus' answer to this young man? Verse 21.
The young man who heard the words of Jesus is grieved. It's because of his love for wealth. No matter how good a person is in the world, he cannot be a perfect person in the sight of God until he is transformed. No matter where it is lacking, it is not enough, and wherever there is a weakness, there will always be it. This rich young man's Achilles heel was his attachment to wealth. The reason Jesus made this young man's request for the liquidation of wealth, which he did not request from the other disciples, was to change his attitude toward wealth and to free him from his obsession with wealth.
It seems that there was nothing immoral about this young man until he became wealthy. Because I didn't steal, I didn't cheat, I didn't get drunk. Whether he inherited it from his parents or was successful in business, the process of amassing a fortune doesn't seem wrong to him. The problem lies in his extraordinary attachment to wealth. Despite his wealth, he lived a life of giving little to the poor. And he was eventually becoming almost a slave to wealth.
“No one can serve two masters; either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other, for ye cannot serve both God and riches” (Matthew 6:24).
We all have weaknesses. However, the problem is that the problem is the decisive flaw that makes you a failure in life and, furthermore, fails to achieve true change. And the fact that there is a weakness is not a problem in itself, but a failure to manage and overcome the weakness is a problem. This young man was so attached to wealth that it was very difficult for him to enter the gates of heaven with it as it is. What Jesus was asking for was a real change in God. Jesus explained this with a camel and the eye of a needle.
First, the weaknesses of the rich youth are examples of the flaws that everyone has. We all have something in the world that is too precious to give up. God wants us to give up on the greed of life, which will never be possible until we are transformed in God.
Second, medicine is already a problem within us that is too big to give up. At the same time, this problem refers to an attitude of life that we are so strongly attached to that we cannot give up. The ability to change it, that is the history of change under the control of God.
Third, the eye of a needle is the narrowed gate to heaven. It refers to the obstacles in front of us that have narrowed the gates of heaven. Also, I am not yet fit to enter the gates of heaven. Therefore, to some, love for life, to others, blood, to others, lust, greed, hypocrisy, and the work of the world are my medicine.
All of this can be a worldly snare that always puts us to the test and, in the end, keeps us away from Jesus, my Savior and Christ. That is why Jesus speaks directly in this matter. Verse 27. “With man this is impossible, but not with God, for with God all things are possible.” It cannot be changed by my own power. The change that is moved by my own decision is only a temporary repentance.
This is Psalm 40:1 3. “I waited for the Lord and waited, and he turned his ear and heard my cry. He lifted me up out of the dreadful pit and pit, and set my feet on a rock, and established my steps. I put it in my mouth, and when many will see it, they will be afraid, and they will put their trust in the Lord.”
What's the 'wonderful puddle' you fall into because of your weaknesses? Now, Jesus urges you to get out of the puddle. How are you going to fill in the gaps that have potential and are the decisive obstacles to my lack, my weakness, and my life of faith?
It is possible through spiritual new birth that only God can do. Those who are reborn as God's people through this method and process, this history of change is the power of God to give all of God's children who have no choice but to live with weaknesses on this earth through the grace of being born again. It is God's work that only happens to the children of light on this earth, who see the promise of the blessing of life only through Jesus Christ.