Lenten Reader | Day 24

March 17th, 2026

As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’”

“Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”

Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.

Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”

The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?”

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”

Then Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow you!”

“Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him. “We are going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.”

Mark 10:17-34

One Thing You Lack

As we read through this passage, a man is asking Jesus what he needs to do to inherit eternal life. The man calls Jesus “good teacher” to which Jesus asks him why he is calling him good? He reminds the man that no one is good except God, and with that Jesus talks about the commandments. But the man has kept them. Jesus tells the man of the one thing that he lacks. He says “go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

Jesus is revealing to the man the one thing he is lacking, a relationship with God. The man is doing the things that he should be doing, but lacks putting his trust in God rather than his money. Being rich isn’t a bad thing. However, when we put our trust in something other than God, we find ourselves lacking. With God all things are possible.

At the end of this passage Jesus is predicting his death. He knows that He will be mocked, spit on, flogged, and killed, but He is putting his own trust in God. Have you found yourself going through the motions of going to church, reading your devotional, and saying a prayer here and there? Are you doing this to check off a box on your to do list? Or are you doing this with love in your heart? God isn’t asking for perfection; he’s asking for trust.

The past year our house had undergone foundational work that was crushing. I had to remind myself to let go and trust God. Trusting that God will provide a way. During this time God had shown me what I was holding on to and revealed what I had put my trust in.

Kendi Congrove