What Could Make You Sell Everything You Own?
Let me be honest up front. I like my stuff. I enjoy coming home to my house. I like driving in my car. I appreciate the security of my savings account. I like having the money to eat at nice restaurants every once in a while.
I don’t think of myself as someone who is particularly materialistic, but perhaps that’s only because these things that I enjoy haven’t been threatened. I haven’t been asked or forced to let go of them. But what happens when—and if—I am?
What would it take for me to let go of all these things I enjoy, even everything I own? It isn’t a ridiculous question. The Bible tells the story of three people who faced this very decision. Two were willing to sell all in order to gain everything, while the other was unwilling to sell all and thereby lost everything.
SADLY UNWILLING TO SELL ALL
Three of the Gospels tell the same story of a young man who came to speak with Jesus (see Matt. 19:16–30; Mark 10:17–31; and Luke 18:18–30). He was rich, and he was a religious leader. He had plenty of resources to finance a comfortable lifestyle, plenty of morality and religiosity to engender the respect of others, and plenty of authority to get his way in the world. But there was one thing he wasn’t sure about, one thing he wanted to make sure he possessed. So he approached Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” (Matt. 19:16).
So far in his life this young man had been able to do everything he’d set his mind to, and he was quite sure he could ring this bell too. Jesus told him that to receive eternal life he had to keep the commandments.
Yes, he could do that, he thought. He’d always done that, hadn’t he? He was feeling good about his chances of getting what he came for but decided he should ask Jesus to be a bit more specific.
He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 19:18–19).
Notice that Jesus did not list out all ten of the Ten Commandments. He left out the first tablet of the law—the commandments about loving God alone, not having idols, not taking God’s name in vain, and keeping his day as holy. And Jesus also left off the final commandment: “You must not covet.” Can these be accidental omissions? Of course not.
THE MISSING COMMANDMENTS
The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” (Matt. 19:20).
At this point in Mark’s telling of this story, he inserts something not found in the other Gospel accounts. Mark writes, “Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him” (Mark 10:21, NLT). Jesus loved him too much to allow him to be ignorant of the true condition of his heart toward God. He knew where this man’s pressure point was, so he went right for it.
Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me” (Matthew 19:21, NLT).
There they are, the missing commandments from the earlier list. Money was the god the young man put before the one true God. It was the idol he worshiped. His lack of real love for God meant that in his role as a religious leader he was taking the Lord’s name in vain.
And while he might have been diligent at keeping the Sabbath according to the laws of the Pharisees, his mind and his heart were set on his money seven days a week. He was far more interested in having what other people didn’t have than giving away what he had to others.
Of course, the sticking point in what Jesus was telling him to do was that little word all. Jesus told him to sell “all” of his possessions.
“All?” we want to say along with this man.
MISSING THE PROMISE
The young man was so stuck on that word that perhaps he missed what was being promised to him in return: “treasure in heaven.” Perhaps he thought this sounded too other-worldly to have any real value. Perhaps because he couldn’t imagine it, he simply couldn’t believe that this treasure would not only have more value than what he already owned but also bring him more pleasure, more comfort, and more security.
“At this the man’s face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions” (Mark 10:22, NLT).
As the young man evaluated the relative worth of his possessions and the treasure in heaven that Jesus was offering, he decided that following Jesus wasn’t worth it. The Gospel writers tell us that this man had many possessions. But really we can see that his many possessions had him. They had him in their grip. They had his heart in their vise.
We usually call him the rich young ruler. But perhaps we should call him the sad young ruler who couldn’t see how poor he really was and how rich Jesus wanted to make him.
Imagine the conflict in the young man’s soul as he made the long walk home. But as sad as he was on that day as he walked away from Jesus, imagine the sadness he experienced when he finally did have to let go of everything, leave it all behind, as he entered not into eternal life but into eternal death with nothing. Nothing. Nothing but eternal sadness.
JOYFULLY WILLING TO SELL ALL
In companion parables found in Matthew 13:44–46, we meet two people who present a stark contrast to the story of the sad young ruler.
The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
When the field laborer went out to work in the field, he was unaware of the treasure hidden there. He saw only a field of dirt that needed a lot of work. But then as he turned the soil he hit something with his shovel, and when he examined what he had found, he realized that what he had unearthed was worth more than everything he owned and then some. As he stood in the field and ran the numbers in his head, he calculated that he would have to sell everything he owned in order to buy the field and thereby have the treasure. So that’s what he did. He sold what was worth less—everything he owned—to purchase what was worth more.
Similarly, the wealthy merchant was in the market one day when he spotted it—the pearl he had spent a lifetime searching for. This pearl was worth more than the rest of his collection combined. There would be a high cost for the pearl merchant to have the choice pearl; it would cost him everything. But because the pearl was worth it, he went home and sold all his possessions so he could buy this one pearl.
There was undoubtedly a large differential between the actual amount of personal net worth that was sold off by the field laborer and what was sold off by the pearl merchant. But in another sense, the cost was the same. Both were willing to sell all, surrender all.
“There seems to be great joy in the very act of emptying out his assets in pursuit of the prize.”
What really catches our attention in these parables is the joy with which the field laborer paid the enormous cost. Jesus said, “In his joy he goes and sells all.” Not joy after he obtained the treasure, but joy in the selling, joy in the emptying, joy in anticipation of having and enjoying the treasure from then on. There seems to be great joy in the very act of emptying out his assets in pursuit of the prize.
This story is telling us that Jesus is of such worth, such beauty, that there is incredible joy in letting go of whatever it takes to have him in our lives. Eternal joy. And this, my friends, is the only thing that will ever enable people like me and you to loosen our grip on the things of this world—recognition of what Jesus is worth and anticipation of all we have to gain when we take hold of him.
IT WILL BE WORTH IT
How do we know this anticipation of gain will enable us to give whatever may be required of us to have Jesus? Because that is exactly what enabled Jesus to give all.
Hebrews 12:2 tells us that it was the joy that was set before him that enabled Jesus to endure the cross. Jesus gave all in anticipation of all he would gain on the other side of it. Jesus paid the ultimate cost—the cost of his life—to have us as his treasured possession.
One day you and I are going to see with our eyes the treasure that has been hidden from the eyes of this world. One day we’re going to enter into the presence of the one pearl of great value, Jesus Christ. We’re going to experience in reality what we take hold of by faith now—that everything we have let go of in this life to take hold of Christ will have been worth it.
Nancy Guthrie teaches the Bible at her home church, Cornerstone Presbyterian Church in Franklin, Tennessee, as well as at conferences around the country and internationally, including her Biblical Theology Workshops for Women. She is the host of the Help Me Teach the Bible podcast at The Gospel Coalition and is the author of numerous books, including her most recent, God Does His Best Work with Empty, from which this article is adapted.