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Alberto Hadad

Dr. Jessica Wilson

The Art of Reading (HUM 6379)

12 Oct. 2021

The Rich Young Man: Exegesis using the Four Senses

The Gospel of Mark is particularly oriented to Christology portraying Christ as the Son of

God, the Messiah, the anointed king or the Son of Man. It is the first canonical gospel to be

written around 70 A.D. in Rome and is centered in Jesus as a teacher who guides his disciples to

encounter the message of the kingdom of God as good news (Mk 1, 14-15) and to recognize him

(Jesus) as the gospel of God (Mk 1,1; 8,35; 10,29). Together with Mathew (19, 16-30) and Luke

(18, 18-30), Mark narrates the encounter of Jesus with the rich young man (Mc 10,17-22).

The passage is framed along the path Jesus has been following with his disciples heading

to Jerusalem with determination (sterizo) to face his passion. Luke (9,51) points out a very

significant detail that describes how Jesus was walking; sterizo indicates a fast pace, literally to

turn resolutely in certain direction, to set steadfastly and strengthen a position. Additionally,

along the way he had been questioning his disciples about his identity (Mk 8,29), about who they

said he was, and Peter answered saying “you are the Messiah”. In the context of these moments

of walking with determination, of questioning, of announcing his passion and teaching about the

kingdom of God where the first must be last, appears the young man along the way (hodos)

running and kneeling in front of him and calling him Good Teacher.

The gesture and the words used by the young man are extremely meaningful in the

cultural context of the time because it meant being in front not only of a teacher but of him who

is of divine nature. Saint Augustine comments on this passage saying God is uniquely good
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“because the good by which he is good is himself” while the goodness of a human being derives

from God (Letter to Macedonius). The young man perceived in Jesus a goodness and a way of

teaching that was beyond human; this corresponds to his body language since the act of kneeling

was performed only in front of divinity. The rich young man was not one of those who only

thought Jesus was a prophet, John the Baptist or Elias (Mk 9,28), he really thought he was

approaching the Messiah, and, in this sense, he was in communion with Peter and the apostles.

Maybe this is a hint of the calling of this young man to be part of the disciples who followed

Jesus closely.

Other important detail at this point is the image of the way (hodos) which by implication

points to a progress, a journey that can be connected to the calling of the young man to follow

Jesus Christ who not only leads along the way, but is the Way in himself: “I am the Truth, the

Way and the Life” (Jn 14,5). The young man longed for Eternal Life, that which is acquired by

being good in the image of the Lord because “it is only by participation in the divine goodness

that a rational creature is capable of becoming good” (Bede).

The question of the young man is about the Happy Life in the words of Saint Augustine,

not only the happy life in this world but in the world to come. At this point, Jesus points out to

the commandments that have to do with the love for the neighbor and it is surprising that the

young man states he lives according to those commandments taught by Moses. In contrast with

the people of Israel who in the dessert complained against Moses for taking them to die in the

dessert (Ex 14,11) and were reluctant to live according to the law of God (Ex 31,18- 34,35), this

man lived this way since he was young and Jesus, who could perceive the soul of who was in

front of him, accepts his affirmation as a sign of approval.

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Jesus aims to another requirement being that of selling all his goods and giving the

money to the poor and then to go and follow him. Two details must be addressed at this point:

one is the way Jesus looked at him before pronouncing the words and the other is the requisite of

being poor. Regarding the way Jesus looked at the young man it is notable how the Evangelist

describes the detail: “looking at him, loved him”. This way of using the eyes points out to the

way God the Father looks at his own son and how he sees us in the image of his own Son. One

could think of the painting by Rembrandt of the Prodigal Son and picture the eyes of the father

who glances his son coming back home and hurries to receive him and embrace him. The same

eyes of love of the Father are those of Jesus who penetrates to the deepest corner of the young

man´s soul. It is also an image of what Iraeneus (Adversus Haereses V, 16, 2) says about the way

God created man having in mind the image of his own Son. One could say that Jesus, in

communion with the Trinity, is contemplating this young man as they contemplated Adam our

first father. There is a deep sense of desire of communion, a desire of encounter of God with the

human person which can also be expressed with the words “This is my beloved Son, with whom

I am well pleased” (Mt 3, 17).

The sight that penetrates is complemented with the word that deepens into the

conjunctures of the soul as a sword that penetrates to the deepest corners of the human soul (Hb

4, 12). Jesus is talking to his creature as when John describes in Revelation the way God knocks

to the doors of the heart saying: “look that I am knocking at the door, if someone listens and

opens, I will enter and eat with him and him with me” (Rev 3,15). What Jesus is asking of the

young man is for him to give him his whole heart and to enter in the communion with him, the

Father and the Spirit. In the end, he is offering him the way to the Happy Life not only in his

years to come on earth but eternally in heaven.

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Mysteriously, the passage ends with the profound rupture in which the joyful and

merciful eyes of Christ contrast with the sorrowful eyes of the young man. Christ gazes with love

(agapao) which is the deepest and more profound love that corresponds to the love of God. The

precision with which the Evangelist describes the scene and Jesus’ attitude shows us how deeply

the Lord longed for the love and response of the young man, the same way he longs for the

response of every human being created in his image and likeness. But the young man is not able

to detach himself from his earthly goods and therefore rejects the Eternal Good, the love of the

Son of God and his calling to be in close communion with him. What could have happened at

this exact moment in heaven? Certainly, there should have been a great expectation as what Saint

Bernard (Missus Est Homily 4, 8-9) describes about the moment in which the Angel Gabriel

announced to Mary that she was going to conceive the Messiah. All the angels expecting her to

respond saying fiat, let it be done… and in a similar way, saving the distance, angels in heaven

were expecting this young man to say, yes Lord, let me go sell my belongings and then I will

come to follow you. The same urgent way of approaching the Lord running would have been the

expected outcome of the encounter of the young man with the Lord. Maybe the correct reaction

is found in Elisha who when being called by Elijah left everything behind, slaughtered his oxen

and gave the meat to the people and then followed the prophet with determination (1Ki 19, 19-

21). The young man should have answered with joy as Saint Augustine who says: “I who write

this have greatly loved the total devotion of which the Lord spoke when he once said to the rich

young man: “Go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and come, follow me.” I have so loved

it that I have indeed acted upon it myself, not by my own strength but by his assisting grace”

(Augustine, Letter to Hilarius).

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Here we come back to the moment when Jesus decides “with determination” to go to

Jerusalem. He is the good son who answers to the calling of his father in heaven and is totally

detached from his own will to listen to the will of his father and follow him to the point of

sweating tears in the moment of facing the passion at the mount of Olives. The good Jesus is the

model of how to respond not only with a partial love, which although good is not whole as what

happens to the rich young man but that love that is eternal and complete to the point of saying

there is no higher love than giving your own life for your friends (Jn 15, 13). Jesus’ great desire

was not only to have the young man offering his life to follow him but was flaming in desire to

be his friend and serve him as he served his disciples in the Last Supper cleaning their feet. His

desire is to give himself in response to the offering of the personal life.

And here we can understand what Jesus says to the disciples after the young man left

(aperchomai), departed, went off the way disheartened and sorrowful (lupeo): those who leave

behind brothers and sisters and mothers and belongings will receive one hundred times more in

this life and the eternal life (Mk 10, 29-31).

More than being detached from the earthly goods, the vocation of the Christian is to listen

the Word of God and following him. He is the one who knows what we long for in our souls and

he is the only one who can guide us to enter heaven where we will enjoy the wholeness of the

encounter with the Trinity, all the angels and the saints in the Holy Supper of the Lamb. Rich

young man, what you really desire is to participate in the Supper of the Lamb, there is no human

possession that can compare with the eternal goods your good master has to offer. Say yes!

Detach yourself from your earthly belongings and your will have a place in the house of our

Eternal Father.
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Works Cited

Augustine. On the Happy Life. Volume 2: St. Augustine’s Cassiciacum Dialogues. Translation,

Annotation, and Commentary by Michael Foley. New Haven: Yale University Press,

2019.

Bernard Of Claraval. Missus Est Homily 4. N. 8-9. Retrieved from:

https://www.deiverbum.org/03-25_solemnidad_anunciacion-del-

senor_homilias/#San_Bernardo_Homilia_4_sobre_Missus_est_n_8-9

Catena Bible. Retrieved from: https://catenabible.com.

Iraeneus. Against Heresies. Retrieved from: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103516.htm.

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Introduction to the Gospel of Mark.

Retrieved from: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/0.