Today, I am reading and commenting on  Mark 10-11.

It is interesting the things which we almost never notice.  In today’s passage I have never before noticed that the rich man in today’s passage fell to his knees before he asked Jesus his question.  For that matter, I don’t think I have ever heard anyone comment upon that fact.  It adds a bit of nuance to several elements of the story.  My first thought was that it makes his walking away from Jesus even more stark.  But, it also puts a new look on Jesus’ response about being called “good”.  There are two possible explanations for the man falling to his knees before Jesus.  First, it could have been an expression of sincere supplication.  Second, it could have been an effort to put on a show of sincere supplication.  In the first case, it makes it much sadder that the man was unwilling to give up his wealth and follow Jesus.  In the second case, it suggests that the man came to Jesus to ask the question in order to appear righteous.  The more I think about this incident the more I am convinced that the man was posturing more than he was truly seeking guidance.  In which case, it makes more clear the point which Jesus was making when He asked why the man called Him good.  The man approached Jesus with an appearance of worshipful supplication.  Jesus points out that only God deserves such a worshipful approach.  I want to highlight one other thing about this because Muslims often use this exchange as evidence that Jesus denied that He was God.  In fact, I think this passage does the exact opposite.  By asking why the man called Him good, Jesus is highlighting that when people called Him good they were acknowledging His divinity.  This same reasoning applies to those today who want to say that Jesus was a good teacher but not divine.  Jesus said that only God is good.  Therefore if you call Him a good teacher you cannot also say that He is not God.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.