Mark 10:27

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

Jesus said to a crowd of followers as he traveled in Judea. Mark 10 is one great quote after another from Jesus. He lays out what it means to be a christian and answers questions that still burn in modern minds like: ‘What must I do to inherit eternal life?’ and ‘Is being rich going to help me when I die?’.

The question that leads into verse 27 comes from one of his disciples in verse 26:

The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?” (Mark 10:26)

And so Jesus answers “With man [being saved] is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”

The first point to be made about this teaching is that without a proper relationship with God, it is impossible for us to be in heaven. No amount of earthly works will get us into heaven if we don’t know God. For me, this is always a relief to know, because I’ll never be as good on earth as other people I know, but I also know people who act in ways far below the standard God calls for. But in God’s eyes, all of us are on a level playing field, and all of us can ask Jesus into our hearts, which is pretty amazing.

The second point about this teaching is in the second part; ‘all things are possible with God’. ‘All things’ is a lot of things. In my mind ‘all things’ makes me think of getting a million dollars, becoming the world’s best basketball player and/or flying. I don’t know why ‘flying’ but I feel the power of flight would be handy. We know this can’t be the case because of verse 25:

“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.” (Mark 10:25)

Earthly possessions, positions and powers (both social and super) distract us from our spiritual needs for God. So what are ‘all things that are possible with God?’.

Everything. Creating a universe. Rescuing the Israelite from Egypt. Allowing a virgin to give birth, and many other miracles in between. But God only causes things to happen that are in line with his goals, not ours. And one of his top priorities? Forming relationships with us humans, which is mind boggling. So God will give grace upon grace, through his son dying on the cross, so that we can be in a right relationship with him. If he needs to make some miracles happen for a relationship with him to happen, I believe it’s possible for God. The person you believe has no chance to form a relationship with God and be in glory? All things are possible with God.

Don’t give up hope and prayer for the lost.