I think we can get to know Jesus better if we see him in contrast with the man that some call “The Rich Young Ruler”. Here is a blow-by-blow reflection looking through Mark 10:17-31.

He is not the rich young ruler, 

But the poor eternal slave.

He hurries not to find favor, 

But suffers long to be found.

He feigns no man as usable good,

But flows the goodness of the unseen GOD

He angles not for a life without dying,

But enters with joy the journey of death.

He keeps no law as one coming behind it,

But completes the letter before a hand could write it.

He dismisses not the sympathies of love,

But winks in affection to rouse the way above.

He has no holdings to claim self preservation,

But measures in full the emptiness of heaven.

He wanders not past the poor and their plight,

But prospers in poverty to hear every cry.

He shuffles no shame in the dust at his feet,

But exposes the gate where the bankrupt meet.

He grips not what’s possible by what can be managed,

But sees their impossible through what he’s imagined.

He considers no table a place for the few,

But sets chairs by thousands with leftover food.

He labors not for the lead to avoid getting passed,

But yields in his love. He is First. He is Last.