Skip to main content

The Rich Young Ruler



A familiar passage spoke to me in with a strong sense of freshness this week. I thought it would be wise to document this down so that I may refer to this again one day.
----

And behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” 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.” The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

 Matthew 19: 16-22

 When the rich young man came to Jesus to ask what he must do to have eternal life, Jesus relayed to him the commandments, found in Exodus 20 and Leviticus 19:18 - "You shall love your neighbor as yourself". However he left out the last one. Observe below the passage from Exodus 20:12-17:

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. 

 “You shall not murder.

 “You shall not commit adultery.

 “You shall not steal.

 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

 “You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.”

 The commandments in blue, are the ones mentioned by Jesus, and the one in red was not mentioned.

And so, the rich young man, mentions - "All these I have kept. What do I still lack?"

 And Jesus, spoke to him to sell all he had, not to elevate a certain Stoicism but because the young man had coveted. He had great possessions because his heart was extremely covetous.

Why does this passage bear a tremendous significance?

1) It is easier for us to name the good things we do. The things however that we did not do, we are blinded to it or our hearts have censored them out of the Bible. The young man had demonstrated a familiarity with the commandments but had deliberately blocked the last one.

2) It is possible to be doing a lot of things but not be a true follower of Jesus. “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”

 The message here is not to trust in our own righteousness. The message of the gospel sometimes is not about us being too sinful, but too righteous!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lot, Noah, Shem, the Fall - how they all combine together

In this short writing, an attempt is made to show how the accounts of Noah, Shem, Lot, as well as the events after the Fall serve to powerfully combine to reveal the character of God in those who obey Him and those that do not.  The stories of Noah and Lot seem disparate but the parallels are incredible. The first connection is the feature of “wine” in both of these accounts. The parallels follow the pattern of (A) God’s salvation act (B) The drinking of wine (C) Actions of the Children.  It is easier to see the parallels when they are juxtaposed side-by-side (see picture). The (C) parallel may be harder to observe. Lot’s daughters’ attempts to bear children by their father is in fact the “uncovering of nakedness” prohibited later in the Pentateuch in Leviticus 18:6 -20. The verse below suffices for us to develop our thoughts further: “None of you shall approach any one of his close relatives to uncover nakedness. I am the Lord.” (Lev. 18:6) This ties back to the F...
Post a Comment
Read more

Did Jesus quote a non-existent verse in John 7:38?

So this was asked in Quora : My response below: The verse is NOT non-existent. The thing is the reference to a river flowing out occurs in a few places in the Old Testament. Thus when Jesus says "As the Scripture has said ..." He is referring to a theme that occurs repeatedly in the Old Testament. It is important to understand what "the rivers flowing out" imply in the Old Testament. They always refer to the  dwelling place of God . These occurs in a few places. As early as the Book of Genesis, we see this Scripture in Genesis 2:10 "A  river flowed out of Eden  to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers." (Genesis 2:10, ESV) Therefore, the source of the river = Eden. And Eden is none other than the very dwelling place of God. Biblical theology helps us understand Eden as a "type" of temple. Where else do we see this? We see this again in Ezekiel 47. In Ezekiel 47, in Ezekiel's vision of a New Temple, he pi...
Post a Comment
Read more

The use of Psalm 68:18 in Ephesians 4:8

  For Paul in Ephesians 4:8, clearly there are some changes from the text that Paul is supposedly citing which is Psalm 68:18. Comparing Psalm 68:18 and Ephesians 4:8, it is obvious there are differences. I believe Paul was actually using the LXX but has changed its words for the occasion in Ephesians 4. The LXX version of Psalm 68:18 and Ephesians 4:8 differs by a few words: Psalm 68:18 (it is actually Psalm 67:19 in the LXX): ἀναβὰς εἰς ὕψος  ᾐχμαλώτευσας  αἰχμαλωσίαν, ἔλαβες  δόματα  ἐν ἀνθρώπῳ , Ephesians 4:8 ἀναβὰς εἰς ὕψος  ᾐχμαλώτευσεν  αἰχμαλωσίαν,* ⸆  ἔδωκεν  δόματα ⸀ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις. Structurally you can see the LXX and Eph 4 is similar but for a few words changes.   The first change is from 2nd person (LXX) to 3rd person (Eph 4) with regards to who is doing the ascending in the first line.  So the English Bible rightly translates the phrase to "When  he  ascended on high" versus Psalm 68, " you  ascended" ...
Post a Comment
Read more