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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.
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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!

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