With God All Things Are Possible

Having a good life is something that yearns in the heart of us all. It’s more than just longevity, but being able to experience life to its fullest. Some strive for that life apart from being involved in spiritual matters. Others seek the spiritual for fulfillment. Those who do might look to some well-established tradition, whereas others seek alternative paths. The common denominator is the search for the good life is often on the person’s own terms. God, however, has come from heaven to earth to show a different way, something far, far better. This way leads to eternal life, but it is on His terms. Christ’s encounter with a rich young man illustrates the point.

Matthew 19 tells of a rich young man asking Jesus “Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?” (v. 16). Jesus response with a rhetorical question in hopes of getting the young man to think about what’s at stake: “Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments” (v. 17). If the man was seeking after what is good, then he must come to grips with the reality that ultimately, God is the only one who is good. Human goodness, therefore, essentially measured upon the goodness of God. The Lord then points the man to the commandments in order to find eternal life.

The rich young man simply misses the point, and this comes clear in his follow up question: “Which ones?” (v. 18a). He was simply trying to pave a way to eternal life on his own terms. Just give me the bottom line on the commandments, list the one’s to keep, and I’ll keep those.

Jesus then lists five Old Testament laws relating to human relationships:

You shall not commit 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 first four come from Moses’ Ten Commandments (cf. Exod. 20:13-16; Deut. 5:17-20) and the last is from the Book of Leviticus (Lev. 19:18). Jesus neither mentions the other laws in the Decalogue concerning a person’s relationship to God, nor does He recite the Shema, the ancient Jewish creed: “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Deut. 6:4). Was the rich young man guilty of breaking these laws?

Jesus appears to be anticipating the young man’s third and final question: “All these things I have kept; what am I still lacking?” (v. 20).

The Lord responded: “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me” (v. 21). This did not sit well with the rich young man. He could not do it. He was good with obeying a list of “dos and don’ts, but giving up his earthly treasures for heavenly treasures, no way! He wanted heaven on his own terms. What happened? The rich young man “went away grieving” (v. 22). It is not that everyone had to sell their possessions to follow Jesus, and neither poverty nor prosperity equals piety. Jesus was zeroing in on what the rich young man set upon the throne of his own heart. Wealth and influence was his god. He was in love with the Master’s table, but not the Master. He wanted a spirituality that would accommodate his worship of prosperity, but this was not the way to eternal life.

“Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (vv. 23-24). Jesus’ hyperbolic imagery expresses the stranglehold riches had upon the young man’s soul. The “eye” in this context is not some gate, which in reality was constructed in the Middle Ages and nonexistent in the first century context. The “eye” is the tiny hole in a stitching needle wherein one would insert the thread. The camel being a very robust beast could never really fit into something that small by any conventional means and stretch of the imagination. Riches, therefore, are a stumbling block for many with respect to discovering the eternal life that God desires us to have.

These words about wealth keeping one from eternal life left the disciples “astonished,” asking, “Then who can be saved?” (v. 25). If wealthy and influential people cannot find eternal life, then who can? Jesus answer is “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (v. 26). God saves us on His own terms.

The good life is something found not upon one’s own terms; rather, it is something that can only be found in God upon His terms. The desire for wealth and influences is certainly a stumbling block that all can relate. Yet it cannot be exclusively material wealth. Some might hold on tightly to an ideology, a lifestyle, personal preference, or any one particular cherished vice which keeps one from entering into a right relationship with God and experiencing the good life. Yet, this simply will not do. God provides us a way to receive eternal life, which is on His own terms. We receive life by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.