Jesus Said to the Rich Man…
“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” (Matt. 19:21) [1]. These are extreme words from the Messiah which the rich man could hardly stomach. Matthew tells us is that the rich man walked away with sorrow. Rather than calling people to take vows of poverty, the Jesus sought to leave the young man and the disciples overhearing the conversation with the understanding that if there ever was going to be salvation for Israel, it would be on God’s terms, and that Messiah’s ministry was intricately woven together with that salvation.
The rich young man got into a discussion with Jesus on the matter of eternal life. Ancient Israelites would have connected everlasting life with Judgment Day. Daniel was told, “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt” (Dan. 12:2).
Jesus then takes the rich man to the place where each of us must go to grapple well with the question of eternal life—God. Why call Jesus “good”? Why call anyone good? It is a mistake to think Christ wanted to say, “I’m bad, and the only good guy is God.” Banish the thought! Christ’s words are far more profound. The Lord wants to start things off in the right direction, and that if we want to talk about anything being “good” and the antithesis of being “bad” it begins with God. God is the objective reference point from where we are going to figure out these things. Take God out of the picture and the measure of “good” and “bad” are left to the whims of the individual, and “good” and “bad” become relative terms without standard nor substance.
The rich man is then called upon to recall the Commandments that God had given the Israelite people to keep that they would allow them to dwell and thrive in the promise land, as opposed to being cursed and exiled. One can get a picture of this from a cursory read through Exodus to Deuteronomy, but the rich man specifically mentions a portion of the Decalogue (i.e. Ten Commandments) and Leviticus 19:18.
Good choices. But, Jesus wants to zero in on the real problem. The young man is asked to give up something and exchange it for something else. What he had to give up was his riches. He was asked to sell what he owned and give the earnings to the poor. The Lord’s call was unique, and other rich men in the Bible were never asked to do this. Think Joseph of Arimathea (Matt. 27:57). Jesus calls the young man to sell his things, because the young man failed his own standard for receiving eternal life. If the rich man really loved his neighbor as himself, then why was he so reticent to give to the poor? The rich man wanted eternal life on his own terms, which was woven together with his own interpretation of the Mosaic Law. On the other hand, Messiah demands him to take the Law and eternal life on God’s terms.
“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God” (Matt. 19:24). The rich man was unable to get into the kingdom on his own efforts. He had money, but even that was an insufficient bargaining chip. The irony is that the guy held on too tightly to what he never could take into the next life—his possession. Job died a rich man, but during the dark times of a financial crisis and loss of children, he was right to declare: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD” (Job 1:21). What the rich man missed was that “salvation is obtained by complete trust in God; riches of any kind, including natural talents, make such trust virtually impossible” [2].
If there is eternal life for anyone, it is on God’s terms alone. If the guy whom the Lord has blessed with great wealth is unable to get eternal life, then who can get it? “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible,” replies Jesus (Matt. 19:26).
The truth of the matter is this: Even after the present physical body dies, people will still be conscious of things in the afterlife. They still sense things. Jesus will also appear a second time to judge the living and the dead. There is then a life after the afterlife. When He appears, everyone gets resurrected from the dead, the righteous are raised to eternal life and the unrighteous to eternal condemnation (John 5:28-29; 1 Cor. 15:1-58; 2 Cor. 5:9-10; Heb. 9:27-28; Rev. 20:11-12). If there is any talk about eternal life, it really begins with God. If eternal life has anything to do with living faithful to Yahweh’s commandments, we have to remember that all people fail at this task, but where everyone else fails, it is Jesus who succeeds. The Messiah was “tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15). It is Jesus who fulfills the Law (Matt. 5:17-18). God’s terms for eternal life is then intricately woven together with Jesus Christ, and the receiving of eternal life begins with following Him.
~ WGN
_____________________
Notes:
[1] All Scripture cited from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001, unless noted.
[2] H.L. Ellison, New International Bible Commentary, ed. F. F. Bruce (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1979), 1141.
The rich young man got into a discussion with Jesus on the matter of eternal life. Ancient Israelites would have connected everlasting life with Judgment Day. Daniel was told, “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt” (Dan. 12:2).
Jesus then takes the rich man to the place where each of us must go to grapple well with the question of eternal life—God. Why call Jesus “good”? Why call anyone good? It is a mistake to think Christ wanted to say, “I’m bad, and the only good guy is God.” Banish the thought! Christ’s words are far more profound. The Lord wants to start things off in the right direction, and that if we want to talk about anything being “good” and the antithesis of being “bad” it begins with God. God is the objective reference point from where we are going to figure out these things. Take God out of the picture and the measure of “good” and “bad” are left to the whims of the individual, and “good” and “bad” become relative terms without standard nor substance. The rich man is then called upon to recall the Commandments that God had given the Israelite people to keep that they would allow them to dwell and thrive in the promise land, as opposed to being cursed and exiled. One can get a picture of this from a cursory read through Exodus to Deuteronomy, but the rich man specifically mentions a portion of the Decalogue (i.e. Ten Commandments) and Leviticus 19:18.
Good choices. But, Jesus wants to zero in on the real problem. The young man is asked to give up something and exchange it for something else. What he had to give up was his riches. He was asked to sell what he owned and give the earnings to the poor. The Lord’s call was unique, and other rich men in the Bible were never asked to do this. Think Joseph of Arimathea (Matt. 27:57). Jesus calls the young man to sell his things, because the young man failed his own standard for receiving eternal life. If the rich man really loved his neighbor as himself, then why was he so reticent to give to the poor? The rich man wanted eternal life on his own terms, which was woven together with his own interpretation of the Mosaic Law. On the other hand, Messiah demands him to take the Law and eternal life on God’s terms.
“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God” (Matt. 19:24). The rich man was unable to get into the kingdom on his own efforts. He had money, but even that was an insufficient bargaining chip. The irony is that the guy held on too tightly to what he never could take into the next life—his possession. Job died a rich man, but during the dark times of a financial crisis and loss of children, he was right to declare: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD” (Job 1:21). What the rich man missed was that “salvation is obtained by complete trust in God; riches of any kind, including natural talents, make such trust virtually impossible” [2].
If there is eternal life for anyone, it is on God’s terms alone. If the guy whom the Lord has blessed with great wealth is unable to get eternal life, then who can get it? “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible,” replies Jesus (Matt. 19:26).
The truth of the matter is this: Even after the present physical body dies, people will still be conscious of things in the afterlife. They still sense things. Jesus will also appear a second time to judge the living and the dead. There is then a life after the afterlife. When He appears, everyone gets resurrected from the dead, the righteous are raised to eternal life and the unrighteous to eternal condemnation (John 5:28-29; 1 Cor. 15:1-58; 2 Cor. 5:9-10; Heb. 9:27-28; Rev. 20:11-12). If there is any talk about eternal life, it really begins with God. If eternal life has anything to do with living faithful to Yahweh’s commandments, we have to remember that all people fail at this task, but where everyone else fails, it is Jesus who succeeds. The Messiah was “tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15). It is Jesus who fulfills the Law (Matt. 5:17-18). God’s terms for eternal life is then intricately woven together with Jesus Christ, and the receiving of eternal life begins with following Him.
~ WGN
_____________________
Notes:
[1] All Scripture cited from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001, unless noted.
[2] H.L. Ellison, New International Bible Commentary, ed. F. F. Bruce (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1979), 1141.
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