The man that we now refer to as the “rich young ruler” thought that he was a pretty good guy. He was rich, so surely he was blessed by God, or so he may have thought. He had been obeying the commandments as he had been taught to do since he was a young boy, so surely God looked upon him with favor, he assumed.
But yet, he knew that something was off. Something was still missing, and so he came to Jesus to ask him what he needed to do to inherit eternal life. He wanted to know how he could go to heaven.
Jesus responded, telling the man that he already knew what to do… he needed to keep the commandments.
“But… which commandments?”, the man asked.
Jesus baited the man a little further into the conversation by listing off a few of the commandments related to how we are to treat other people:
Do not murder.
Do not commit adultery.
Do not steal.
Do not lie.
Honor your father and mother and love your neighbor as yourself.
“Yes, I’ve done all of these!” the man responded, seemingly excited that he was on the right track. “What am I missing?”
I can almost hear the man feeling pretty good about himself. He was nearly certain that Jesus, this great teacher, was just about to declare that he was ready to enter into heaven, to inherit eternal life.
But he didn’t realize that Jesus had brought him to a true point of decision. Up to now, the man had affirmed that he had been living rightly from a human point of view, but all of these things, the commandments that Jesus had listed off up to this point, are each possible to do living a good “moral” life. You can do all of them without recognizing God as your king, as the sovereign ruler over your life. You can keep all of these commandments that Jesus had initially listed without even believing in God. You could be an atheist and do all of the things that Jesus had said up to that point.
Now, Jesus changes the nature of the conversation, helping the man to truly understand what he needs to do to inherit eternal life:
“If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
Matthew 19:21
Jesus calls the rich man, he gives the man a challenge, to truly recognize Jesus’s authority. Previously, as Jesus listed the commandments, he said nothing about the commandments regarding how we should treat God. For example, Jesus never mentioned any of these first three commandments of the ten:
Have no other gods before me.
Do not make an idol, nor bow down and worship it.
Do not misuse the name of God.
Beyond these, while Jesus had previously noted that we must treat our neighbors as ourselves, he says nothing about loving God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. He had never even talked about the first and most important command!
Jesus changes the conversation by telling the man that he is right, he is missing something, just as he suspected. In fact, he is missing something, or someone, very important. He is missing God.
It is as if Jesus said to the man:
Do you want to inherit eternal life?
Do you want to live forever?
Do you want to have eternal significance?
Well, the only way that you can do that is to give yourself to God. How can you do that? You have to put off yourself, put off the things that you want and the things that you consider to be important, and give yourself wholly to him, wholly to God.
You have thought that your money, your riches, could save you, but these things are only temporary. If you want something that is not temporary, but is instead truly eternal, as you are asking me, you must come to God.
How can you do that? Get rid of your money and come to me.
Why get rid of your money? Because you love it more than you love me.
Why come to me? Why come follow me? Because I am God. I am eternal, and in me you can find eternal life.
Your good morality isn’t enough. Your ability to follow the commandments and be a good person isn’t enough. No, your ability to inherit eternal life goes much deeper than that. God isn’t impressed with your ability to follow the law, to follow a set of rules. He isn’t impressed that you are a good, moral person. He is only impressed with your belief in him, your faith that is lived out by truly showing the state of your heart, that you truly believe what he has told you. God must be your God. In fact, I am God and I am standing right here in front of you, telling you how you can inherit eternal life.
Do you want to live forever? Go sell all of your possessions. Give them to other people. This will be the demonstration that you truly believe in me, that you truly trust me, and this will show that you truly believe that I am God.
Then you will inherit eternal life.
The man’s money, in and of itself, wasn’t the problem. Jesus didn’t give the man a universal command that all rich people must sell all of their possessions and give them to the poor. The question, instead, is the state of our heart. What are those things that stand in our way to truly know Jesus, recognize him truly as God, and do all that he has told us to do? Those are the things that must be removed so that we can give ourselves fully to Christ.
This is why Jesus told the man to get rid of all of his possessions. They stood in his way of truly knowing Christ and thus inheriting eternal life, and that is why the man went away sad. He was not willing to give up his possessions to follow Jesus. He wanted his money and his possessions more than he wanted Jesus, more than he wanted a relationship with God, and so eternal life would not be his.
We have a choice, and it is a choice that stands before us every day. What are those things that stand in our way to fully acknowledging Jesus as not only our Savior, but also our Lord? What are those things that prevent us from truly knowing him? Those are the things that we must remove from our lives, acknowledging Jesus instead as the Lord and king over our life, living for him and for his will.