Matthew 25

Rich Young Ruler

Many of you are probably familiar with the story of the rich young ruler. It is one of the more famous stories in the Gospels but I want to really make sure that we understand all of the details in the story. We are going to break it down piece by piece to get every aspect of this encounter as it is very important to what salvation is and how it works. Look down to verse sixteen with me.

Matthew 19:16 “Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?””

Notice here the way that the man approaches a conversation with Jesus, it is very different from how the Pharisees have been asking Him questions previously. The Pharisees have been asking Jesus questions all along, but they have been doing so in a hostile manner trying to make Jesus slip up. This man is different. First, he addresses Jesus as Good Teacher. This was a sign of respect towards Jesus acknowledging that He is good and is not misleading people. The Pharisees have been dismissing what He has said while this man agreed that what He says is good. Not only that but He comes to him with a question and not just a hypothetical question on something minor like the Pharisees, but a good question about what can he do to have eternal life. He is recognizing that there must be something done in order to have eternal life and he knows that Christ has the answers.

Already to start it seems as though the man is on the right tract and that this is a story that ends with his salvation, but let’s look at Jesus’ answer.

Matthew 19:17 “So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.””

This verse can be confusing for us Christians as without context it almost sounds like Jesus is denying His divinity. Here is what Jesus is saying though “You recognize that I am good but only God is good so who must I be?” From the beginning Jesus is letting the man know that salvation must come from recognizing who Christ is. Notice also that while the man asked about eternal life, Jesus gave him an answer for life. Jesus is saying that there is no real life apart from Him. That life apart from Him still ultimately leads to death and therefore is not even worthy of being called life. It is only through a life with Him that we can truly say that we live as that is the only way of eternal life. Now you would think that Christ would continue on this path and talk about faith and repentance as He does on other occassions, but He doesn’t. Instead Christ begins talking about obedience to the commandments. Is He swapping how salvation is attained then? Let’s keep reading and break it down.

Matthew 19:18–19 “He said to Him, “Which ones?” 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 your mother,’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ””

In the earthly ministry of Jesus there are disputes about what Jesus knows at a given time. Some state that from birth He knew all things as He is God and thus is all knowing, some state that in all situations He functioned as a normal man only knowing what is percievable by man. I, along with many theologians, would argue that Jesus was not all knowing at all times because it speaks of Him learning as a child. To truly be man He had to go through the process of learning like we do on how to walk or talk, but there were some instances where His divine nature shows through and He is indeed undoubtably all knowing in a circumstance. This in my opinion is one such circumstance as it pertains with the salvation of the soul and according to John 10:3 Jesus knows His sheep by name. Jesus knows the eternal destiny of this man before the conversation begins and knows that he is not one of His sheep. Jesus also appears to know what is in the mans heart at this time as well.

Jesus tells the man to obey some of the most basic commandments in the Jewish faith, but they are very important commandments and Jesus chose them specifically. One reason Jesus likely chose these commandments is that the Jews had lost sight of this side of their religious practices. They went to the temple and gave money to the church and talked about God with each other, but they rarely helped anyone. They were not practicing right morals with the world around them. At best they shut everyone who wasn’t a Jew out and at worst they dispised and looked down on the non-Jews. What Jesus is doing here then is calling out a major problem nearly all the Jews had and most assuredly this man struggled with as well.

The other reason these commandments were chosen can be seen through the rest of the interaction.

Matthew 19:20–22 “The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.”

The man responds by saying yes Jesus I know all of this and have been doing this since I was a kid. He then asks what else he needs to do. Some people will take this as a sincerity of the man trying to find out how to achieve salvation, the problem lies with the word achieve. As if salvation is a thing that we as humans can do ourselves. This man has the idea that he must do something to earn salvation. Not only that, but he thinks that he is capable of earning it. So, Jesus tells him how to earn salvation, through perfection. The other reason Jesus chose these commandments is because He covered them in the Sermon on the Mount and clarified that it is not only the physical action, but the inward thought that condemns men. So, to earn salvation a person would have to never have a single ungrighteous thought. A man would have to never look at a woman that is not his wife with lustful desires or a woman would have to never look at another woman with envy. If you have done either of those things then you are as good as an adulter and a coveter. You have broken the commandments. Jesus is not saying that the man has not kept the commandments outwardly, maybe he has, but he assuredly has not perfectly kept them inwardly.

So, Jesus plays his game. If he wants steps on what to do to earn salvation Jesus tells him to be perfect and go sell all of his possessions and give it to the poor and follow Him. Jesus knows that the man will turn away and reject the call. The world was too important to the man and his possessions meant too much to Him. If Jesus knew this then why does He still tell the man to follow Him? All of the world is called to follow Him. Jesus knows His sheep and knows whose names are written in the lambs book of life as we are told, but Christ still commands all of mankind to follow Him. Why? This is so no one is able to plead ignorance to Christ. The call is open though only few will be drawn by Him. Christ knew that the man would reject Him yet He still extended the invitation so that in the time of judgement it would be clear that he rejected the free gift of life. The same is true with the world. We as the church preach Christ to the world and we do not know who the sheep that God will call are. We do not know who will say yes and who will say no, but we offer the Gospel to everyone so that everyone can say that a chance was given to them.

Jesus then explains this encounter to His disciples that are with Him.

Matthew 19:23–24 “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And 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.””

Notice here that Jesus does not say it is impossible for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven, he says it is hard. These verse have often been mis understood to say that rich men are not able to go to heaven because a camel cant go through a needle. This comes from a problem we have with modern english and our culture vs what they would have understood plainly at the time. Camels of course are an animal that were commonly ridden in the Middle East at this time for transportation. They would also be used by merchants very often and would be very heavy laden with goods at their sides. The eye of the needle does not refer to the hole in a sewing needle, but actually to a very narrow gate in the walls of Jerusalem. This gate would have been just wide enough for a camel to get through, but not a camel laden down with burdens. The burdens would have to be left on the other side if the camel wants to get through. Men must lay down all that they care for to enter into the kingdom of heaven. We cannot carry our baggage and burdens in with us. All of our worldly cares we must surrender to Him and submit our entire lives underneath His glory. The more cares and burdens we have the harder it is. For the rich man with great possessions it is very hard to submit his life over to God when He has so much here in this life.

Look down to verse twenty-five and see the disciples response to this.

Matthew 19:25–26 “When His disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.””

The disciples then ask a good question who can be saved? If it is so difficult to get into heaven, if it requires perfection and forsaking the world and submitting to Him then who can possibly do such a hard task? Only God. Jesus says that with men they are right it is impossible to earn salvation. No man can be perfect and then no man can of His own free will without God’s intervention submit to the Father. It is only by God’s power can anyone be saved because through Him all things are possible. It is by the drawing of the Holy Spirit in our souls that our hearts of stone are softened to the Gospel and it is through the blood of Jesus Christ that our sins are paid for, and finally it is by the grace of the Father that we are justified and allowed admission into the eternal life and given the free gift of life that we could not earn.