And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” …… Comment:– What would make a young man run up, kneel at a man’s feet and ask the question which he did? Psychologists, and may be others, could/would suggest a whole list of possible reasons for this young man doing so. I, being a simple man, assume that as he entered manhood he realized that he didn’t have everything ‘stitched up’ in his relationship to God and what would happen when he died! And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. …...Comment: – Was this Jesus saying, ‘Don’t get Me mixed up with God’; or was He asking, ‘Do you think that I am God?’ …….. You know the commandments: Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.”…… Comment: – Jesus gave the young man the standard Jewish answer! The Mosaic Law gave them the standards of Justice and Righteous Living. It went further than that it gave a sacrificial system to seek forgiveness and to worship. The young man said, ‘But I’ve done that and added, but I am not satisfied’. He hadn’t even run off the rails when he was a teenager! And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” ………Comment: Jesus is ‘Love personified’ (not erotic or ‘soppy – purely emotional’ love), but He saw that the first thing in this man’s thinking was ‘being rich’ – it had displaced God as being first in his thinking. Wealth was his idol at which he worshipped first. How do we know if Jesus assessed him right? We’ll see how the young man responds! Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.…… Comment: Jesus is proven correct. But note the way that we can re-phrase Jesus command to this man is, “Put God first and come, follow me.” Knowing something of Jesus by reading and also by my life’s experience, I am sure that Jesus said this in a way that reflected my re-phrasing of His command!
Proverbs 2: 6-8 – For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity, guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of his saints. – the young man saw the problem, was shown the right answer but made the wrong choice. I hope that he met Jesus again later!
Prayer: Preserve me, please, from thinking that my way is better than Your Way, Lord Jesus.
As I read it! 