Day 26 of 49
A rich young ruler approached Christ with a question about eternal life. He wanted to know what good deed would guarantee him entrance into the Kingdom of God. Mark actually adds the word one, “what one good deed can I do”.
And behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?”
17 And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.”
18 He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness,
19 Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
20 The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?”
21 Jesus said to him, “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.”
22 When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. 23 And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven.
24 Again I tell you, 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.”
Matthew 19:16–24
Some people think that our good deeds will be weighed against our bad deeds, and if the good deeds weigh more, we get into heaven. In reality, our good deeds on our own are just dirty rags. Our works will be measured against the holiness of God, the only way to heaven is accepting Jesus Christ to stand in our place.
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
1 John 2:1–2
I find it interesting that this man was seeking the one thing that could open the door of heaven. When Jesus told him to keep the Law, he asked which ones he had to keep.
This may have been common thinking in the first century…and today. A person obviously cannot keep the entire law, therefore I should concentrate on the important ones.
He probably breathed a sigh of relief when Jesus stated the ones that could be measured…I don’t think he heard Jesus’ sermon on these particular commands. He said, “All these I’ve kept.”
Jesus did not contradict him and expose his failures to keep the Law. In Luke, it says that Jesus had compassion on him.
So then Jesus told him the one thing he had to do, give all that he owned to the poor. And added a second, follow Jesus.
The man left, deflated, his riches were more important than eternal life.
Is there something you are holding that keeps you from total commitment to Christ? Money? A habit? A person? I’m going to have to do some reflection on this.
Reading suggestion: “My Heart Christ’s Home” by Robert Boyd Munger.
And Peter said, “See, we have left our homes and followed you.”
29 And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God,
30 who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.”
Luke 18:28–30
TRICIA LATHROP 