Listen to the audio of today’s Reflection:
https://soundcloud.com/hapearce/reflection-for-november-24
Matthew 19:16-30
The Rich Young Man
16 Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”
17 “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”
18 “Which ones?” he inquired.
Jesus replied, “‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, 19 honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”
20 “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”
21 Jesus answered, “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.”
22 When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich person to 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.”
25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?”
26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
27 Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?”
28 Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. 30 But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.
In this story, a wealthy young man comes to Jesus and asks him “what good thing” he needs to do to inherit eternal life. And Jesus answers, “If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”
It’s probably true that lots of people who consider themselves Christians would think that sounds clear and logical. ‘Sure – just obey the commandments and you’ll go to heaven.’ But those who have given some serious thought to what the New Testament tells us about the nature of our salvation might find something here that gives them pause. And that’s especially true of those of us from the Reformed tradition like Presbyterians. That’s because we’re taught that none of us can earn eternal life by keeping the commandments – we just can’t be good enough to deserve a place in heaven.
And maybe the rich young man knows intuitively that’s true. He claims to have been keeping the commandments, but clearly he has a sense that it hasn’t been enough. After all, in the story he comes to Jesus to asks what’s lacking in his life of faith.
And Jesus seems to confirm that there really is something lacking – that we can’t be ‘good enough to go to heaven.’ He says, “With man this is impossible,” and by “this” I understand Jesus to mean keeping the commandments well enough to earn salvation.
As I read it, one of the commandments the rich young man claims to have kept is “Love your neighbor as yourself.” All the others Jesus mentions are from the Ten Commandments, but the one about loving our neighbor is one that Jesus says in another context is “like” loving God himself. So it seems to me that in this case, Jesus is challenging the man’s claim about loving his neighbor. He tells the man to go and sell everything and give it all to the poor. The man’s reaction shows that he does not, in fact, love his neighbor as himself. Instead, he clings to his wealth rather than share it with his poor ‘neighbors.’
That’s the problem with depending on your own virtue and obedience to get you into heaven. Our own self-centered nature gets in the way of our love for God and our neighbor. So we don’t end up obeying the commandments faithfully, after all.
After the disappointed rich man goes off, Jesus turns to his disciples and speaks the famous line about it being easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to get into heaven.
Some readers might remember that in past reflections, we’ve said that there’s a translation issue that affects our understanding of what Jesus is saying. Some New Testament scholars point out that in this case, Jesus was using the same kind of Semitic humor he used when he talked about getting a speck out of someone else’s eye while you have a log in your own – a form of humor based on ridiculous exaggeration. The scholars say that in the Aramaic language Jesus spoke, the word for ‘camel’ was also the word for ‘rope.’ So the image Jesus was expressing here might have been one of trying to get a rope through the eye of a needle, which seems to me to make more sense than the typical ‘camel’ translation.
But in either case, Jesus was using a ridiculous word picture to make a point: that great wealth is more of a danger to our spiritual health than a benefit to it. In fact, it can even get in the way of our quest for eternal life.
This idea doesn’t seem that surprising to us, but it seems confounding to Jesus’ disciples. Like typical Hebrews of their time, they assumed that wealth was a sign of God’s favor. So when the disciples heard Jesus say it was impossible for the rich to enter the heavenly kingdom, they were stunned. Jesus had turned their whole understanding of the nature of salvation upside down.
Of course, it should probably be said that there’s still a strain of Christian thought that connects material blessing with spiritual health and righteousness. The whole “prosperity gospel” movement is based on promoting that connection. But there are some real problems with that kind of theology.
The first is that associating wealth with righteousness tends to promote a sense of entitlement on the part of people who think of themselves as “good Christians.” Those who worship regularly, study the Bible, pray faithfully, etc., sometimes convince themselves that their material blessings are a reward – that they’ve earned their prosperity, so to speak.
The second problem with that theology is even more problematic. If you regard material blessings as a sign of righteousness, then it’s easy to make the mistake of thinking that anyone who’s poor must deserve it. Their poverty must be some sort of punishment from God. And if you start down that path, you’re likely to conclude that you don’t have to help the needy, because their poverty is their own fault or “God’s will.”
But those of us who are materially blessed have no justification for judging ourselves as morally or spiritually superior to the poor. In fact, the poorest segment of the American population is statistically more generous in sharing their meager resources, and more likely to pray, worship and study the Bible regularly than more affluent Americans.
But our hope is not supposed to rest in the things of this world, anyway. Our hope is supposed to rest in Jesus – in obeying his teachings and living in imitation of him. If we’re faithful in doing those things, then our craving for material goods and wealth will fade away, and we’ll be more and more willing to share them generously. All we’ll really need is the presence of the God we serve, and the chance to serve him and others in our master’s name.
Let’s pray. Lord, set us free from our attachment to the things of this world, and from the thought that our blessings are a sign of our spiritual superiority. Move us to express our love of neighbor, as well as our true discipleship, by sharing generously with our neighbors in need. Amen.
Grace and Peace,
Henry
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