seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Luke 18:18 A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
19 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. 20 You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.’”
21 “All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said.
22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
23 When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy. 24 Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! 25 Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
26 Those who heard this asked, “Who then can be saved?”
27 Jesus replied, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”
28 Peter said to him, “We have left all we had to follow you!”
29 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus said to them, “no one who has left home or wife or brothers or sisters or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God 30 will fail to receive many times as much in this age, and in the age to come eternal life.”
31 Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. 32 He will be delivered over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him and spit on him; 33 they will flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.”
34 The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about.
This is all very heavy. We've seen this ruler before. Matthew reported this incident. Check out verses 18 and 19 though. This guy wasn't asking how to be a disciple or apostle, he was asking for eternal life. Eternal life is a bigger event than hanging out with Jesus. Eternal life is not something you could just get.Now look at verse 19. The rich guy called Jesus "Good". Now, I've never understood why Jesus made a big deal about the rich guy calling Jesus "good". After all, I know I've heard others called "My good man". It's very "British" right? But it's in the Bible, and Jesus seems interested in pointing out the fact the man used that "Good" name on Him. Why would Luke point it out if it was only a colloquial statement [like being "British"]. So, I went to Enduring Word for any clue I might find on their site.
“There is no instance in the whole Talmud of a rabbi being addressed as ‘Good Master’” (Plummer, cited in Geldenhuys). They insisted on calling God alone “good.”
i. It was as if Jesus said, “You come to Me asking about what good thing you can do to inherit eternal life; but what do you really know about goodness?” “The argument is clear: either Jesus was good, or he ought not to have called him good; but as there is none good but God, Jesus who is good must be God.” (Spurgeon)
ii. We might say that the ruler did not really know who Jesus was. If he did, he would humble himself as the tax collector did in the story Jesus told earlier in the chapter (Luke 18:10-14). The following verses show that the ruler also did not really know who he was.
Now check out verse 25. It's easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich guy to inherit Heaven. Jesus explained it. A rich guy thinks he has everything. He thinks he's the perfect person, after all everyone says yes to everything he says. He thinks he's the perfect person, because he follows the ten commandments to a T. But he's missing one sin.... a biggie....Exodus 20:3 “You shall have no other gods before me. "
If you can't give it up..... it's in control. If someone or something is in control of you, there is no room for God.You have to give it all up. Money makes the rich man's world go around. Everything depends on the financial statement.
Then Jesus went on to tell the Apostles that even He would have to make go through trials to get back home to Heaven. They didn't get it. It might as well have been written in King James. {"My good man" and all that stuff]
Jesus couldn't have been looking forward to being hung on a cross and then being shoved into a cold dark tomb. Imagine how much worse that is compared to going to the dentist! And yet, Jesus was willing to do it. The rich guy, well, not so much.
The only reason the rich man was even considering eternal life.... was that it was something he didn't have and he had to have it all.
Jesus would give it all up for the rich guy.... but the rich guy wasn't willing to give it all up for Jesus.
To the rich guy, Salvation's just....
Something he couldn't buy!
