Matthew 19:16-22: The rich, young ruler. Jesus sees his heart, confronts his idols

“Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?”  The rich young ruler to Jesus, Matthew 19:16

Jesus did not respond by immediately showing the way of salvation because the man was missing an essential quality.  He lacked the sense of his own sinfulness, and Jesus had to point that out… He longed for God’s blessing, but he did not long for God. 

John MacArthur’s commentary on this passage

Your money flows most effortlessly toward your heart’s greatest love…if God and His grace is the thing in the world you love the most, you will give your money away to ministry, charity and the poor in astonishing amounts.

 Tim Keller, Counterfeit Gods, p. 168

This is one of the most fascinating exchanges that Jesus has during His physical life on earth.   On His way to Jerusalem (Matthew 16:21), Jesus is approached by a rich young ruler who asks Him, ““Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?” (v.16).  Instead of leading this hot prospect in a prayer after presenting him the Four Spiritual Laws,  Jesus responds to his question by asking some hard questions of His own that cut to the very core of the young man’s beliefs.  

The first thing Jesus does is to challenge the rich young ruler in a few of his theological categories.  These categories stem from the idea that a human can be saved by perfectly keeping the law.  Theoretically, this is true.  But “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God,” (Romans 3:23).  Therefore, Jesus challenges the rich young ruler’s definition of “good.”   “Only God is good,” Jesus reminds him.  Next, Jesus challenges the young man’s idea of who He is.   For the young man, Jesus is merely a “good teacher,” (Mark 10:17).   This is a far cry from Peter’s proclamation to Jesus, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God!” (Matthew 16:16).

Next Jesus says something that should be unsettling to all who believe in salvation by grace through faith.  Jesus says, “If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments” (v. 17).  What is Jesus getting at here?  After all, whether it is a late night encounter with Nicodemus (John 3:16), the crowds at Capernaum (John 6:29) or at the tomb of Lazarus (John 11:25-26), Jesus repeatedly teaches faith in Him is the key to eternal life.  Yet here with the rich young ruler, Jesus seems to contradict Himself.   Why?  What is He doing?

Jesus is showing the young man the logical conclusion of the wrong belief that salvation can be earned by good works.   After Jesus tells him, “keep the commandments,” (v.17), He then lists several of the Ten Commandments.   Interestingly, Jesus only lists the commandments that deal with man’s relationship with others while omitting the commandments about man’s relationship with God.    When the young ruler says, “All these things I have kept, what am I still lacking?” (v.20), Jesus tells him he must be “perfect”; (NIV, v. 21) and “go sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me,” (v. 21).  

Jesus is not saying in verse 21 the only people in heaven are those that have sold all they have and given it to poor.  Rather, Jesus sees that this young man is trusting in his own good works and that his riches have become an idol and are more important to him than his Creator God.  The Bible says that forgiveness, reconciliation and salvation are not found in our ability to live a good Christian life; rather salvation is found in our response of faith to the completed work of Christ on the cross.  We have been justified not by good works but by His blood and His life (Romans 5:9-10; 1 Peter 2:24).    It is this lesson that Jesus wants to teach to the rich young ruler.   

When Jesus was a guest at Zaccheus’ house, Zaccheus exclaimed, “half of my possessions I will give to the poor and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much.” (Luke 19:8 emphasis added).   To this Jesus pronounced, “Today salvation has come to this house…”     For the person who trusts in his good works to save him, this story of Zaccheus should be troubling when read alongside this story of the rich young ruler.   For Jesus told the young ruler to give it all to the poor.  Yet for Zaccheus, the saving portion was only half.  The issue isn’t that Jesus has a varying set of weights for the judgment scale; rather Jesus knew the hearts of both men and He knew what they needed to hear in order to respond by faith in a saving way to Himself.

When Jesus encountered the rich young ruler, He did not want just another ministry trophy.  Rather Jesus wanted to address the root issues that kept the young man’s heart in darkness.   Unfortunately, at the end of their dialogue, the young man went away grieved; for he was one who owned much property (v.22).   Surely Jesus must have grieved too for He loved this young man (Mark 10:21).

What are the idols in your life?  What are those things that keep you from a 100% devotion to the Lord?   Even as His followers, we have idols.  What must you pluck out in your life in order to follow Christ more fully?  Are you trusting in your own futile efforts or are you trusting in Christ’s death to save you?  Now is the time for each of us to examine our hearts.  And may our hearts be fully His.