On Line Bible Study - for the week July 14-20, 2008

Lesson 344

For the week July 14-20, 2008

Matthew 19:16 Another day, a man stopped Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?" 17 Jesus said, "Why do you question me about what's good? God is the One who is good. If you want to enter the life of God, just do what he tells you."

18-19 The man asked, "What in particular?"

Jesus said, "Don't murder, don't commit adultery, don't steal, don't lie, honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as you do yourself."

20 The young man said, "I've done all that. What's left?" (The Message, Eugene Peterson.)

Matthew has Jesus speaking of domestic affairs in the first part of chapter 19. Before that he was addressing the needs of the Christian Community. So, there is a progression – from community, to home – and now, the issue is our possessions.

Maybe you remember a time when you were a child and you were asked to do some chore. You got it done, only to have your mother or father come in and point out all the things you had left undone. If the man in the story had actually kept the commandments, perhaps he would not have been asking Jesus about eternal life! Entering the “life of God” is as simple as doing what God tells us to do! But notice that Jesus doesn’t debate whether the man had truly accomplished all that he said he had. Jesus moves on. To the question: “What’s left?” Jesus says this:

Matthew 19: 21 "If you want to give it all you've got," Jesus replied, "go sell your possessions; give everything to the poor. All your wealth will then be in heaven. Then come follow me."

The “life of God”, or “eternal life”, or what Jesus will refer to in verse 23 and 24 as the “kingdom of heaven” – that life requires our all! It’s an “all or nothing” kind of commitment. There is a moment of suspense here. Can you imagine in your mind’s eye this man pondering the choice that Jesus has just put before him?

Matthew 19: 22 That was the last thing the young man expected to hear. And so, crest-fallen, he walked away. He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and he couldn't bear to let go.

Here’s where the story gets personal. What are we holding on tight to?

I recently heard a man who designs roller coasters talk about how to ride these things – “Don’t hold on tight,” he counseled. “Relax, let your body go with the ride, and don’t fight it.”

Is that sound advice for living the spiritual life as well? Perhaps; but it’s not easy advice to follow! The man in the story walks away. It is only at this point in the story that we learn that he was “holding on tight to a lot of things”. Other translations put it this way: “When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great possessions.” Then Jesus tells us how difficult it is for rich people to “enter the kingdom of heaven” – to experience the “life of God” – to enter “eternal life”.

Does giving everything to the poor suggest a radical generosity that defines the essence of the kingdom of heaven? In any event, what Jesus is suggesting is, by his own admission, impossible!

Matthew 19:23-24 As he watched him go, Jesus told his disciples, "Do you have any idea how difficult it is for the rich to enter God's kingdom? Let me tell you, it's easier to gallop a camel through a needle's eye than for the rich to enter God's kingdom."

25 The disciples were staggered. "Then who has any chance at all?"

2 6Jesus looked hard at them and said, "No chance at all if you think you can pull it off yourself. Every chance in the world if you trust God to do it."

Notice that the disciples do not separate themselves out from the “rich”. The implication here is that wealth represented God’s blessing; and if God’s blessing so understood did not assure the rich of a place in heaven, who could possibly aspire to it?

In other words, we can’t let ourselves off the hook here by convincing ourselves that we are not “rich”, so Jesus must not be talking about us. Rather, Jesus is implying that the ones society thought most worthy of heaven were not getting in – that’s why the disciples are “staggered” by what Jesus is saying.

The point is this: We can’t do it alone. Not only is the kingdom of heaven God’s gift to us; but the means to get there is just as much a gift as well.

Jesus then assures his disciples that, for their having left all to follow him, they will be rewarded. However, there is this interesting tag at the end of the chapter – just after Jesus offers them this assurance. He says:

Matthew 19:30 But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.

It’s almost as if to say: “Don’t get too cocky!”

Jesus will have more to say about the kingdom of heaven. Read Matthew 20:1-16 for next time.