Jesus and the Rich Young Ruler (Like You’ve Never Read Before)

Spread the Word!

The story of the rich young ruler in Matthew 19:16-30, Mark 10:17-27 and Luke 18:18-23, teaches us about putting God first.

Jesus and the Rich Young Ruler

This story is well known for two key statements:

1. The path to eternal life
2. The rich ruler calling Jesus a Good Teacher

The Path to Eternal Life

This story highlights the road to eternal life. In summary, a rich young ruler comes to Jesus and kneels before Him calling Him a Good teacher. The ruler then goes on to ask Jesus what he must do to enter into eternal life. For this Jesus goes straight to the Ten Commandments. What is interesting to note is that Jesus addresses the Commandments in a different order. He first lists out only 6 of the Commandments that talk about one’s moral values: do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud and honor your father and mother. The ruler was happy to say that he has kept all these commandments since childhood.

Now, Jesus lovingly addresses the next half of the Commandments in a unique way to the young ruler. If you are not aware of the first four Commandments that Jesus now talks about, they are: I Am the Lord your God and you shall have no other gods before Me, not make a carved image for worship, not use God’s name in vain, keep the Sabbath Holy. Let’s address each one of these divine attributes of God:

• I Am the Lord your God and you shall have no other gods before me, yet Jesus made statements like: I and the Father are One (John 10:30) or I am the Beginning and the End (Revelation 22:13) which is a titled claimed by Yahweh in the book of Isaiah
• Do not use God’s name in vain: Jesus addresses this is (Matthew 5:33-37) and Philippians 2:9-10 tells us that Jesus’ name is above every other name in Heaven and earth
• Jesus also calls Himself the Lord of the Sabbath (Matthew 12:8)

All of the Commadments that address the nature of God is where the young ruler seems to lack understanding. The Bible tells us multiple times that Jesus spoke in parables and in a figure of speech:

This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. John 10:6

When the disciples ask Jesus why He speaks in parables, Jesus’ answer is recorded in Matthew 13:9-11, which is a lesson in itself.

Back to the story of the rich young ruler, where Jesus gets him to realise how much he values his possessions over God in His own way. When Jesus told him to sell everything and give it to the poor and then follow Him, the man was discourage and sad – as he wasn’t ready to part with his wealth. God wasn’t the center of his life, but his possessions were. Now, we all know that money in itself is not evil, only the love for money in the root of all evil (1 Timothy 6:10 and Hebrews 13:5). Jesus probably was testing to see where the man’s heart truly was. Jesus also addresss this topic about money in the book of Matthew, just a few chapters before this story in the bible.

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” Matthew 6:24

We either trust in our wealth to take us through life or trust in God to do the same. When we trust in riches, we begin to idolize it as a source of security and hope for the future. Another similar story on this topic is addressed in Luke 12:13-21 on the parable of the rich fool.

The next important topic in the story of the rich young ruler is the deity of Jesus. While Jesus made it known that most of us can keep the six moral values of the 10 Commandments, the part that we lack is in our relationship with God. When we continue to read this story, the disciples now ask Jesus, who then can be saved? To this Jesus responds,

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” Matthew 19:27

Another instance where Jesus makes this sames statement saying all things are possible is in Mark 9:23,

And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.”

Believes in what or who? ➡ Believes in the Father and Christ Jesus. In the book of John, Jesus says,

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.” John 14:1

After addressing the part about belief, Jesus addressse the part about being perfect, Matthew 19:21.

You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Matthew 5:48

Most of us can agree that it is impossible for us to be perfect human beings. So, how are we made perfect? The answer is: Jesus. Christ makes us perfect through His sacrificial offering on the Cross, and this is recorded in the book of Hebrews. The verse explains that as Jesus is perfect, we are also made perfect through Him who is the source of eternal life.

For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. Hebrews 10:14

And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, Hebrews 5:9

One simple story that otherwise looks ordinary, clearly explains that the path to salvation is through Christ Jesus, and it is given to all who obey Him.

The rich man calls Jesus a Good Teacher

Now going back to the part about Jesus being called a Good Teacher and claims that He denies this, saying only God is good (Mark 10:18). When in fact, Jesus only asks the young ruler why He is being called good, thereby explaining that being good is an attribute of God alone. Jesus never corrected the man saying, don’t call Me good since I am not God. This is similar to how Jesus never stopped anyone from worshiping Him and at the same time never forced anyone to worship Him. Here are some examples where Jesus was worshipped, yet didn’t stop them from worshiping Him:

• The Magi worshiped Jesus as a baby – Matthew 2:11
• Thomas calls Jesus as God – John 20:28
• The disciples worshipped Jesus – Matthew 14:33
• After Jesus’ resurrection the women worshiped Him – Matthew 28:9

While in the book of Revelation we see the angel tell John not to worship him, as he is just an angel and not God – only God is to be worshiped (Revelation 22:8-9). Similarly, Peter also stopped a man named Cornelius who worshiped him, saying he was only a mere man (Acts 10:24-26).

Spread the Word!