20 The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept; what am I still lacking?” 21 Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” 22 But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property.
Youthfulness contains a certain naiveté. Ignorance is bliss – goes some modern proverbs. In some regards this young man may have been simply idealistic, zealous with his check list of do’s and don’ts. However, his self-perception is woefully shared with the multitude of religious people in the world. They strive and work hard in order to achieve spiritual rewards, even eternal life itself. In the case of this young man, he apparently knew that he had come up short, even though to the best of his ability he kept the commandments Jesus had spoken of.
That the young man was not just testing the Lord, like the Pharisees often did, is evident by his response, “He went away grieving.” Maybe he was looking for assurance that his efforts counted for something, and even were, hopefully, sufficient to gain eternal life. But, he was sadly disappointed.
What was missing? There seems to have been a nagging sense that despite all his good efforts, there was no assurance that all his bases were covered. Believing that salvation comes by works will never give assurance, for one will always be plagued with whether he has done enough.
So Jesus showed the man that he fell hopelessly short of finding any assurance through keeping the law. The futility of that is clear, as Deut 27:26 states, “Cursed is the one who does not confirm all the words of this law.” James gives full expression to this truth, “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all” (James 2:10). Who could ever find assurance in keeping the law?
Jesus went for the proverbial jugular, showing the fellow in the most uncompromising terms that he, contrary to his own self-image of being a law abiding Jew, was a failure. Jesus tells him, if you really want eternal life, then fulfill the law of love and give all your possessions. But, he was unwilling to “love your neighbor as yourself.” In another place, Jesus used an interplay on the words to say, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent” (John 6:29). The only way to ensure entry to eternal life was to “Come follow me.”
Lord, help me to let go of things I hold tightly in order that I might follow you more closely.
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