Only One Who Is Good – Matthew 19:16-30

You may remember the parody of the self-affirmation movement done by Al Franken on Saturday Night Live. His character, Stuart Smalley, affirmed to himself, “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me.” The message of Christianity is a tricky one. It affirms the eternal value of every individual as made in the image of God while at the same time affirming that every individual is seriously messed up and in conflict with the God who made us.

How Jesus responded to a man who believed he was good enough and smart enough to merit eternal life serves as a paradigm for us.

And behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Then Peter said in reply, “See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first. (Matthew 19:16-30 ESV)

Though it would seem that Jesus is advocating law-keeping as the means to salvation (eternal life) it is apparent that he sees in this young man a belief that he can be good, in fact, good enough, to save himself, whereas only God is good in this sense.  So when he says he has kept all the commandments Jesus knows that he has not really given his heart to God because he treasures his wealth more than he does a relationship with God.  He isn’t really good enough.  He does not trust God to take care of him.  He trusts his riches.

On the flip side of this, the disciples conceive of riches as a sign of God’s favor in a person’s life and Jesus’ statement about how hard it is for rich people to enter the kingdom blows their minds.  Rich people can come to trust in God more than their riches, Jesus says, but this takes the power of God Himself to convert them. 

Peter realizes that he and the other disciples have been converted as evidence of having given up worldly possessions to follow Jesus and looks to Jesus for assurance that he and they will have eternal life.  Jesus does not disappoint and assures them that they will have positions of leadership, manifold relationships of care and love, and eternal life in the coming age.  But he warns that those who seem to be first may indeed be last and those whom we would deem far from the kingdom might be first in line.  He is honoring the value of faith above accomplishment as that thing that secures eternal life.