parable of the workers

This is a very important parable. It is possible to interpret it in terms of Israel and the Gentiles (as Gundry, e.g., holds). The vineyard is often used as a symbol for Israel (e.g., Isa. 5:1–7); those who take the parable this way argue that Israel is like the men who worked all day, while the Gentiles are symbolized in those who came later and were admitted by God’s grace. Others point out that there is always a tendency for those who have been followers of Christ for a long time to be suspicious of those who come later. This applies to Jews and Gentiles, but it also applies to the Twelve and to later believers, and it is not difficult to see this tendency at work in the church of all ages. The parable warns us that priority in time means little. But it seems better to interpret the parable as putting emphasis on the truth that God acts in grace toward us all. There is a tendency in the human race to think of salvation in legal terms. There is no heresy as widespread as the one we can put simply as “If I live a good life, I will go to heaven when I die.” It is natural for us to think that we can earn our salvation. But the consistent teaching of Scripture is that we are sinners; we all fall short of the standard we ought to have attained, and thus we have no claim on salvation. But as in this parable the workers who came late had no claim on a full day’s wage though they got it, so sinners have no claim on salvation. Salvation is always a work of grace. That God does not treat us on the basis of justice is a fact for which sinners must be truly grateful. The parable emphasizes the place of grace (eleven twelfths of what the last comers received was unearned!).

I do not know of any way of bringing out the point of this parable better than referring to a parable uttered by the rabbis (as far as our information goes, it was later than New Testament times, but, of course, we have no way of knowing how long it was passed on by word of mouth before it was recorded). It concerns a king who hired workmen to work in his vineyard. One of them worked skillfully, and the king took him by the hand and spent most of the day talking with him. When the laborers were paid, this man received the same as the others. They grumbled and said, “We toiled all the day, whereas this man toiled for two hours, and yet the king has given him his full wage!” The king said to them, “What cause have you for grumbling? This man in two hours did more good work than you in a whole day” (Eccl. Rab. 5.11.5; McNeile cites it from Jer. Ber. 2:5c, and it is found also in Cant. Rab. 6.2.6). Clearly the story made quite an appeal to the rabbis, and we can understand that. The natural man assumes that reward is geared to merit. Jesus is pointing out that God does not deal with us on the basis of merit but of grace. The love of God in all its fulness is poured out on sinners, and they receive infinitely more than they deserve. The parable underlines the truth that God’s way is always the way of grace.

16. Even so aligns the next piece of teaching with the parable, as Jesus repeats essentially what he had said in 19:30. Because God acts in grace and we so easily think in terms of merit, there will be many surprises for us all in the end when God’s will is seen in its final working out. Human rankings will avail nothing at that time, and there will be those we have made last who will be first, and, of course, the reverse phenomenon will also take place.¹

The Greatness of God’s Grace

20:1 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. ² Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. ³ And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, ⁴ and said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. ⁵ Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise.
⁶ And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle, and said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day?’ ⁷ They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right you will receive.’

⁸ “So when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, ‘Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first.’ ⁹ And when those came who were hired about the eleventh hour, they each received a denarius. ¹⁰ But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received each a denarius. ¹¹ And when they had received it, they complained against the landowner, ¹² saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day.’ ¹³ But he answered one of them and said, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? ¹⁴ Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. ¹⁵ Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?’ ¹⁶ So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen.”

—Matthew 20:1–16

This is a unique parable of the kingdom of God, presenting the nature of God’s grace. The story appears to further answer Peter’s question as to what the disciples would receive by leaving all to follow. The employer illustrates the acts of God, sending laborers into his vineyard all through the day as he finds them unemployed in the marketplace. At the end of the day he paid the last first, an aspect of the story arranged for emphasis. Jewish law required that payment be made when the day ended (Lev. 19:13), so that the family could eat. The employer had agreed with the earlier laborers for the full day’s wages of one denarius. But he gave those who came in the last hour the same wage! His compassion recognized that it took just as much bread to feed their families as it did the families of those who had worked the whole day.

The conclusion in verse 16 is a statement of unexpected generosity. This is the emphasis to which the story progresses. This final statement is similar to the concluding statement of the preceding section (19:30), but with the additional sentence, “Many are called, but few are chosen.” A pattern of picking up at the end of a section the idea from its introduction can be found eleven times in this Gospel. While the concluding sentence is not in many of the ancient manuscripts, if we see it as Matthew’s statement, it emphasizes a distinction between the calling of all of the workers and of the chosen ones who sensed the meaning of grace.

Grace is God’s graciousness, His steadfast love and mercy extended to all alike. The story illustrates that not all respond alike to His goodness, but some compare and evaluate their own “goodness” and thereby fail to understand God’s graciousness. The fact that all of us alike are sinners places us together without distinction or degrees of need for God’s gracious acceptance. Equal pay for unequal work was totally unexpected, and regarded by the laborers as unacceptable. While this story answered Peter’s question, it also answered the murmurings of the Pharisees over Jesus’ act of accepting tax collectors and prostitutes into the kingdom. The words, “You have made them equal to us” (v. 12) reflects this idea. The story of the two prodigal sons in Luke 15:11–32 is similar, for the prodigal in attitude could not respect the grace of the father in accepting the prodigal of waste.

In verse 13 the employer answered one of the persons who complained, using the word, “friend,” an expression used three times in Matthew by Jesus, and in each case the person is in the wrong (see 22:12 and 26:50). His answer was that the employer had paid according to the agreement and his generosity was not cause for jealousy among others.

There is a story in the Talmud which is similar but with a very different conclusion. I share it here to emphasize the contrast with Jesus’ teaching on the grace of God. A distinguished scholar, Rabbi Bun bar ‘H’ijja died at an early age in a.d. 325, on the same day his son was born, who was subsequently known as Rabbi Bun II. At his funeral his former teachers gathered to pay tribute, and Rabbi Zera gave the funeral oration in the form of a parable. Life is like a king who hired a great number of laborers; two hours later he inspected and saw one who surpassed the others. He took him by the hand and walked up and down with him until evening. When the laborers came for their wages, each received the same, upon which the others murmured, saying, “We worked all day, while this man worked only two hours and you have paid him a full wage.” But the king said, “I haven’t wronged you. He has done more in two hours than you have done during the whole day.” Rabbi Bun had done more in his twenty-five years than many achieved in a longer life span. The point is valid, but quite different from Jesus’ emphasis in the parable of God’s grace.

It is never easy to outline a parable. The points lifted from the story must support and clarify its primary intent, and they must move to that conclusion. (1) The calling to service is in direct relation to the need; (2) the reward for service is a gracious meeting of our needs; and (3) the integrity of service will respect the integrity of grace in meeting needs equally²

Believing tax collectors, prostitutes, criminals, and social outcasts will have the same heavenly residence as Paul, Augustine, Luther, and Wesley. There are no servant quarters or lower-class neighborhoods in heaven. Everyone will have a room in the Father’s house specially prepared for him by the Son (John 14:2). Every believer is a part of the church, which is the bride of Christ (Rev. 21:2, 9), every believer is a child of God and a fellow heir with Christ (Rom. 8:16–17), and every believer is blessed “with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” (Eph. 1:3). It is not that every believer receives an equal part but that every believer receives equally the whole of God’s grace and blessing. Just as hell is the total absence of God, heaven is the total presence of God. And every one of His children will enjoy equally the fullness of His presence there. Everyone who belongs to God has all of God. That great reality is summed up in the truth of John’s marvelous declaration, “We shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is” (1 John 3:2).

From this parable flow many spiritual principles that are closely related to the central truth that the gift of eternal life is equal for all believers. First is the principle that God sovereignly initiates and accomplishes salvation. The landowner went out looking for workers, and it was he who asked them to labor in his vineyard. And because God does the seeking and the saving in His own initiative and power, we have no demands on His special favor or privilege. Every person who believes has first been sought out by the Father and given to the Son (John 6:39). And whether He sought us early in our lives or late, and whether we answered His call early or late, all merit and glory belongs to Him.

A second principle is that God alone establishes the terms of salvation. Because the laborers in the vineyard came at different times, they worked a different number of hours, and we can assume they worked with many different degrees of productivity. But they did not receive different pay The measure of God’s gift of salvation is not maps merit or accomplishments but His own grace, which does not vary.

A third principle is that God continues to call men into His kingdom. He keeps going back and going back into the market places of the world calling men to Himself. And He will continue to call until the last hour of this age. The night of judgment is coming when no man can work, but while it is day, the Father will continue to draw men to Himself. “My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working,” Jesus said (John 5:17), because the Lord does not wish “for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9).

A fourth principle is that God redeems everyone who is willing. “The one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out,” Jesus said (John 6:37, 39). All the laborers who went to the vineyard recognized they were needy They had no hope of work except what the landowner would give them, and they received it gladly and thankfully They had given up dependence on their own resources and looked only to him.

A fifth principle is that God is compassionate to those who have no resources and acknowledge their hopelessness. He reaches out to those in need who know they are in need. When the men in the last group told the landowner they were standing idle because no one would hire them, he hired them. And when anyone comes to God knowing he has no other prospect for life but Him, the Lord will always lovingly and mercifully accept that person for His own.

A sixth principle is that all who come into the vineyard worked. They may have come at the last hour, but they worked. Even the penitent thief on the cross, who died within hours if not moments after confessing his faith in Christ, still testifies today to the saving grace of God. The history of the church is replete with stories of those whose deathbed conversions were used by God to lead others to Himself.

A seventh principle is that God has the divine authority and ability to keep His promises. At every hour of the day that the landowner went to the market place, he hired all who wanted to work, and at the end of the day there was no shortage of funds to pay each one the full amount. Christ’s sacrifice on the cross was sufficient to pay for the sins of the whole world, from the Fall of Adam until the day of judgment. If any person is not saved it is because he will not be saved. Man’s sin can never outstrip God’s grace, because where sin increases, grace increases all the more (Rom. 5:20).

An eighth principle is that, just as God always gives what He has promised, He also always gives more than is deserved. The 6:00 a.m. workers were envious of those who came at 5:00 p.m. because, in their selfish view, they deserved to be paid more. But the landowner was no more obligated to hire the first workers than the others. He would have been entirely justified to have passed them all by, and all of them were paid more than they were worth. In an infinitely greater way, no believer is qualified to receive God’s least favor, much less salvation, and even the best person by human standards is blessed immeasurably beyond what he could possibly deserve.

A ninth principle, which is a corollary of the previous one, is that humility and a genuine sense of unworthiness is the only right attitude in which a person may come to the Lord. Like the eider brother who was resentful when the prodigal son returned home and was royally received by their father, the early workers lost some of their humility at the end of the day because of their jealousy. But they had come to the vineyard in the same attitude of submissiveness in which the others came.

A tenth and final principle is that of God’s sovereign, overarching grace. From beginning to end, the parable pictures God’s divine, boundless grace. The men’s work had absolutely no relationship to what they were paid. Even less do men’s works of supposed righteousness have any relationship to what they receive through faith in Jesus Christ. Just as sin is the great equalizer that causes every man to “fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23), God’s grace is the great equalizer that removes sin and makes every believer equally acceptable to Him in Christ.³

But this may be, and commonly is, applied to the several ages of life, in which souls are converted to Christ. The common call is promiscuous, to come and work in the vineyard; but the effectual call is particular, and it is then effectual when we come at the call.

First, Some are effectually called, and begin to work in the vineyard when they are very young; are sent in early in the morning, whose tender years are seasoned with grace, and the remembrance of their Creator. John the Baptist was sanctified from the womb, and therefore great (Lu. 1:15); Timothy from a child (2 Tim. 3:15); Obadiah feared the Lord from his youth. Those that have such a journey to go, had need set out betimes, the sooner the better.

Secondly, Others are savingly wrought upon in middle age; Go work in the vineyard, at the third, sixth, or ninth hour. The power of divine grace is magnified in the conversion of some, when they are in the midst of their pleasures and worldly pursuits, as Paul. God has work for all ages; no time amiss to turn to God; none can say, “It is all in good time;” for, whatever hour of the day it is with us, the time past of our life may suffice that we have served sin; Go ye also into the vineyard. God turns away none that are willing to be hired, for yet there is room.

Thirdly, Others are hired into the vineyard in old age, at the eleventh hour, when the day of life is far spent, and there is but one hour of the twelve remaining. None are hired at the twelfth hour; when life is done, opportunity is done; but “while there is life, there is hope.” 1. There is hope for old sinners; for if, in sincerity, they turn to God, they shall doubtless be accepted; true repentance is never too late. And, 2. There is hope of old sinners, that they may be brought to true repentance; nothing is too hard for Almighty grace to do, it can change the Ethiopian’s skin, and the leopard’s spots; can set those to work, who have contracted a habit of idleness. Nicodemus may be born again when he is old, and the old man may be put off, which is corrupt.

Yet let none, upon this presumption, put off their repentance till they are old. These were sent into the vineyard, it is true, at the eleventh hour; but nobody had hired them, or offered to hire them, before. The Gentiles came in at the eleventh hour, but it was because the gospel had not been before preached to them. those that have had gospel offers made them at the third, or sixth hour, and have resisted and refused them, will not have that to say for themselves at the eleventh hour, that these had; No man has hired us; nor can they be sure that any man will hire them at the ninth or eleventh hour; and therefore not to discourage any, but to awaken all, be it remembered, that now is the accepted time; if we will hear his voice, it must be to-day.⁴

ng His discussion with His disciples about the difficulties of rich individuals making it into the kingdom of heaven, Jesus told yet another kingdom parable, the parable of the workers in the vineyard. Though this parable is somewhat enigmatic upon an initial reading, it teaches us a profound lesson about the nature of God’s grace.

Jesus began by saying, “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard” (v. 1). The time had come for the owner of a vineyard to harvest his grapes. The permanent workers on his farm were not numerous enough to complete the harvest in time, so when harvest time came, as many farmers did in the ancient world and still do today, he went looking for day laborers he could hire. Such laborers customarily came to the marketplace in the hope that they would be chosen to labor that day and would gain the standard pay for a day’s work in Israel, which was one denarius. So, Jesus said, “when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard” (v. 2).

However, it seems that his initial trip to the marketplace happened before all of the available laborers had gathered there, and the owner was not able to secure enough of them to complete the harvest as soon as he hoped. Therefore, Jesus said: “And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise” (vv. 3–5). The owner kept checking the marketplace throughout the day, and every time he found a few available workers, he sent them off to his vineyard with the promise to pay them “whatever is right.”

So zealous was this landowner to complete his harvest, “about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle, and said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right you will receive’ ” (vv. 6–7). “The eleventh hour” was about 5 p.m., quite near the end of the workday, but the owner found a few men available even then, men who had not been hired to do any work all that day. So, he sent them to his vineyard with the same promise.

So far, this is a happy story. The economic system of the day seemingly worked to perfection. The labor pool supplied abundant workers and the landowner employed them steadily. His harvest moved forward and the laborers earned their daily bread. A happy ending seemed certain.

But it was not to be. Jesus said: “So when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, ‘Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first.’ And when those came who were hired about the eleventh hour, they each received a denarius. But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received each a denarius” (vv. 8–10). The owner of the vineyard paid everyone the exact same wage. The people who had worked for an hour received a denarius. Those who had worked for three hours received a denarius. Those who had worked for six hours received a denarius. And those that had been there all day received a denarius.

That seemed unfair to those who had worked the longest: “And when they had received it, they complained against the landowner, saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day’ ” (vv. 11–12). The men who had been there all day felt the wages were unfair, for they had borne the brunt of the labor in the heat of the day, while some had worked only a short time in the cool of the afternoon. They believed that if the latecomers received a denarius, they were due more.

So, the owner addressed these grumblers, these malcontents: “But he answered one of them and said, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?’ ” (vv. 13–15). The owner simply pointed out that he had fulfilled his end of the deal they had struck in the early morning. I would guess that he reminded them how happy they had been in the morning to have a day of work ahead of them and the prospect of a denarius at the end of it. They had been satisfied with the deal at that point and had gone to work for the owner of their own volition. But then they saw others get the same wage for less work, the issue of fairness arose with a vengeance.

A Parable on Sovereign Grace

This parable is not about grapes. It is about grace. It is about the mercy of the living God. It is about the grace of the One who owns the vineyard and who, in His mercy, gives benefits to people who have not earned them. In the parable, those who came later in the day had no possible way of meeting the normal requirements to make a denarius. However, the owner of the vineyard gave them the denarius anyway. The first group received justice. Every group thereafter received mercy and grace. But those who received justice complained that they were victims of injustice and that the owner was not fair.

Furthermore, I believe this parable is about sovereign grace, that is, the biblical doctrine of election. We read in the Scriptures that God from all eternity has decreed by His grace alone to save certain people from their sins, not because they deserve it or have earned it, but that His mercy might be made manifest. He chooses to save some and leaves others in their lost condition to receive whatever justice requires.

The Apostle Paul develops this teaching clearly in the eighth and ninth chapters of Romans. He cites the example of Jacob and Esau, of whom God decreed that the older (Esau) would serve the younger (Jacob) before they were born or had done anything good or evil. This was so “that the purpose of God according to election might stand” (9:11).

Having said this, the apostle anticipates a response, the response of protest that every sinner gives to God’s electing grace: “That’s not fair.” Paul asks rhetorically, “Is there unrighteousness with God?” (v. 14). How does he answer? Does he say: “Well, maybe there is a little bit of unrighteousness. Maybe every now and then God does something that is a little bit unfair and unjust, but in the main He’s a pretty good God”? You know that is not what Paul says. He answers his own rhetorical question with an emphatic denial: “Certainly not!” Other translations read, “By no means!” “May it never be!” and “God forbid!” What could be more unthinkable than to imagine for a second that there might be a gap in the righteousness of God, as if somehow the perfect righteousness of God could suffer a defect. Paul then reminds his readers what God revealed in the Old Testament through Moses: “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion” (v. 15). He concludes, “it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy” (v. 16).

At Saint Andrew’s, the congregation where I preach, we print the five “solas” of the Reformation in the bulletin each week. These great mottos of the Reformers are sola fide, justification by faith alone; sola Scriptura, the authority of the Scriptures alone; soli Deo gloria, to God alone the glory; solus Christus, salvation through Christ alone; and sola gratia, salvation by grace alone. We have not really understood the gospel until we understand that we are saved by grace alone, not by grace plus merit, not by faith plus works, and not by Christ’s righteousness plus our own righteousness. If we do not embrace sola gratia, salvation by grace alone, we really do not embrace sola fide, justification by faith alone, because the faith by which we are justified is the gracious gift of God (Eph. 2:8), not something that we produce out of our own sinful flesh.

But we have the idea that if God gives His saving grace to one person, in order to be just, He must give the same grace to that person’s neighbor. However, if God is required to give His grace to anyone, it is not grace. That is the whole point of this parable. The owner said, “Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things?” In other words, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy.”

Grace and Justice, but No Injustice

In the parable, a large group of the workers received grace. One group received justice. However, no one received injustice. But the workers who labored all day thought they received injustice. They thought the owner owed them something.

If we were to try to list everything God owes us, it would be the easiest task we were ever assigned, one we could complete in record time. The truth is, He owes us nothing except His wrath as punishment for all our sins. A much more challenging assignment would be to try to write down all the things we owe God. We would never complete that task. We are much in His debt for our offenses against His righteousness. Yet He still freely gives us good gifts each day, each hour. Everything that we have comes from Him, not because we have earned it but because He mercifully provides it.

If there is any sentiment that has no place in the Christian heart, it is the sentiment that God owes us something. He owes us nothing. The only title we have is to our sin, unless in His mercy He bestows the title of the kingdom of God freely upon us. That is what He has done for everyone who has believed.

So, Jesus capped this parable by saying: “So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen” (v. 16). First He repeated the point He made at the end of His teaching on rich men: in the kingdom, many who are now last will be first and many who are now first will be last (19:30). Then He declared, “many are called, but few are chosen.” The general call of the gospel goes forth to all nations, tribes, and tongues, but only those who are regenerated by the Spirit respond to it. It is they who were chosen before the foundation of the world. It is they who receive God’s unmerited grace.⁵

1 Morris, L. (1992). The Gospel according to Matthew (pp. 504–505). Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press.

2 Augsburger, M. S., & Ogilvie, L. J. (1982). Matthew (Vol. 24, p. 18). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.

3 MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (1985). Matthew (Mt 20:13). Chicago: Moody Press.

4 Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: complete and unabridged in one volume (p. 1715). Peabody: Hendrickson.

5 Sproul, R. C. (2013). Matthew (pp. 584–588). Wheaton, IL: Crossway.

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rich young ruler

Rich Young Ruler

Mark 10:17–27; Luke 18:18–27

¹⁶ Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?”

¹⁷ So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”

¹⁸ He said to Him, “Which ones?”

Jesus said, “ ‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ ¹⁹ ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”

KEY YOU CANNOT KEEP THE 10 COMMANDMENTS. SO THIS MAN IS TOAST IF THAT IS WHAT HE IS TRUSTING IN THAT.

²⁰ The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?”

²¹ Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

²² But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

²³ Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. ²⁴ And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

²⁵ When His disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?”

²⁶ But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”¹

—Matthew 19:16–22

This story, known as the story of the Rich Young Ruler, is a story on the “Cost of Discipleship.” In Bonhoeffer’s stimulating book by that title, this account is used as his basis for outlining the call and cost of following Jesus. Some persons have seen in Matthew 19 a counsel of perfection, of absolute chastity, complete poverty, and unreserved obedience. But just as the passage on chastity (vv. 10–12) cannot be pressed to mean an ideal of asceticism, this section can hardly be made to teach a complete renunciation of possessions. Jesus spoke to this man at the particular point of his need. As in the case of Nicodemus, Jesus spoke of his need that something be done “to him” by God beyond what he had thought he was doing for God; he needed to be born from above. And Jesus did not say to Nicodemus, “Go and sell what you have and give to the poor,” as though this were a universal formula; rather he spoke to his problem of legalism, of do-it-yourself religion. Here, for the rich young ruler, the issue was the idolizing of wealth and a lack of compassion for the needy, and Jesus addressed his problem directly. And our problem of materialism needs a similar direct word. Let us not try to dodge the implications of this passage. This account calls for a commitment to reject secular materialism, whether it be Marxist or capitalist.

The story is found in Mark 10:17–22 and in Luke 18:18–30. Matthew tells us in verse 20 that the man was young. From the several accounts we learn that he was an earnest man—“he came running to Jesus”;—he was respectful—“he kneeled to him”; he was interested in eternal life; he was religious in practice, having kept the commandments from a lad; and he was interested in finding peace—“What lack I yet?” But when Jesus asked him to practice His claims, to let God actually be God in his life, he couldn’t surrender the control of his life to God.

In Matthew’s account the young man said, “Good teacher, what good thing shall I do … ?” Jesus responded, “Why do you call Me good?” The emphasis is on “Me.” His comment that only God is good moves the man’s thought from his standards to the divine standard. Jesus’ counsel was to keep the commandments. It was as though He said, begin with what you know, begin where you are, and begin by acting in obedience.

Matthew says the young man asked, “Which?” Perhaps this was to justify himself, or to focus the issue more academically. Jesus’ response outlines God’s injunction against killing, adultery, stealing, false witness, and focuses his duty to parents. But omitting reference to covetousness, Jesus added the summary of the second table of the Law by the positive note, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Affirming his religious practice, knowing that he is yet without joy and meaning in life, the young man asked, “What do I still lack?” Here Jesus met him at the point of his idolatry—he had held things as more important than the will of God. It is covetousness, as Paul says, which is idolatry. Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect [complete], go, sell what you have and give to the poor.” But the young man failed to obey. In Bonhoeffer’s words, “Only he who obeys truly believes, and only he who believes truly obeys.”

The story illustrates the meaning of eternal life as the quality of life with God. The emphasis on “eternal” is not so much on time as on the quality of life that partakes of God’s love and purpose. And the conclusion to which Jesus moved the conversation was to show that one cannot share God’s love without loving his neighbor as himself. This story lends itself to a variety of homiletical approaches. One suggestion is that the encounter of the rich ruler with the Master involved (1) the most serious question, v. 16; (2) the most specific answer, v. 21; and (3) the most searching decision, v. 22.

How to Obtain Eternal Life

(19:16–22)

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And behold, one came to Him and said, “Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?” And He said to him, “Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” He said to Him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not commit 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 things I have kept; what am I still lacking?” Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieved; for he was one who owned much property. (19:16–22)

At first one might wonder what kind of message Jesus was trying to give this man who came to Him. The truth is summarized in Jesus’ statement on another occasion: “So therefore, no one of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions” (Luke 14:33).

Some years ago the young man in the seat next to me on an airplane asked, “Sir, you wouldn’t know how I could have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, would you?” Taken somewhat by surprise by his openness and seeming readiness for salvation, I told him that he needed to receive Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. He said, “I’d like to do that,” and we prayed together and rejoiced in his decision. He was on his way to a new job near our church, so he was baptized and began attending services. But some months later I was extremely disappointed to discover that he had developed no interest at all in the things of the Lord and was living in such a way that it was apparent he had not been transformed. He soon disappeared from the church and has never returned.

Anyone who has done much personal witnessing has encountered persons who make a profession of faith in Christ but whose subsequent lives show no change in attitudes or behavior. And when they indicate no love for God and Christ, no interest in the Bible, in prayer, or in the fellowship of God’s people, there is no good reason to believe they were ever saved.

Our Lord gave this young man a test. He had to make a choice between Christ and his possessions and sin, and he failed the test. No matter what he may have believed, because he was unwilling to forsake all, he could not be a disciple of Christ. Salvation is for those who are willing to forsake everything.

The incident recorded in Matthew 19:16–22 gives insight into how some people who show great interest in the gospel never come to a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. This young man went away from Christ not because he heard the wrong message or because he did not believe but because he was unwilling to admit his sin, forsake all that he had, and obey Christ as Lord.

The Request to Jesus

And behold, one came to Him and said, “Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?” (19:16)

From verse 20 we learn that the one who came to Him was a young man, and from verse 22 that he was wealthy. Luke informs us that he was also a ruler (18:18), probably a ruler in the synagogue, an especially honored position for a young man. He was a religious leader-devout, honest, wealthy, prominent, and influential. He had it all. Behold suggests how unusual and unexpected it was that he would admit he lacked eternal life and come to Jesus to find it.

Several factors are clear as we analyze this unique encounter. First, He came genuinely seeking eternal life, motivated by his sense of need for a true spiritual hope. The term eternal life is used some 50 times in Scripture, and always refers primarily to quality rather than quantity. Although eternal life obviously carries the idea of being an everlasting reality, it does not refer simply to unending existence. Even ancient pagans knew that mere unending existence would not necessarily be desirable. According to Greek mythology, Aurora, goddess of the dawn, fell in love with a young mortal named Tithonus. When Zeus offered to provide anything she wished for her human lover, she asked that he might never die. The wish was granted, but because she had not asked that Tithonus remain forever young, he continued to grow older and more decrepit. Instead of being blessed, he was cursed to perpetual degeneration.

If, as William Hendriksen insightfully observes, “ ‘life’ means active response to one’s environment,” then eternal life must mean active response to that which is eternal, namely God’s heavenly realm. Just as physical life is the ability to live and move and respond in the physical world, eternal life is the ability to live and move and respond in the heavenly world.

Eternal life is first of all a quality of existence, the divinely-endowed ability to be alive to God and the things of God. The Jews saw it as that which fills the heart with hope of life after death. The unsaved person is spiritually alive only to sin. But when he receives Christ as Lord and Savior, he becomes alive to God and to righteousness (Rom. 6:1–13). That is the essence of eternal life, the life of God’s own Son dwelling within.

The young ruler could not have understood the full meaning of what he asked for, but he realized there was an important dimension to his present life, religious and prestigious as it was, that was missing. Despite his high standing in men’s eyes, he knew he did not have the God-given peace, rest, hope, assurance, and joy of which the psalmists and the prophets spoke. He may have sensed that he needed a closer relationship to God than he had. Simply by asking that question of Jesus he showed himself to be beyond the hypocritical religiosity of the scribes and Pharisees. He recognized a deep spiritual need that, for all his religious efforts, was unfulfilled. He knew he did not possess the life of God that satisfies here and now and gives hope for the life to come.

The fact that he came to Jesus publicly and asked such a personal and revealing question shows the man’s sincerity. He was not haughty or presumptuous, but was humbly determined to find satisfaction for the overwhelming need he felt in his life, and he was oblivious to what people around him may have thought.

The young ruler not only knew his need but deeply felt that need, and he was desperate. Many people who admit they do not have eternal life nevertheless feel no need for it. They know they are not alive to God and do not care. They know there is no divine dimension to their lives but consider that fact irrelevant and unimportant. They have no hope for the life to come but are perfectly content to remain as they are.

The young ruler felt his need so keenly that, when he heard Jesus was in the vicinity, he “ran up to Him and knelt before Him” (Mark 10:17). He could not wait to ask this great Teacher how to find the answer to his deep longing. He was not embarrassed by the fact that he was known and respected by most of the people who crowded around Jesus. He did not mind the risk of losing face with those who probably considered him already to be religiously fulfilled and specially favored by God.

Although he was probably in the midst of the multitude of parents who had brought their young children to be blessed, this man was not ashamed to request a blessing for himself. He was saying to Jesus, in effect, “I need your help just as much as these little children.” Just as the children submitted to Jesus by being taken in His arms, the rich young ruler submitted by kneeling down before Him. He prostrated himself before the Lord in a position of humility. He appeared serious, sincere, highly motivated, and anxious.

This young ruler came seeking for the right thing-eternal life-and he came to the only One who could give it. Him, of course, refers to Jesus, who not only is the way to eternal life but is Himself that life. “God has given us eternal life,” John declares, “and this life is in His Son,” who “is the true God and eternal life” (1 John 5:11, 20). There was nothing wrong with his motivation, because it certainly is good to desire eternal life.

By addressing Jesus as Teacher (didaskalos), the young man acknowledged Him to be a respected rabbi, an authority on the Old Testament, a teacher of divine truth. Although the two other synoptic gospels report that the man also called Jesus “good” (Mark 10:17; Luke 18:18), there is no reason to believe he considered Him to be the promised Messiah and Son of God But he obviously considered Jesus to have a stature of righteous character above the typical rabbi. The authority of Jesus’ teaching and the power of His miracles surely qualified Him as someone who knew the way to eternal life. Even though he did not acknowledge that Jesus was Messiah and God in the flesh, he had come to the right person (cf. Acts 4:12).

Not only did the young man come to the right source but he asked the right question: “What good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?” Many interpreters have criticized the man for asking about what he must do, suggesting that his question was works oriented. Doubtlessly he was steeped in the Pharisaic legal system that had come to dominate Judaism and was trained to think that doing religious things was the way to gain divine favor. But taken at face value, his question was legitimate. There is something one must do in order to come to God. When the multitude near Capernaum asked Jesus, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” He replied, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent” (John 6:28–29).

The main point of the question was to discover how to obtain eternal life, and that is the most crucial question a person can ask. The entire purpose of evangelism is to bring lost people to Jesus Christ in order that they may obtain eternal life. The very purpose and meaning of salvation is to bring eternal life to those who, because of sin, face eternal death (Rom. 6:23).

The issue on this occasion was the man’s salvation, not some higher level of discipleship subsequent to salvation. Most of the work of evangelism is to bring people to the point where they sense their need for salvation, but this young man was already there. He was ready to sign the card, raise his hand, walk the aisle, or whatever. He was ripe and eager-what many modern evangelists would consider a “hot prospect.”

The Response by Jesus

And He said to him, “Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” He said to Him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not commit 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.” (19:17–19)

Jesus’ response is even more amazing than the young man’s request. He said to him, “Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.”

Instead of taking the young man at face value and asking him to “make a decision for Christ,” Jesus went much deeper in searching out the state of his heart and tested his true purpose and motivation. Instead of rejoicing that the man was apparently willing to receive eternal life and encouraging him to simply pray a prayer or affirm his faith, Jesus asked him a question in return that was immensely disconcerting.

The Lord’s abrupt and seemingly evasive words, “Why are you asking Me about what is good?” reveal that He could read the man’s heart. He had asked about eternal life verbally, and his heart was longing to know what good work could bring him that life. Jesus’ comment that “there is only One who is good” was perhaps a means of prying out of the man just who he thought Jesus was. Did he realize that the One whom he was asking about what is good was Himself the One who is good, namely, God? Had he come to Jesus for divine help because he believed Jesus Himself to be divine? Because the man made no response concerning the only One who is good, it seems certain that he viewed Jesus as no more than an especially gifted human teacher. He had indeed come to the right source for the answer to his question and the fulfillment of his need, but be did not recognize that Source for who He really was.

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.

Jesus’ next comment, “If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments,” was more than familiar to the man. Jews were taught all their lives that the way into life was through obedience to God’s commandments. Leviticus 18:5 clearly refers to such a truth: “So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which a man may live if he does them; I am the Lord” (cf. Ezek. 20:11). Perhaps Jesus was simply saying to the man, “You know what to do. Why are you asking Me? I haven’t taught anything that is not already written in the Scriptures. You are a learned and devoted Jew and you know what God’s law requires. Go do it.”

Judged by the principles and strategy of much contemporary evangelism, Jesus seems to have made a serious and insensitive mistake. He not only did not take advantage of the man’s obvious readiness to make a decision but He even seemed to be teaching righteousness by works.

But Jesus knew this man’s heart was not ready to believe in Him, just as the hearts of many people who express great interest in Him are not ready to believe. The man had a deep longing for something important in his life that he knew was missing. He doubtlessly had anxiety and frustration and longed for peace, joy, hope, and assurance. He wanted all the inner blessings the Old Testament associated with spiritual life. He longed for God’s blessings, but he did not long for God. He wanted to know what good things he should do, but he did not want to know the only One who is good.

Throughout history, and certainly in our own day, the church has witnessed many questionable principles and methods of evangelism, often exercised with sincerity and good intent. Undue emphasis on such external acts as raised hands, cards signed, and verbal decisions can lead many people-Christian workers and professed converts alike-into believing salvation has occurred when it has not. A premature and incomplete decision is not a decision Christ recognizes as valid.

The gospel is not a means of adding something better to what one already has, a means of supplementing human effort by divine. Nor is it simply a means of fulfilling psychological needs, no matter how real and significant they may be. Jesus did not die simply to make people feel better by relieving their frustrations and anxieties. And relief from such feelings is no certain evidence of salvation.

Many people are simply looking for solutions to their felt needs, but that is not enough to bring them to legitimate salvation. Jesus therefore did not offer any relief for the young man’s felt needs. Instead, He gave an answer designed to confront him with the fact that he was a living offense to Holy God. Proper evangelism must lead a sinner to measure himself against the perfect law of God so he can see his deficiency. Salvation is for those who hate their sin.

The young ruler must have sounded more than a little perplexed as he asked, almost rhetorically, “Which ones?” The implication seems to be, “I have read the commandments many times. I memorized them when I was a small boy, and I have carefully kept them ever since. How could I have missed any? Which ones could you possibly have in mind?”

Jesus responded by quoting five of the Ten Commandments: to not commit murder, to not commit adultery, to not steal, to not bear false witness, and to honor your father and mother (see Ex. 20:12–16). He then added the second greatest commandment: You shall love your neighbor as yourself (Lev. 19:18; cf. Matt. 22:39).

No words of Scripture would have been more familiar to the young ruler than those. But again he missed Jesus’ point. Just as he failed to recognize that the One to whom he spoke was Himself God and the source of eternal life, he also failed to see that those well-known commandments, and all the other commandments, could not provide the life to which they pointed. If a person were able to perfectly keep all the commandments throughout his entire life, he would indeed have life, just as Jesus had said (v. 17). What He was trying to show the man, however, is that no one is able to keep all the commandments perfectly, not even one of them.

The Lord did not mention the first four of the Ten Commandments, which center on man’s attitude toward God (Ex. 20:3–11), or the first and greatest commandment, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Deut. 6:5; cf. Matt. 22:38). Those commandments are even more impossible to keep than the ones Jesus quoted. The Lord therefore challenged the young ruler against the least impossible of the commandments, as it were.

The Response to Jesus

The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept; what am I still lacking?” Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieved; for he was one who owned much property. (19:20–22)

The man’s response-“All these things I have kept; what am I still lacking?”-was probably sincere but it was far from true. Like most of the scribes and Pharisees, he was convinced in his own mind that he had kept all of God’s law. He told Jesus, “Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up” (Mark 10:20). Because the commandments concerning attitudes toward God were just as familiar to the mart as the one’s Jesus quoted, he obviously thought he had fulfilled those as well. His view of the law was completely superficial, external, and man-oriented. Because he had not committed physical adultery or murder, because he was not a liar or a thief, and because he did not blaspheme the Lord’s name or worship idols, he looked on himself as being virtually perfect in God’s eyes.

By asking, “What am I still lacking?” he implied that there either must have been a commandment of which he had never heard or that something in addition to keeping the law was required to obtain eternal life. It simply did not occur to him that he fell short in obedience to any part of God’s known law. Because his outward, humanly observed life was upright and religious, he never suspected that his inner, divinely observed life was “full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness” (Matt. 23:27). He would not admit to himself that lust is a form of adultery that hate is a form of murder, or that swearing by anything in heaven or on earth is a form of taking the Lord’s name in vain (Matt. 5:22, 28, 34–35). And it certainly never occurred to him that “whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, … has become guilty of all” (James 2:10).

Like most of his Jewish contemporaries, he totally failed to see that the Mosaic commands were not given as means for humanly achieving God’s standard of righteousness but were given as pictures of His righteousness. The law was also given to show men how impossible it is for them to live up to His standards of righteousness in their own power. Obedience to the law is always imperfect because the human heart is imperfect.

One of sin’s greatest curses is the spiritual and moral blindness it produces. It would not seem to require special revelation from God for men to realize that even the commandments concerning their relationship to other men are impossible to keep perfectly. What truly honest person would claim he has never told a single falsehood of any sort, never coveted anything that belongs to someone else, and always treated his parents with respect and honor-much less that he had always loved his neighbors as much as he loved himself? But one of Satan’s chief strategies is to blind sinners to their sin; and because pride is at the heart of all sin, there is a natural inclination toward self-deceit. And nothing is more effective in producing self-deceit than works righteousness, which is the basis of every man-made religion, including the God-given but humanly corrupted religion of first-century Judaism.

The young ruler was aware of what he did not have and needed to receive, namely eternal life. But he was not willing to admit what he did have and needed to be rid of, namely sin. He had too much spiritual pride to acknowledge that he was sinful by nature and that his whole life fell short of God’s holiness and was an offense to Him. His desire for eternal life was centered entirely in his own felt needs and longings.

He had no hatred for sins that needed forgiving and no admission of a heart that needed cleansing. He was therefore not looking for what God needed to do for him but for what he still needed to do for God. Like most Jews of his day, and like most people in all times and cultures, he believed his destiny was in his own hands and that if his lot were to improve it would have to be by his own efforts. All he wanted from Jesus was another commandment, another formula, another rite or ceremony by which he could complete his religious obligations and make himself acceptable to God.

But salvation is for people who despair of their own efforts, who realize that, in themselves and by themselves, they are hopelessly sinful and incapable of improving. Salvation is for those who see themselves as living violations of His holiness and who confess and turn from their sin and throw themselves on God’s mercy. It is for those who recognize they have absolutely nothing good to give God, that anything good they receive or accomplish can be only by His sovereign, gracious provision in Jesus Christ.

Paul spends three full chapters of Romans declaring the sinfulness of man before he ever discusses the way of salvation. John 1:17 declares, “The Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.” Law always precedes grace; it is the tutor that leads to Christ (Gal. 3:24).

Jesus took the focus off the young man’s felt religious and psychological needs and placed it on God. He tried to show the man that the real problem in his life was not his feeling of emptiness and incompleteness, legitimate and important as those feelings were. His great problem, from which those felt needs arose, was his separation from God and his total inability to reconcile himself with God. Scripture says, “God is angry with the wicked every day” (Ps. 7:11 KJV). In himself this man not only fell far short of God’s righteous standards but was, in fact, an enemy of God and under His wrath (Rom. 5:10; Eph. 2:3). And God will not save those who try to come to Him harboring sin.

Evangelism or personal witnessing that does not confront people with their utter sinfulness and helplessness is not faithful to the gospel of Jesus Christ, no matter how much His name and His Word may be invoked. A profession of Christ that does not include confession and repentance of sin does not bring salvation, no matter how much pleasant emotion may result. To tell an unbeliever that God has a wonderful plan for his life can be seriously misleading. If the unbeliever turns to Christ and is saved, God does indeed have a wonderful plan for him. But if he does not turn to Christ, God’s only plan for him is damnation. In the same way it is misleading and dangerous to tell an unbeliever only that God loves him, without telling him that, in spite of that love, he is under God’s wrath and sentenced to hell.

God’s grace cannot be faithfully preached to unbelievers until His law is preached and man’s corrupt nature is exposed. It is impossible for a person to fully realize his need for God’s grace until he sees how terribly he has failed the standards of God’s law It is impossible for him to realize his need for mercy until he realizes the magnitude of his guilt. As Samuel Bolton wisely commented, “When you see that men have been wounded by the law, then it is time to pour in the gospel oil.”

Instead of being wounded by the law, however, the rich young ruler was self-satisfied in regard to the law. He diligently sought eternal life, but he sought it on his own terms and in his own power. He would not confess his sin and admit his spiritual poverty. Confession of sin and repentance from sin are utterly essential to salvation. John the Baptist began his ministry preaching repentance (Matt. 3:2), Jesus began His ministry preaching repentance (4:17), and both Peter and Paul began their ministries preaching repentance (Acts 2:38; 26:20). Peter even used repentance as a synonym for salvation when he wrote that “the Lord … is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9).

True conviction, confession, and repentance of sin are as much a work of the Holy Spirit as any other part of salvation (John 6:44; 16:8–9). They are divine works of grace, not pre-salvation works of human effort. But just as receiving Christ as Lord and Savior demands the action of the believer’s will, so do confession and repentance. It is not that an unbeliever must understand everything about confession, repentance, or any other aspect of salvation. A person can genuinely receive Christ as Lord and Savior with very little knowledge about Him and the gospel. But genuine belief is characterized by willingness to do whatever the Lord requires, just as unbelief is characterized by unwillingness to do whatever He requires.

In another attempt to make the self-satisfied young ruler face his true spiritual condition, Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” In this context, complete is used as a synonym for salvation, as it frequently is in the book of Hebrews, where the same basic Greek word is translated “perfect” (see 7:19; 10:1, 14; 12:23). Jesus was saying, “If you truly desire eternal life, prove your sincerity by selling your possessions and giving what you have to the poor.” If he truly lived up to the Mosaic command to love his neighbor as himself, he would be willing to do what Jesus now commanded. His willingness to obey that command would not merit salvation but it would be evidence that he desired salvation above everything else, as a priceless treasure or a pearl of great value for which no sacrifice could be too great (see Matt. 13:44–46).

The ultimate test was whether or not the man was willing to obey the Lord. The real issue Jesus presented was, “Will you do what I ask, no matter what? Who will be Lord in your life, you or Me?” That hit a sensitive nerve. Jesus demands to be Lord, sovereign over all. There was no better way to find out if the man was ready to accept Christ’s sovereignty than to ask him to give up his riches. The Lord challenged his wealth to force him to admit what was most valuable to him-Jesus Christ and eternal life or his money and possessions. The latter was clearly the man’s priority, and therefore for him salvation was forfeited.

The first part of Jesus’ command was quite capable of being obeyed in the man’s own power. But he refused to comply with it, not because he could not but because he would not. He not only failed to keep God’s impossible commands but failed to keep this one that was easily possible, proving conclusively that he really did not want to do God’s perfect will and be spiritually complete.

Mark tells us that as He gave the man that command, “Jesus felt a love for him” (10:21). The Lord must have felt for him as He did for Jerusalem as He looked out over that great city and cried, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not have it” (Luke 13:34). Jesus was approaching the time when He would shed His own blood for the sins of the rich young ruler, and for the sins of Jerusalem and of the whole world. But as much as He loved the man and desired for him not to perish, He could not save him while he refused to admit he was lost. The Lord can do nothing with a life that is not surrendered to Him, except to condemn it.

It is possible the man did not even hear Jesus say, “Come, follow Me.” He was so dismayed by the command to sell his possessions and give to the poor that Jesus’ call to discipleship did not register on his conscious mind. His call to discipleship always falls on deaf ears when there is unwillingness to give up everything for Him (see Matt. 8:19–22).

The young man did not want Jesus either as Savior or as Lord. He was not willing to give Him his sins to be forgiven or his life to be ruled. Therefore when he heard Jesus’ statement, he went away grieved; for he was one who owned much property. Contrary to his own self-assessment, he did not live up to any of God’s law, but he was especially guilty in the area of materialism. The property he thought he owned really owned him, and he would rather be its servant than Jesus’.

He went away grieved because, although he came to Jesus for eternal life, he left without it. He did not desire it above the possessions of his present life. He wanted to gain salvation, but not as much as he wanted to keep his property.

Zaccheus was also a wealthy man. But when Jesus called him, “he hurried and came down, and received Him gladly.” Spontaneously he volunteered to do essentially what Jesus commanded the rich young ruler to ²

Many people miss the humor that our Lord sometimes used, and this passage is an example of it. There are some people who hold to the ridiculous explanation that there was a gate in Jerusalem called “The Eye of the Needle,” that a camel had to kneel to pass through it, and that therefore the Lord was saying that a man had to become humble to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Well, that misses the point altogether. Our Lord is talking about a real camel and a real needle with an eye. My friend, let me ask you a very plain question: Is it possible for a real camel to go through the eye of a real needle? I think you know the answer—he won’t make it! It is impossible. But would it be possible for God to put a camel through a needle’s eye? Well, God is not in that business, but He could do it. And only God can regenerate a man. That is the point our Lord is making here. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God.

Many people today think they are going to be saved by who they are or by what they have. You are truly saved when you find out that you are a sinner, a beggar in God’s sight, with nothing to offer Him for your salvation. As long as a person feels he can do something or pay God for salvation, he can no more be saved than a camel can be put through the eye of a needle.

When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved? [Matt. 19:25].³

13–17. Much assimilation from the parallel accounts in Mark 10:17–31 and Luke 18:18–30 has been done in some texts; see ASV for a better rendition of Matthew’s original. The little children, for whom Jesus cared so much, were evidently of sufficient age to repond to Him (not infants) and He bade them come unto me revealing that, while all childhood professions may not be genuine, a child may follow Christ. By contrast to their simple obedience came the complex young rich man with all of his “hangups,” calling Jesus Good Master, which the Saviour challenged, not as a denial of His deity, but to impress upon this seeker the seriousness of the implication. “Are you sure you really mean that?” would be a modern paraphrase. The young man’s question, What good thing shall I do? implies that he wanted to perform some work that might gain him eternal life (salvation). Jesus’ challenge was intended to elevate his concept of “good.” The glib comment “good master” is followed by a request for something “good” that he may do to gain heaven. Jesus’ concept of good was that which is divine. Therefore, only an act of God could grant eternal life. The Master’s reply, If thou wilt enter into life, implies that the young man was still on the outside of such life.

The idea is this, if you want to gain eternal life, you must first of all enter it! The imperative keep the commandments (vs. 17) was intended to hit his point of pride, i.e. self-righteousness. Jesus did not believe that mere outward keeping of the commandments of the law brought anyone salvation. He had already told Nicodemus earlier that he must be born again (cf. Rom 3:20; Gal 2:16). Why, then, did He tell this young man to keep the commandments? The rest of the story reveals the answer. Jesus will go to great lengths now to show him that he has not kept the commandments and, therefore, is in need of God’s grace.

18–22. This list of commands in verse 18 centers on outward duties, rather than inward nature, which was the young man’s real problem. He protested that he had kept these outward demands. Jesus then revealed his real weakness. The law had been summarized earlier by our Lord: “Love the Lord thy God, with all thy heart” and “love thy neighbor as thyself.” Herein was the young man’s real failure. His self-centered wealth and luxurious self-righteousness had blinded him to his real weakness. To expose this Jesus ordered, go and sell all your possessions and give to the poor … and come … follow me (vs. 21). This he would not do and went away sorrowful (grieved). What had Jesus done? Simply, He had shown him that he had not kept the commandments at all. He loved himself more than his neighbor (the poor) and he loved his possessions more than God (follow me). This passage teaches the seriousness of true discipleship, but it in no way teaches the average man that he must sell his possessions in order to be a Christian, or even a good one.

23–26. The further comment, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven shocked the disciples (note verse 25, “Who then can be saved?”) who accepted the common notion of the day that the rich were blessed of God and therefore certainly saved. To correct that misunderstanding, Jesus explained the human difficulty for the rich to be converted. Hardly (Gr dyskolōs) implies with extreme difficulty, though not hopeless. The illustration of a camel going through the eye of a needle has been interpreted as a camel hair rope going through a needle; or an actual camel squeezing through a small gate, “the eye of a needle,” next to the main. gate at Jerusalem; or the absolute impossibility of a literal camel (Palestine’s largest animal) literally going through a tiny needle’s eye. The latter usage is most likely, following a similar Talmudic proverb about an elephant. Note, that they were not in Jerusalem at this time and that the first two suggestions, while very difficult, were within the realm of possibility, whereas) the salvation of the rich is called humanly impossible (vs. 26). In fact, all human nature is incapable of saving itself and must rely on God’s efficacious grace for that which is humanly impossible to become all things … possible with God. The salvation of a rich sinner is just as miraculous as the salvation of a poor sinner. Both are only possible with God!

27–30. Peter’s response, we have forsaken all … what shall we have? was most ill-timed and certainly reflected a selfish motivation which would have to go. Nevertheless, Jesus answered the question. In the regeneration (Gr palinggenesia) refers to the renewed world of the future, the kingdom of righteousness which is yet to come: “the new heavens and the new earth.” While the term is used for individual rebirth in Titus 3:5, here it looks to the future millennial kingdom where the apostles will judge Israel (literally). Forsaking earthly benefits will bring a hundredfold blessing and everlasting life. Yet, while rewards will be abundant, attitudes are still crucial and many who would be first shall be last and the last shall be first. On the believer’s rewards see W. Kroll, It Will Be Worth It All.⁴

1 The New King James Version. (1982). (Mt 19:16–26). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

2 MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (1985). Matthew (Mt 19:16–20). Chicago: Moody Press.

3 McGee, J. V. (1991). Thru the Bible commentary: The Gospels (Matthew 14-28) (electronic ed., Vol. 35, pp. 81–82). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

4 Hindson, E. E., & Kroll, W. M. (Eds.). (1994). KJV Bible Commentary (pp. 1934–1935). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.