Jesus + Nothing

Luke 18:18-30

¹⁸ And a ruler [shorthand for those who represented the Pharisees on the Sanhedrin which was the Hebrew judicial counsel] asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” ¹⁹ And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. ²⁰ You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’” ²¹ And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.” ²² When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” ²³ But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. ²⁴ Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! ²⁵ For 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.” ²⁶ Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” ²⁷ But he said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” ²⁸ And Peter said, “See, we have left our homes and followed you.” ²⁹ And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, ³⁰ who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.”

Jesus' discussion about entry into the Kingdom of God comes full circle now as a Synagogue ruler asks Him an important, albeit misguided question. This conversation has already addressed the neediness of the tax collector and the children. Jesus is clear; these are the people who make up the Kingdom of God. Now this ruler asks Jesus how to inherit eternal life. Apparently, he hasn’t been paying attention in class.

First of all, Jesus must point out that the man has inadvertently granted Him the position of divinity. He has called Jesus “Good Teacher”. To call a man ‘good’ was to assume that He had god-like qualities, for all would agree that only God is good. The questioner lets this go, but don’t miss it. Jesus is indeed God and is worthy of the title “Good”.

Jesus then gives the ruler the answer he is looking for; obey the commandments. The commandments Jesus quotes focus around those two things the Jews held dear – family and home. The man has the hubris to claim to have kept all of the commandments since his youth. That alone is indicative of his self-appraisal. This ruler is a sinner just like the rest of us. But Jesus can see straight into this man’s heart and brings up the one thing that is untouchable as far as the ruler is concerned; his great wealth. The rich ruler embraces the two great failures of the Pharisees: he is a hypocrite, because he believes that he has fully kept the Law, and he is obsessed with his possessions. It is my experience that Jesus always manages to touch us right at the center of our own personal idols.

Jesus uses this man’s angst as a point of instruction with a brief parabolic statement about a camel passing through the eye of a needle. Although he is a hearer of the Word, that is he came to Jesus and heard Jesus’ instruction on how to inherit eternal life, he is incapable of taking the final step that would make him a disciple of Jesus. He is confronted (are not we all?) with what appears impossible, and he cannot yet believe that such things which are impossible with people are possible with God.

The two unassailable loyalties that any Middle Easterner is almost required to consider more important than life itself are family and the village home. When Jesus puts both of these in one list, and then demands a loyalty that supersedes them both, he is requiring that which is truly impossible to the Middle Easterner, given the pressures of his culture. The Ten Commandments he can manage [to affirm, if not follow], but this is too much. Only with God are such things possible.

K. Bailey, Through Peasant Eyes, 169.

Passing through the eye of a needle is of course impossible. To become and then remain a disciple of Jesus Christ is completely impossible for all people. But God is gracious and brings us to faith through His great love and the power of the Holy Spirit. That Jesus focuses on the stumbling block of riches is vital for all of us to recognize, for we are, for the most part, wealthy beyond imagination. Even the fact that you are reading this devotional on an electronic device points to your own personal wealth. But that wealth is a gift from God and He didn’t give it to you to keep you out of the Kingdom. Instead, He is greater than that stumbling block and does the impossible – He brings us to faith and keeps us there – for all things are possible with God.