The Rich Young Man

Matthew 19:16-22 is a difficult story. We may feel pity for the rich young man because he was so close! He did everything right. Only if he had let go of his love for money! We might even be reading epistles written by the rich young man!

Actually, he was anything but close. It's clear that his deeds in righteousness were of no value apart from faith in Jesus. What Jesus wanted was for the rich young man to love Jesus more than money. Clearly this wasn't the case.

The question is -- did Jesus really expect the rich young man to give away all his money? Is it possible that, when the rich young man agreed to give away his money, Jesus would've been like, "it's alright, I was just testing you. You can keep the money. Now, follow me."

The dialogue between Jesus and the disciples from v. 23-30 offers us a clue to the answer.

Jesus makes a silly hyperbolic comparison -- that it is easier for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. Well duh, Captain Obvious, camels can't fit through the eye of a needle. So here's the old-school SAT verbal analogy.

RICH PEOPLE :: KINGDOM OF GOD
and
CAMELS :: EYE OF NEEDLE

The disciples further emphasize the impossibility of a rich person entering the kingdom of God by asking "Who can be saved?"

But Jesus brings it back and provides the answer. He says, "with man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." Jesus makes a direct connection between wealth and entering the kingdom of God.

It's already looking like the rich young man would've needed to get rid of his money... and we haven't even talked about the heart-issue (idolatry) yet. So here's the heart issue.

I think we need a change in perspective. Here is how we often think:

"If the rich young man wasn't an idolater, he would've given up his money." (Therefore, he needs a change in his heart.)

But we ought to consider a different paradigm.

"In order to not be an idolater, the rich young man must give up his money." (Therefore, he needs to get rid of the money, temptations.)

The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Who doesn't love money? I suppose there are some people out there who can look at fancy cars and cell phones and not be tempted, but I'd say that most of us suffer from this disease. Clearly, the rich young man suffered from it. Faithfulness to Jesus involves both a singular allegiance in the heart, and also a rearrangement of life to both reflect and facilitate that allegiance. No matter how sincere the rich young man was in his initial oath of poverty, it would've been impossible for him to be temptation-free if he kept his money. Therefore, to follow Jesus would require him to give away the money.

This is a rather brief commentary based only on the immediate context of the passage. There are numerous comparisons to be done with other stories, such as Job, Abraham & Isaac, Zacchaeus, etc. Supporting arguments from those perspectives will follow later.