Little Children; The Rich Man
LITTLE CHILDREN; THE RICH MAN
LUKE 18:15-23
By depending completely on God, we show a childlike, humble, trusting heart.
Verses 15-17. The worth of humility is the thought which links this section to the last. At this point Luke’s account rejoins those of Matthew and Mark. A glance at Mark’s account (Mark 10:13-16) will show that Luke tones down a little the rebuke of the Twelve. This is a characteristic of his writing. After all, he was not as free to speak as Matthew and John, who were themselves members of the apostles’ band, or Mark who wrote under the specific direction of Peter. It is instructive to collect from the Gospels the Lord’s sayings about children. He stands in some contrast with the Jews generally, whose attitude towards children tended to be disciplinary in the narrower sense, and severe. Christianity is the charter of freedom for both women and children. A papyrus letter dating from about the time of Christ’s birth throws vivid light on this. It is an affectionate note from a Greek workman in Egypt to his wife in Alexandria, who was expecting a child during her husband’s absence. “If it is a girl, throw it out,” he concludes casually. And such was the way of the hard pagan world. The unwanted children died on the city rubbish heap, or were diligently picked up by slavers and other vermin.
18:18-23. The theme of self-abasement continues into another story. “Good Master,” cries the young man, without consciousness of the true significance of the term. The Lord’s reply is not a repudiation of goodness, but an attempt to bring the young man face to face with realities. The answer should have been: “I call you good because you are the Son of the Living God, the Messiah.” A pause … and the Lord, having failed here to elicit a true answer, challenges the youth with the commandments, only to meet a naive claim to perfection. He had certainly not understood the commandments as Christ interpreted them in the Sermon on the Mount. The Lord thrust home to this unsurrendered corner of his life. It was the technique of John 4:16. Unable to face such a test of self-abnegation, the young man withdrew. It is a sad picture.
Note 18:19: the emphasis is on “Why.” See Matthew 16:13-19. Note the difference in the way Jesus answers here from the case of the lawyer in 10:25-28.