Children And The Rich Young Man
CHILDREN AND THE RICH YOUNG MAN
MATTHEW 19:13-22
Sadly, this man preferred his money to Christ. What are we in danger of choosing in preference to Christ?
Whatever the historical relation may have been between the two incidents recorded in these verses—the blessing of the children (19:13-15) and the conversation with the rich young man (19:16-22) their juxtaposition in the Synoptic narrative in the setting of “Judea beyond the Jordan” (19:1), ie Peraea, is deliberate. They illustrate respectively the simple, childlike confidence which is an indispensable qualification for the kingdom of heaven (cf. 13:1-4) and the attachment to material interests which keeps one out. Those who brought the children may have felt that the touch of the Prophet of Nazareth would in itself impart a blessing to them: Jesus’ response probably points to children’s unsophisticated readiness to ask and receive, as an example of the attitude his disciples should have towards their heavenly Father (cf. 7:7-11).
In 19:16-17 there is a significant change in the relation of the term “good” from that in Mark 10:17f. and Luke 18:18f. “Eternal life” is practically synonymous with “the kingdom of heaven”; to enter one is to enter the other (cf. Mark 9:43-45 with 47). For the keeping of the commandments as the way to life cf. Leviticus 18:5; Deuteronomy 30:15-20. Those enumerated in 19:18-19 form the second table of the decalogue, man’s duty to his neighbor, summed up in the second of the two great commandments (Leviticus 19:18; cf. Matthew 22:39). The young questioner, like Paul, could honestly claim to be blameless in respect of legal righteousness (cf. Philippians 3:6); yet he was conscious of the need for something more. It is one thing to observe a series of specific precepts which are mainly negative; it is another to fulfill perfectly the all-embracing injunction to love one’s neighbor as oneself. For the sense of “perfect” (19:21) cf. 5:48. Even the selling of his goods and giving the proceeds to the poor would not exhaust the meaning of the law of love (cf. 1 Corinthians 13:3), but it would be a first step towards fulfilling it and would show that the man was in earnest. Jesus knew just where his readiness needed to be tested, and he proved unequal to the test. (For “treasure in heaven” cf. 6:20.) The young man’s sorrow was genuine enough; Jesus’ probing words revealed to him the limitations of his eagerness to be utterly devoted to the doing of God’s will. If the incident makes us also feel a bit uncomfortable, good; that is what it is intended to do.