The Bible includes something that Jesus said. “Again I tell you, 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.” (Matt. 19:24). The Bible also says, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs” (1 Tim. 6:10). The readers of this article should refer to my article entitled The Love of Money on this website for more information about this verse.
The event during Jesus’ ministry involving a wealthy person of authority is discussed in all three of the synoptic gospels. This is not a parable but an actual event that occurred during Jesus’ ministry. Although the text in each is somewhat different, it is nevertheless the same occurrence. This article seeks to explain the substance of the event.
CONTEXT
Jesus had been teaching in the region of Judea, and after He taught, the mothers brought their children to Him to be blessed. When He saw that His disciples were sending them away, He was not happy. He said to them, “Let the children come to me, do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God” (Matt. 19:14). The purpose of Jesus receiving the children was to point out that you must have childlike faith to enter the kingdom of God.
Then He got on the road to Jerusalem, and it was at this time that a young, rich man, who had probably been listening to Jesus preach, came up to Him to ask Him a question.
THE EVENT
The young man “knelt before him and asked him, ‘Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’” according to Mark’s gospel. Jesus’ response was not to answer his question, but instead to ask the young man a question. In Matthew’s version, he asked Jesus what good deed he must do. In Mark’s and Luke’s versions, he calls him a good teacher. Jesus’s response to the young man, after the young man asked for a good deed or called Jesus a good teacher, was to tell him that no act or person was good except God.
He told the young man to keep the commandments. The young man said, ” Which ones?” Jesus said the Ten Commandments, and some of them were spoken by Him. Then the young man told Jesus that he had kept all the commandments.
Jesus saw that the young man lacked the humility necessary for discipleship and the childlike faith required for the kingdom of God, two topics that He had just been preaching about. So, He told him to sell everything he had and give it to the poor, and then he would start storing treasure in heaven, be accepted as one of His disciples, and could follow Him.
But instead of doing what Jesus asked, the wealthy young man was saddened and left Jesus’s presence without doing so. The young man loved his wealth more than Jesus. His wealth was his god. He lacked the humility and faith to follow Jesus. Therefore, the wealthy young man who is spoken of in these passages in the synoptic gospels turns down eternal life, which he was seeking. Instead, he held on to his wealth, and that was his reward, rather than the eternal life with God forever.
The Beatitudes, which Jesus included at the beginning of His Sermon on the Mount, include the things that a person must possess to become a Christian. The writer of this article has written articles about the Beatitudes on this website, which any reader can review. But remember, the first of the 10 Commandments is that you shall have no god before the true God. The young man had not kept all the commandments, but had in fact violated the very first of the 10 Commandments that God gave us. His wealth and possessions were his god, not the true God in heaven.
