The Rich Young Ruler

I am currently working on a message that contrasts the two rich men we meet in Luke 18 and 19. I begin here with glimpse of who folks in the blogosphere know as the Rich Young Ruler.

Then Jesus ‘loves him’ and tells him to ‘go, sell what you own.’ It doesn’t say that he refused to sell his possessions–Jesus actually tells him to go and he goes! He does not go away feeling justified–instead he grieves. I imagine that he is grieving that he will have to give up all of his things–but he will give up them up! Or perhaps he is grieving the fact that he owns so much in the first place. Link

 

This rich young guy had it all, but he really wanted what Jesus had to offer. So he asked Jesus what he had to do to be saved and the answer was, “sell everything you have and follow me.” Now I always thought of that story in terms of money. You know, give up all your riches and then you can follow Jesus. But my pastor reminded me that this story is really about following all of Jesus’ teachings, not just those that are comfortable for us. Link

 

For the rich young ruler, the challenge was to give up all his carefully collected riches. His most important things he was asked to give away. Link

 

Christ challenged the young man with the righteous demands of the moral law, with the intention of working conviction of sin in the young man’s heart. Redemption through Christ’s blood makes no sense at all to a heart that sincerely sees itself as without guilt. Link

 

This scene of a man who is more in love with his money and stuff leaving breaks the Lord’s heart also. But as sad as the Lord is and as heartbroken he is over this one man, notice something very important: Jesus does not go after him. You almost expect him to run after the boy and embrace, and plead with him to come back. If it were a parent, you would expect the parent to try and bargain with the boy: “What will it take for you to come back?” Here’s the thing: Jesus Christ is Lord. As Lord he will not accept discipleship on just any terms; he demands true discipleship to be on His terms! Link

 

Because he had a lot of stuff and he valued that more than the opportunity he’d just been given. He didn’t want to sacrifice his stuff, or his status. Ouch. Honestly, I feel like I’ve been like this Rich Young Ruler for most of my life. Not giving up stuff for the greater good. Link

 

Yet one thing he lacked; he needed to sell all of his possessions. We are not told exactly why. Perhaps he was greedy and overly ambitious. Perhaps he was excessively indulgent. Or perhaps he was like most of us wealthy people today: perhaps he was simply complacent. Link

 

Neatly dressed, self-possessed, with an intelligent face and a purposeful stride–this is how I picture the man in this passage, who is referred to in the other gospels as the rich, young ruler. I wonder what was going through his mind as he wove his way through the crowds of Jesus’ followers toward the Teacher himself. Did he glance discreetly at the disciples’ rough robes and travel-worn sandals? Did he compare them with his own fine clothes and the glitter of the rings on his fingers? When he peered over his shoulder to make sure that his servants were still waiting with his camels, did he notice that none of these people had either servants or camels? Link

 

This character reveals one of the fundamental errors of the Christian life; he thought salvation was something he could earn. He came to Jesus because He wanted eternal life. However, as the story unfolds, we get the definite impression that he was simply looking for a formula of good deeds that would produce the desired results. Simply put, he wanted to check “salvation” off his lifetime “to do” list. Link

 

Just like the young ruler, we may be willing to do anything for God, but for all of us there is one thing we won’t do. There is always something that is too much, too far out of our comfort zone, too sacrificial for us. Link

 

What the heck is going on?   I thought He was building a church?   Jesus would have been fired from most Christian organizations or churches for this insane act.  You can’t go building anything if all you do is run off the influential seekers with some high bar act like selling everything and giving to the poor. Link

 

The rich young ruler wanted the gain without the pain. Jesus said it couldn’t be done. The prize comes with a price. Link

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