Matthew 19:23-30; Psalm 49:5-9, The Poverty of Riches and the Riches of Poverty (1)

We again see that Jesus’ interaction with the people of the day (in this case, the rich young ruler) leads to discussion and training for His disciples.  Jesus’ disciples have a problem in that they still see things through the eyes of the natural man.  But, of course, this is always a problem for Jesus’ disciples, to this day.  We must have our minds renewed so that we see things as spiritual men (1 Cor. 2:12-16).

Jesus points out how difficult it is for a wealthy person to enter the kingdom of heaven.  Correction!  Jesus points out how impossible it is for a wealthy person to enter the kingdom of heaven.  There are two things we see about the disciples in their response in v25:

·        Their astonishment tells us how they thought according to the religion of the day.  The religion of the priests and Pharisees and Sadducees was grounded in money.  It was clear that those with more money had a smoother path to salvation than those without.  We see this same thing today, and not just in the “health and wealth” crowd.  I have heard a couple of stories recently of churches not in that group who have suffered because they showed favoritism to people in the church that were wealthy.  Their wealth was assumed to be God’s provision for the church so people were led to trust in the wealth, rather than following the leading of the Head of the Church.  The disciple’s astonishment was akin to us saying, “but they were so generous, they seemed to godly.” 

·        Their follow-up question, Who then can be saved, shows that they held to the same principles the rich young ruler held, that there was something a person could “do” to inherit eternal life (19:16).  They are saying, “if the rich can’t get it done, then who can get it done?”  Jesus answer is not, “it’s hard but if you try hard enough or are humble enough you can do it.”  His answer is, With men this is impossible!  Don’t stumble on Jesus reference to a camel and the eye of a needle in v24.  There is a popular idea that Jesus was referring to a smaller gate in Jerusalem that, if you wanted to bring a camel in, you had to get him on his knees and push and shove.  But that is evangelical folk-lore.  There is no evidence such a gate ever existed.  And that interpretation denies Jesus’ clear teaching: it is impossible for a man to do anything by which he can save himself.  It’s not one in a million; it’s impossible.

We will need to spend another day on this passage.  For now, we need to have our minds renewed in terms of what we bring to God for salvation.  This is the hardest thing for a sinful human in any age, any context.  The tendency is to think in terms of having to bring something to God.  We may feel guilty that all we can do is to receive from His grace.  But that is the ONLY way.  We must plead with the Lord to help us to come, not just in humility but with empty hands when we come to Christ.  That is why the Bible equates faith with receiving (John 1:12).