The Rich Young Ruler

Last week I was finishing up the audio version of Just Courage, by Gary Hougan on my morning run.  Mr. Hougan was talking about the passage of the Rich Young Ruler.  Later that night I was watching part of the Radical Sermon series by David Platt.  Guess what he spoke on?  The Rich Young Ruler.  God is really good at making sure when he wants me to hear a message that he tells me over and over so there isn't much opportunity for me to miss it.

I love how you can be really familiar with a passage and then out of nowhere it has a completely new meaning for you.  This one was a tough message.  The rich young ruler?  He's me.  How is it that we can spend our lives thinking about how it is really hard for a rich person to get into heaven, but growing up in middle class America, we miss the subtly of the word "rich" actually applying to us.  None of us think of ourselves as rich because we like to compare up.  Sometimes we live paycheck to paycheck or we just have to stay within a budget to make ends meet.  Even if we know we are "comfortable" compared to others we know, we still don't think of ourselves as "rich." 

Yet we are rich. 

We live in America, one of the richest countries in the world.  The fact that we have easy access to fresh clean water automatically ranks us among the richest in the world.  Let alone an abundance and variety of food.  Our physical needs are met.  We are rich beyond belief.  And yet I've never thought of myself as the Rich Young Ruler.   Mostly because I pictured him as the son of a king.  Royalty, robes and jewels.  That's certainly not the life I lead.

Luke 18:18-23

A certain ruler asked him, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

"Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.'"

"All these I have kept since I was a boy," he said.

When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."

When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth.

When the rich young ruler meets Jesus he asks what he can do, thinking he already has it covered.  But Jesus takes the wind out of his sails.  He tells this young man that he needs to sell everything he owns, give all his money away and follow him.  

Here is a man who is already following Jesus. I never noticed that.  I've always read this passage as someone who is asking God what it takes to follow him, he learns, doesn't like it and walks away.  But that's not the case at all.  He already knows Jesus.  He has known him and followed him his whole life, since he was a boy. He does all that he is asked, obeying the laws. 

Isn't that most of us?  We love Jesus, we obey "most" of his commands.  But when he comes face to face with Jesus he asks what else is necessary for him to enter the Kingdom of heaven, and when he hears the answer, he turns in sadness, unwilling to make the final leap.  He turns his back on the one he has obeyed and followed since he was a boy because he realizes it is going to cost him too much.  Are we prepared to have Jesus tell us to sell everything, give it all away and follow him?  What does that look like?  Is it enough to just say we are willing?  How would we know if that is actually being asked of us? 

I don't think that everyone who loves Jesus is called to give everything away and follow him.  But I do believe that we are all called to be willing to do this.  We are also called to a humility that the Rich Young Ruler didn't seem to present to Jesus "All these I have kept since I was a boy."  Doubt it.  But still, there is the fact that the man loves his money, and comforts of this world, more than the promise of the treasures in the world to come.  And Jesus points that out to him. 

We have to remember that God doesn't actually need our money.  So to say that we all need to give our money away isn't necessary.  However, he needs our hearts to be soft to him and willing to give whatever might be asked.  We need to get over the obstacle of security and wealth that keeps us from loving Jesus completely.  In this story, the man is sad.  He is grieved at the painful choice he must make.  And even more grieved at what he knows he will lose as he chooses wealth.

Because we are rich, and we are, we need to heed this warning.  Our wealth provides us with a false sense of security and self-sufficiency.  It is a big, big sacrifice to give that up.  It is a big leap of faith, to trust that if we give up our wealth and comfort here and now, we will reap the benefit in the promised kingdom.  But that promise of future reward should not be our motivation.  God wants us to respond in obedience out of our love for him, not for the promise of what we will get out of it.

Despite Jesus' discouraging follow-up to this story, that it is difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven, we have a hope that with God all things are possible.  It is not likely that a rich person will choose to give all that up on their own, but God can change hearts and priorities.  I need to seek that heart and priority change.  I need to be willing to give up my comforts and security.  To walk away from the known and to enter the unknown with willing, reckless abandon.