Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?" "Why do you ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied. "There is only One who is good." "If you want to enter life, obey the commandments." "Which ones?" the man inquired. Jesus replied, "'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,' and 'love your neighbor as yourself.'" "All these I have kept," the young man said. "What do I still lack?" Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. - Matthew 19:16-22

We don’t know the name of the man who approached Jesus with an important question.  We only know that he was young and rich.  That probably meant that he had a fairly comfortable life in comparison to many people who were far less fortunate.  But in the midst of his worldly wealth, the young man was uncertain about the balance of his spiritual account with God.  He assumed that he was in a favorable position with God by keeping the commandments, but wasn’t sure if that was enough to gain eternal life.  So he asked Jesus, “What do I still lack?”

Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”  Jesus cut out from under him his false support.  He cut to the deepest recesses of his heart to expose the growth of greed.  The young man’s heart was filled with love for his wealth and trust in himself.  He believed that he could gain spiritual and eternal life on his own and that trusting in his earthly possessions held no danger for him.

The man's error is an easy one for us to commit.  The inclination of our sinful natures is to believe that the good things we do are counted by God for our salvation.  We naturally have a high estimation of ourselves, justifying ourselves before God with the defense that we try to be good people.  But God requires more than a good effort from us; he requires that we obey his will all the time in every way without ever failing. He demands perfection!

Jesus’ lesson for us is to abandon any reliance on ourselves or anything in our lives to get eternal life with God.  We cannot earn eternal life with our obedience or buy it with our wealth.  Eternal life is a gift that God gives to us through Jesus whose perfect obedience God counts as ours.  The price of eternal life for us was paid not with gold or silver but with Jesus’ holy, precious blood.   Following Jesus and relying completely on him fills us with the joy of the treasure of life with God forever!

Prayer (Christian Worship: A Lutheran Hymnal, 477):
What is the world to me with all its vaunted pleasure
When you, and you alone, Lord Jesus, are my treasure!
You only dearest Lord, my soul’s delight shall be;
You are my peace, my rest. What is the world to me!

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