INTRODUCTION

Jesus has taught His disciples they must become eunuchs ( 19:12 ) and children ( 19:14 ) for the sake of His kingdom. Now, through His encounter with the rich young ruler, He tells them they must also be ready to renounce wealth for His sake. As always, though, Jesus promises surpassing rewards ( 19:29 ).

THE TEXT

“Now behold, one came and said to Him, ‘Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?’ So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments . . . .’” (Matthew 19:16-20:16).

RICH YOUNG RULER

The Pharisees test Jesus (19:3), but the man’s question is sincere: How can I obtain life? Jesus’ answer is equally sincere. He is not toying with the man, nor is He preaching the “law” as a preparation to the gospel. Life comes from following Jesus and doing righteousness that surpasses that of the scribes (cf. 5:17 -20). The man claims to have kept the commandments, but knows that he still lacks something (v. 20). Jesus tells him that he can be complete or perfect (v. 21; cf. 5:48 ) only if he gives everything he has to the poor. Wealth can do a great deal, and we get seduced into trusting it to do everything. For that reason, it is more difficult to slip a camel through a needle’s eye for a rich man to enter life.

RENUNCIATION AND REWARD

Jesus doesn’t require every disciple to sell everything he owns, but the conversation with the disciples makes it clear that He calls all of us to lay things aside for Him. Jesus might call us to give up a lucrative business career to use our talents in helping the poor, or He might call us to mission work far from our families. As we saw last week, renunciation is not the end of the story. Jesus promises authority (v. 28) and exponential returns on our investments (v. 29). Jesus promises wealth and eternal life, but the only way to achieve both is the way of self-denial and the cross. If we renounce the kingdom and cling to earthly treasures, we’ll lose both earth and heaven. (The “regeneration” refers to the new age of the kingdom, in which the apostles and the whole church are exalted with Jesus to rule.)

LAST AND FIRST

In context, Jesus’ statement that the “first will be last, and the last first” ( 19:30 ; cf. 20:16 ) apply to the rich and the disciples. The rich look like the “first men,” the dominant ones, but in the end they will be last; the disciples look poor and pathetic, but they will be on thrones when things are made new. In the following parable, however, Jesus gives that reversal an extra twist. Though the last to begin work, the “eleventh-hour men” are the first to be paid (20:9). And, more importantly, the men who work the whole day receive the same wages as those who worked an hour (v. 12). We sympathize with the grumblers (v. 11), and think they’ve been cheated. But the owner’s (God’s) response emphasizes his generosity: He hasn’t cheated the first-hour men, but has rewarded the eleventh-hour men excessively. The message for the disciples is that they too are rewarded far more than their labor deserves. Further, the similarities to the parable of the prodigal son suggest that this too is a parable about Jews and Gentiles: The late-comer Gentiles also receive rewards.