Misunderstood

Luke 18:22
So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

A proper interpretation of the Bible always has to take into account context. Not just the context of the story, but the context of the time in which the story was spoken. Take, for instance, this story of the rich young ruler. Here, a man came to Jesus inquiring what he must do to enter into heaven. Jesus laid it out for him and the man went away sad.

That’s the condensed version of this story. Sadly, this story is commonly used as a “give-guilter” during a tithing series or a capital campaign. But Jesus didn’t tell this story to guilt people into giving more to the church. He told it to show the fullness of the law. He told it to show man’s presumptuous nature. He told it so that grace would have the preeminence in our lives.

The presumption of man, that he could do what it takes to please God, and his arrogance to believe that his works would be enough, began at Mt. Sinai when Israel presumed to tell God that they could fulfill all that He could command (Exodus 19:8). This is our biggest downfall as humans. The idea that we can “do” what it takes to completely please God is completely insane, yet that’s what happens.

Jesus told this rich young man, who apparently kept the law, to do something that was above the surface expectations of the law. That’s what Jesus continually did while He taught prior to His crucifixion. Jesus made it a point to show that the law was the BASE guideline for becoming holy. Simply keeping it at face value wasn’t enough; you had to go all the way to the root. That is why Jesus used examples in His teaching like going the extra mile, loving your enemies, turning the other cheek, and looking lustfully at another. He didn’t use those to give us new goals, but to show us we could never meet the first goal!

This rich young ruler came to Jesus with the attitude that he could do something to please God and “earn” his way into heaven. Jesus answered him in accordance with his attitude, his mindset. The man went away sad because he realized that he could never do what it takes to please God. This young man couldn’t sacrifice enough to enter the Kingdom.

That’s the point of it all: no one can sacrifice enough to enter the Kingdom. It doesn’t matter what you do, it will never be enough to please God. That is why we have Jesus, who freed us from the bonds of the Law and placed us in His grace at the cross. Getting into heaven will never depend on what you do, but depends solely on what He has done!

If you come to Christ with the mindset of this rich young ruler, you will always walk away sad. Not because you’re a horrible idolater, but because you are not capable of doing what it takes to fully satisfy the expectations of God (Isaiah 64:6). But, when you come to Christ, with the knowledge that it’s all been done for you, joy, peace, security, and happiness are what you will walk away with!

Christ did all that you can’t do, won’t do, and don’t desire to do. He did it so you don’t have to do what you thought you should do in order to receive the blessings for what He’s done.