Go Thy Way-Jesus And The Rich Young Ruler Series

Based on a message preached at First Baptist Church, Glasgow, MO, 2014

This is not an exact transcription

Background: When an event in Scripture is recorded once, it’s clearly important. This event was mentioned in three of the four Gospels! This event took place shortly before the Lord Jesus Christ made His final journey to Jerusalem, to “give His life a ransom for many (Mark 10:45)” and three days later rise from the dead. In fact, this may be one of the last conversations or encounters with a “seeker” before He went to Calvary.

The text is from Mark’s Gospel, chapter 10, verses 17-22. The key verse is verse 21:

Mark 10:21 Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me (emphasis added).

Introduction

Jesus, as we’ve seen, is on His way to Jerusalem, and He’s fully aware of what’s going to happen in a matter of days. Now notice this contrast: Jesus is walking towards His destiny, and—would you believe it, someone comes running to see Him! Reading in the Gospels, we can find that many people came to Jesus, and some brought others (like the friends who let a sick man down through a roof!), but only a few actually ran to meet Him. Let’s take a look at the conversation:

I The young man’s question and the Lord’s reply

Remember, this man was one of the few even mentioned as running, in the Bible, and one of the very few who knelt before Jesus before our Lord went to Calvary. Apparently the young man is still in the kneeling position as he asks the question. No doubt, he was sincere in his question and no doubt, he didn’t let his own status as being young (Matthew 19:22), rich (Luke 18:23) and a ruler, perhaps a leader in a synagogue (Luke 18:18) stand in the way of wanting to find an answer to his question. He wanted to know! Don’t you wish more people wanted to know how to receive eternal life?

So he asks a profound question, “Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?”

Nobody had ever asked Jesus that question before! Think of all the times when people asked Jesus various questions, or made different kinds of requests. This is the most sincere question, I think, in the entire Bible. And it’s rooted in a very sincere, but very misguided, frame of mind.

We don’t have to look very far to remember that the Jewish religion, the Law of Moses, had many commandments. Leviticus, Numbers, and the other books, give all kinds of instructions which were mandatory and binding on all the Hebrew people. One estimate was that, in addition to the Ten Commandments, there were over 600 laws, commandments, ordinances, etc., in the Law. How could anyone possibly keep all of these commandments? Even Jesus Himself, in the Sermon on the Mount, stated “That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:20, KJV)”. I remember a radio preacher, many years ago, speaking on that verse and asking, “How religious can you get?”

So, was the young man, the rich young ruler, looking for a genuine answer? Was he really sincere? Did he truly want to receive eternal life, or was he just looking for something missing? Only he knows for sure, except, Jesus knew exactly what he was thinking—even though Mark doesn’t tell us this in the text.

I wonder how much time Jesus took before He made a reply to the young man’s question. Surprisingly, Jesus answered the young man’s question with one of His own! I have to confess here, that sometimes I get a little irritated or frustrated when I ask somebody for information, but I don’t get an answer, only another question. True, there may be a need for me to clarify something, and, I realize, maybe I could have phrased it better. Then again, there are people who seem to think answering a question is beneath them! I remember walking to the parking lot of a certain college, where one of the students (I guess) was perhaps checking for expired parking meters, (Personally I wish ALL parking meters were expired—removed, actually—but that wasn’t the case that day.) So, upon seeing the student, I said, “Man, I hope my car was in the right spot” or something, just to maybe spark a conversation or a bit of humor. The reply? “I don’t know, is it?” Sigh.

But the purpose of Jesus’ question was to probe the depth of the young man’s sincerity, I think. After all, he did call Jesus “Good Teacher” or “Good Master”; very few people in the Bible were ever called “good”, even fewer directly, if there were any at all. So, Jesus asks, why DID you call Me “good”?