And as He [Jesus] was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.
You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’”
And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
Mark 10:17~22
It is astonishing that Jesus doesn't simply point this guy to the teachings from the mount about how anger is equal to murder, and lust;adultery. He doesn't clip his ear and tell him to 'wind his neck in, there's no way anyone keeps the commandments'.
No, Jesus simply and lovingly puts the guy to the test. For without quoting it, Jesus tests the man with the 1st commandment; "You shall have no other gods before Me."
He tells him to sell all his possessions and give his money to the poor and to follow Him. Reading this from our viewpoint we can easily see that Jesus was asking him to get rid of the false god of 'wealth' that he worshipped, and to follow the one true God; Jesus.
And the man walks away sorrowful.
I'm not sure whether he understood that Jesus was testing the commandments in his life. Or if he may have thought about it and repented at a later stage, we just aren't told. But the lesson is clear for us.
Lets look at our own lives with the litmus test of the commandments and see if we really are as righteous as we think we are.
I think we'll be as sorrowful as this guy, although the question remains as to where that sorrow will lead us:
No, Jesus simply and lovingly puts the guy to the test. For without quoting it, Jesus tests the man with the 1st commandment; "You shall have no other gods before Me."
He tells him to sell all his possessions and give his money to the poor and to follow Him. Reading this from our viewpoint we can easily see that Jesus was asking him to get rid of the false god of 'wealth' that he worshipped, and to follow the one true God; Jesus.
And the man walks away sorrowful.
I'm not sure whether he understood that Jesus was testing the commandments in his life. Or if he may have thought about it and repented at a later stage, we just aren't told. But the lesson is clear for us.
Lets look at our own lives with the litmus test of the commandments and see if we really are as righteous as we think we are.
I think we'll be as sorrowful as this guy, although the question remains as to where that sorrow will lead us:
To repentance from sin, rejection of the false gods in our lives, and to following Jesus.
Or
To walk away from Jesus and cling on to our false gods and sin.
Or
To walk away from Jesus and cling on to our false gods and sin.
