Just then 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, keep the commandments.” “Which ones?” he inquired. Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall 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
The Commandments have been in the news a lot lately. The passage from Matthew’s Gospel, as if by chance, was the scripture reading during Monday’s morning prayer, so it seemed very fitting to comment.
Jesus has just finished being challenged by the Pharisees concerning divorce. This is followed by Jesus blessing a group of children and his line about how we are to have the faith of little children, faith, as James puts it in his writings, a faith that is pure and undefiled.
Then, a man comes to Jesus and asks him what good deed he needs to do to obtain eternal life. Jesus replies that if the man wishes to be good, he must follow the Commandments. There is an assumption that the man is an observant Jew, so he certainly would know the Commandments.
The man inquired more about which ones he should follow. Jesus replies, “You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.'”
You might notice that a couple are missing. Jesus leaves out the Commandments concerning our relationship with God. No idols, keep the sabbath, not using the Lord’s name in vain, and not having any other gods. The Commandments Jesus quotes to the young man are the Commandments that regulate how humanity is to interact with each other.
However, pay close attention to the last part of what Jesus said to the man. Jesus tells him to obey the Commandments and then adds, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
The Commandments appear twice in Scripture, Exodus 20:1–17 and Deuteronomy 5:4–21, neither of which will appear on the walls of Louisiana classrooms since the legislature wrote their version. But I digress. Jesus added a commandment that does not appear in either version, “love your neighbor as yourself.” That love thing.
The man replies that he has done all of this but feels that he still lacks something and asks Jesus what that is. Jesus’ reply shocked the man: “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.”
Wait, following the Commandments is not perfection? Will keeping the rules not get my ticket punched to get into heaven? Jesus, how can this be?
Jesus tells the man to sell all he has and give the money to the poor. It was not enough to sell all he had; he had to give the sale proceeds to support those less fortunate.
At the end of the passage, it is revealed that the man was rich and that after hearing Jesus’ words, “he went away sad.” The man’s possessions meant more to him than obtaining the very thing he sought: perfection.
The entirety of Jesus’ ministry has focused on human interactions and how we care for one another. For Jesus, perfection comes not only in keeping all of the rules but also in loving and caring for each other. For this young man, the thing that prevented him from truly loving others was his wealth. The question for each of us is, what keeps us from truly loving others?
