Then someone came to him and said, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is one who is good. If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness. Honor your father and mother. Also, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The young man said to him, “I have kept all these; what do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” When the young man heard this word, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions. (Matthew 19:16-22, NRSVue)
I have always wondered about this passage.
Someone came to Jesus and asked how to obtain eternal life. Jesus said keep the commandments: “You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness. Honor your father and mother. Also, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” One of these is not a commandment. It is a summary of the ones that are commandments, if we are talking about the 10 commandments. Love your neighbor as yourself is not one of the 10 commandments, but is a summary if the second tablet, which is all about loving your neighbor. The first tablet is the summary of the greatest commandment Jesus says elsewhere in the New Testament: Love the Lord your God.
The thing I wonder at is the response to this from the someone: “I have kept all these; what do I still lack?” They have kept all the commandments, and they still did not think they had life eternal? And just the simple fact that they kept all of these. Maybe they kept them on the surface meaning, never actually killed, stolen, committed adultery, but on the second level meaning, the expanded realm as Jesus mentioned, thinking bad thoughts about someone else, looking on a person lustfully, or wanting what someone else has. These are all breaking the commandments. None of us can make it by keeping the commandments, because we will always default to our own nature, of wanting what we want and not worrying about who gets in the way. We are all sinful, and work to not be, but none of us will make it on our own merit, because we will all be like this young man, who will hear we have to give away everything we possess and depend solely on Jesus. That is impossible for us. Thankfully, God will help us.
Be a mighty sinner and sin boldly, my paraphrase of Martin Luther to Philipp Melanchthon. Live a life filled with grace, not worrying about yourself or whether you deserve eternal life. That has already been determined; you do. Now go and help others see that too!
