One Thing you Lack

Yet there follows one of the loveliest statements of Scripture:

How or why Jesus loved him is beyond our ability to fathom. But so is His love for all men -and for us. That love is mysterious, it is marvelous. It is not called forth by our deluded claims to goodness, nor is it deflected by our arrogant self-righteousness.

But it is our ultimate resource, "for God so loved the world that He gave. . . "!

It is, therefore, Jesus' love for this blind young inquirer which motivates our Lord's next words:

What was that? The answer should be obvious to every Christian with a New Testament in his hands. The one thing he lacked was faith -saving faith!4

No doubt it will be objected to this that it does not at all accord with the words of Jesus which follow immediately. But in fact it does accord with those words, properly considered. But not in the explicit one-to-one form which some readers inappropriately expect.

Here, too, the eclipse of grace casts its shadow over the interpretation of Scripture. Can anyone suppose that selling all and giving to the poor are really conditions for going to heaven? Were they even really conditions for this particular man? And if they are, or were, how can that conception of things be harmonized with the simple offer of a free gift of life to needy men?

"Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely" (Rev. 22:17) is far from being identical with "sell whatever you have and give to the poor." Such declarations are manifestly not saying the same thing. Casuistry alone can reduce them to some form of equivalence.

No, this man lacked saving faith, just as does every unsaved man. He lacked the simple spirit of trust so characteristic of the little children Jesus had just received (see Mark 10:13-16). But the young man was not prepared just now to have his deficiency explicitly stated. He was much too self-righteous to feel the need for a Savior. After all, had he not said, "What must I do"?

Jesus did not believe in pouring water down a clogged hole. This man must be prepared to comprehend the thing he really needed. Shock treatment was clearly in order.

Thus it is that Jesus' challenge takes the form it does:

Clearly, this is a call to discipleship. It is an invitation to the utmost self-denial in the form of unstinting generosity.5 Its outcome, Jesus declares, will be heavenly treasure.6

Was the young man prepared for this? Naturally not. In fact he goes away saddened since his wealth was considerable. But why did he go away? Above all, because he had more faith in his money than he had in Jesus.

Indeed, our Lord subsequently points this out to His disciples when He tells them:

Let there be no mistake about it. The man lacked saving faith. No doubt when he asked what he might do to inherit eternal life, he suspected that his wealth might be tapped for some act or acts of benevolence. But it had not entered his mind that Jesus might ask him to surrender everything!

That he was unprepared to do, for then he would be surrendering the very thing in which he trusted: his money! He was clearly not ready to give up all that just on the bare word of this Teacher. And so he went sorrowfully away.

Go on to Life and Treasure

Return to the THE RICH YOUNG RULER Menu