05-07-2022, 03:43 PM
The parallel passages (Mark 10 and Luke 18) indicate the man who approached Jesus was a synagogue ruler who was young and quite wealthy, and that this fellow came at a run to then kneel in front of Jesus. After the news of Jesus raising the dead got around, we can't be too surprised that someone with earnest questions in their heart would act this way. He was serious enough to address Jesus as "Good Rabbi" -- it was as much as the young fellow dared without calling Jesus "Messiah".
Jesus reminded the fellow that genuine goodness comes only from Jehovah. It was a bit of sarcasm prodding the young man to get off the fence. If Jesus wasn't the Messiah, then a synagogue ruler should not be asking Him any such advice. To the question about gaining eternal life, Jesus then gave a stock rabbinical reply, amounting to the well known Ten Commandments.
This was a synagogue ruler; he wasn't the only one who was convinced he had been observing such things since before his bar-Mitzvah. Still, he was under conviction. Obviously something was lacking, because nobody in the synagogue over which he presided could raise the dead. It was simply unheard of, yet here was the man who had performed this miracle. Surely this rabbi knew something his entire synagogue, and a great many rabbis from outside that synagogue, had missed.
Keep in mind that a common doctrine of Pharisaism is that a primary mark of God's favor was material wealth. Those who were wealthy and observant of the Pharisaical rules, as this fellow surely was, were clearly on their way to Heaven. Jesus' suggestion came as a shock. Again, it was meant to prod him to get off the fence -- Jesus was the Messiah or He was lying. Would this man be willing to ditch his worldly goods to find the treasure of Heaven?
At this, the man went away quite dejected. It was not at all what he was expecting, and went against everything he believed about God. His was a very worldly version of God, not the mystical God of self-denial and other-worldliness Who dominated the Ancient Hebrew culture.
Watching the man walk away, Jesus remarked to His disciples how hard it was for the rich to enter the Messianic Kingdom. Having been pickled in the same Pharisaical nonsense as the synagogue ruler, they were also astonished at the idea. Jesus referred to the Needle Gate in the wall of Jerusalem -- it had a high threshold and was quite narrow (it still exists in one section of preserved wall). At night, when the main city gates were officially closed, it was possible for an individual to step through the gate unencumbered, but he would have to leave his camels outside. Coming into the Eternal Kingdom meant abandoning whatever baggage you were carrying.
For those with little to lose, it was an easy matter to trust in the Lord, no matter how difficult the demand. But for those with great wealth, it meant leaving an awful lot behind. So the Twelve asked: If the rich aren't going to Heaven already, who was? Jesus replied that no mere man had the heart for such a thing. Only the power of God, granted to those whom He chose, was sufficient to make such a sacrifice.
Peter remarked how they had managed to do this, and asked what that indicated about their future in the Kingdom. The term translated into English here as "regeneration" refers to the restoration of the Covenant and Kingdom under the Messiah. Jesus promised that they would serve in His court as judges over the resurrected members of the nation from its prior history, twelve men to judge twelve tribes.
We need to keep hold of the context here. Jesus had just warned about how families were so very important (in our previous lesson), and then took a moment to bless children by the same ritual act as someone who was offering a sacrifice to God. The Covenant was meant to create a strong and stable nation to testify of God's mercy and power, provided through the obedience to His Word. Clearly, given the situation in which Jews lived, they did not have the shalom God had promised. Whatever they had built up to this point was not what God had in mind. They had some of the trappings, but not the thing itself.
So Jesus said that the fake imitation of the Covenant Nation was now just a useless burden against obeying the Father's will. To see what Eternity was all about, everyone would have to abandon this life itself, and everything that comes with it. Finally, Jesus added one of His favorite enigmatic epigrams: The first shall be last, and the last shall be first. What men value in this world is of little use in Eternity. God would turn things upside down once He acted.
Jesus reminded the fellow that genuine goodness comes only from Jehovah. It was a bit of sarcasm prodding the young man to get off the fence. If Jesus wasn't the Messiah, then a synagogue ruler should not be asking Him any such advice. To the question about gaining eternal life, Jesus then gave a stock rabbinical reply, amounting to the well known Ten Commandments.
This was a synagogue ruler; he wasn't the only one who was convinced he had been observing such things since before his bar-Mitzvah. Still, he was under conviction. Obviously something was lacking, because nobody in the synagogue over which he presided could raise the dead. It was simply unheard of, yet here was the man who had performed this miracle. Surely this rabbi knew something his entire synagogue, and a great many rabbis from outside that synagogue, had missed.
Keep in mind that a common doctrine of Pharisaism is that a primary mark of God's favor was material wealth. Those who were wealthy and observant of the Pharisaical rules, as this fellow surely was, were clearly on their way to Heaven. Jesus' suggestion came as a shock. Again, it was meant to prod him to get off the fence -- Jesus was the Messiah or He was lying. Would this man be willing to ditch his worldly goods to find the treasure of Heaven?
At this, the man went away quite dejected. It was not at all what he was expecting, and went against everything he believed about God. His was a very worldly version of God, not the mystical God of self-denial and other-worldliness Who dominated the Ancient Hebrew culture.
Watching the man walk away, Jesus remarked to His disciples how hard it was for the rich to enter the Messianic Kingdom. Having been pickled in the same Pharisaical nonsense as the synagogue ruler, they were also astonished at the idea. Jesus referred to the Needle Gate in the wall of Jerusalem -- it had a high threshold and was quite narrow (it still exists in one section of preserved wall). At night, when the main city gates were officially closed, it was possible for an individual to step through the gate unencumbered, but he would have to leave his camels outside. Coming into the Eternal Kingdom meant abandoning whatever baggage you were carrying.
For those with little to lose, it was an easy matter to trust in the Lord, no matter how difficult the demand. But for those with great wealth, it meant leaving an awful lot behind. So the Twelve asked: If the rich aren't going to Heaven already, who was? Jesus replied that no mere man had the heart for such a thing. Only the power of God, granted to those whom He chose, was sufficient to make such a sacrifice.
Peter remarked how they had managed to do this, and asked what that indicated about their future in the Kingdom. The term translated into English here as "regeneration" refers to the restoration of the Covenant and Kingdom under the Messiah. Jesus promised that they would serve in His court as judges over the resurrected members of the nation from its prior history, twelve men to judge twelve tribes.
We need to keep hold of the context here. Jesus had just warned about how families were so very important (in our previous lesson), and then took a moment to bless children by the same ritual act as someone who was offering a sacrifice to God. The Covenant was meant to create a strong and stable nation to testify of God's mercy and power, provided through the obedience to His Word. Clearly, given the situation in which Jews lived, they did not have the shalom God had promised. Whatever they had built up to this point was not what God had in mind. They had some of the trappings, but not the thing itself.
So Jesus said that the fake imitation of the Covenant Nation was now just a useless burden against obeying the Father's will. To see what Eternity was all about, everyone would have to abandon this life itself, and everything that comes with it. Finally, Jesus added one of His favorite enigmatic epigrams: The first shall be last, and the last shall be first. What men value in this world is of little use in Eternity. God would turn things upside down once He acted.