Two Rich Men & A Choice
I remember the first time I was challenged with the story of the Rich Young Ruler my senior year of college. I was investigating what it meant to really follow Jesus (I thought that I was but was coming to the realization that I wasn’t). Carmen, who was so influential in my walk with Christ asked me, “So how does the story of the Rich Young Ruler resonate with you?”
Luke 18:18-23
18 A ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 19 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked him. “No one is good except God alone. 20 You know the commandments: Do not commit adultery; do not murder; do not steal; do not bear false witness; honor your father and mother.”[a] 21 “I have kept all these from my youth,” he said. 22 When Jesus heard this, he told him, “You still lack one thing: Sell all you have and distribute it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 23 After he heard this, he became extremely sad, because he was very rich.
So we are all on the same page. Let us call The Rich Young Ruler, ‘Rick‘… so I don’t have to continue to type The Rich Young Ruler over & over again. Okay, so back to my first thought on Rick. My first thought was very honest, but just a little off the mark. I said something along the lines of, “I give when I can, but I’m a broke college student… but I do give when I can.” Great answer, but in reality, what Carmen was really asking was what was I holding onto that wasn’t glorifying to God? Ouch. I remember a lump in my throat forming thinking of the answer to the question. At that time, I said I was a follower of Christ, but there were things that I was doing (habitually) that said otherwise.
As we see in the verses above, we see that he responds and tells Jesus that he has kept all of the commandments since his youth. He seemed to have a genuine concern and respect towards Jesus so we can see that he wasn’t a pharisee. In the Gospel of Mark, the author records that Rick knelt at the feet of Jesus before asking his question, which is an act that pharisees would never do. We see that he seemed to be kind, respectful, and realized that he needed more to inherit eternal life. He knew there was something else he needed, but he didn’t realize that he was not the answer. The problems that we see here is that Rick wanted the gift of eternal life alone, but was fine without the Giver. He also was fine with doing it all by himself. But, if we could do it by ourselves, there would have been no need for Jesus to come in the first place. Jesus revealed the heart of Rick by telling him to give all of his possessions to the poor. It seemed to be that his possessions were a hindrance to fully following Jesus with his whole heart, mind, soul, and strength. Verse 23 says he walked away extremely sad because he was very rich. He ended up choosing the object Jesus told him to let go of instead of Jesus. Keep that in mind as I jump to the next chapter to talk about Zacchaeus.
Luke 19:1-10
2 There was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. 3 He was trying to see who Jesus was, but he was not able because of the crowd, since he was a short man. 4 So running ahead, he climbed up a sycamore tree to see Jesus, since he was about to pass that way. 5 When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down because today it is necessary for me to stay at your house.” 6 So he quickly came down and welcomed him joyfully. 7 All who saw it began to complain, “He’s gone to stay with a sinful man.” 8 But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, I’ll give half of my possessions to the poor, Lord. And if I have extorted anything from anyone, I’ll pay back four times as much.”
Something I TRULY didn’t realize was Jesus’ encounter with Zacchaeus was the very next chapter (oops). Zacchaeus was a tax-collector, which means he stole from people, society deemed him a sinner, and he was also a rich man. As you can see in the verses above, he was really interested to see who Jesus was. He climbed a tree so he could just get a glimpse of the man (by the way, not sure I would climb a tree but that’s neither here or there). Jesus looked up and called Zacchaeus by name and told him he would lodge at his house for the night. Sidenote: I don’t usually love when people invite themselves over… but I think I would make an exception for Jesus. We see in verse eight that Zacchaeus’ response to Jesus was a LOT different than Rick’s. He gave half of his possessions to the poor and gave back to everyone he had stolen from. What was different between the two rich men? Rick wanted eternal life; and Zacchaeus wanted a relationship with Jesus. We see that a relationship with Jesus transformed Zacchaeus as a person. His response to knowing Jesus was giving away all that he had. He didn’t walk away sad the way Rick did but, welcomed him joyfully (verse 6).
Jesus revealed a blind spot in Rick’s life. His possessions hindered him having a relationship with Jesus and he walked away sad. Rick just fully couldn’t let go of his things (that could be relationships, possessions, sins, etc.) While Zacchaeus did all he could just to form a relationship with Jesus. Zachchaeus’ response to get to know Jesus was to give all that he had just to get to know Him. I realize now that I was a lot more like Rick more than I could have imagined. I wanted to know what I had to do to inherit eternal life… but I wanted to hold onto my sins in the process. Although I knew Jesus wanted me to fully surrender to Him, for a long time I wanted to hold onto habits that weren’t pleasing in His sight. What is holding you back from fully surrendering to Christ? My hope would be that you don’t walk away sad, but instead, joyfully welcome Jesus into your heart.
