Seeds for 11/22/2023 - Matthew 19:16-17
Scripture: 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.”
Observation: This is simply the beginning of a famous and fascinating exchange between Jesus and this wealthy young man. We’ll take more than one day to observe what’s happening here but these brief verses are a good place to start.
The very first thing we see is a tousle over the word good. The young man uses the word good to refer to the moral or religious/spiritual quality of an action: “what good thing must I do?” And it is associated with gaining life—eternal life. Eternal refers not only to quantity but quality. Not merely continued existence, but the full, rich life. The good life. The fully-with-God life, which is what kingdom life is. When we have kingdom life, then we have it here in this life and beyond.
So, the man wants to know what action/s of moral and religious goodness will gain him entry into the life with God he desires, the kingdom life.
Jesus has a habit of questioning the premise with His answers. Notice how He shifts the wording from “what is good” to “who is good.”
“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.”
Then He adds an exhortation to keep the commandments if the man wants to enter life. Who precedes what. God’s character is the measure of any and all goodness. Inasmuch as an action or behavior reflects alignment with the goodness of God, then it is a good thing. If it can’t be grounded in the good character of God, then it isn’t good.
That’s why Jesus points to the commandments. God gave the Torah to the Israelites in order to shape them and their life together after His own heart. The commands reflect and reveal His character. Keep them, and you are aligning yourself with the goodness of God Himself.
There’s more to the story and to the theology, of course. It will round out as we proceed through the story. For now, however, it’s important to observe that who precedes what. That is, goodness is first an attribute of God and second an action of man. Therefore, the commands are not for their own sake. Rather, they reveal the good character of God (who) and, to the degree that we obey them, lead us to reflect that goodness (what) in the world.
Application:
What stories and passages in the Bible best illustrate the goodness of God’s character to you?
What else might the Holy Spirit be speaking with you about in the text today?
Prayer: Lord, ground my understanding of goodness in your faithful character and not in my frail and inconsistent obedience. Amen.
“But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:23)
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