Week 37 Matthew 19
A wealthy young man asked the Lord what he had to do to inherit eternal life (he obviously figured that good actions in the here-and-now would assure him of a good & happy post-mortem life).
So the Lord told him: you can receive eternal life if you keep the commandments – for example:
No murder? > Eternal Life
No adultery? > Eternal Life
No theft? > Eternal Life
No lying? > Eternal Life
Honouring your parents? > Eternal Life
Loving your neighbour? > Eternal Life
The young man listened…mentally checking all the boxes. He’d done them all (yes!) But he didn’t want to count his chickens before they hatched and he double-checked: what else must I do?
Selling everything is not one of the Ten Commandments. In fact as far as I know selling-all-my-possessions isn’t required anywhere in the OT. The Lord just made-up the commandment for this man. A personalized law. Made-to-measure.
In one way it seems like an unfair thing for the Lord to do. On the other hand the guy had asked what good things must I do to inherit eternal life? So it was fair game (and I guess it hit-the-nail-on-the-head).
Afterward the Lord told the disciples that it was almost impossible for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God. He went on to say that humanly speaking, it is impossible. And if he hadn’t added that with God everything is possible it could have looked like the end-of-the-road for a lot of wealthy people.
Note: Matthew 19:17 20 16 24 26 (NLT)