Matthew 19:16 And behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
John 6:27-28 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
This man, like all people by nature, had an orientation toward earning eternal life. He wanted to know what good work or noble deed he could do to inherit eternal life. By asking this question he:
- He believed in a future state; that there was an eternal life that might be inherited.
- He was concerned to ensure that life to himself, and was more desirous of it than of any of the enjoyments of this life: thus he differed from many of his age and quality; for the rich are apt to think it below them to make such an inquiry as this, and young people, in general, are inclined to defer making it to some future period of their lives.
- He had to believe that something must be done; some evils omitted, some duties performed, or divine injunctions complied with, in order to acquire it.
- He was, or at least thought he was, willing to do what was to be done or to take the steps necessary to be taken for the obtaining of this eternal life. And surely those that know what it will be to enjoy eternal life will not fall short of its requirements and will be glad to accept it on any terms. (Benson)
He had attempted to keep all the commandments. He had been taught by his Jewish teachers that people were to be saved by doing something – that is, by their works; and he supposed that this was to be the way under every system of religion. He had lived externally a blameless life, but yet he was not at peace: he was anxious, and he came to ascertain what, in the view of Jesus, was to be done, that his righteousness might be complete. To “have eternal life” means to be saved. (Barnes)
Jesus knew this man’s heart and spoke to him where his heart and mind could understand. We know that no one inherits eternal life by works, no matter how moral and grant they might be. To sell all and give all to the poor will not yield eternal life. With this in mind and reading this passage, Jesus is exposing to this man what is hindering him from surrendering all, covetousness, self-worth, and self-reliance. The young man declared that he had kept the law. That law required, among other things, that he should love his neighbor as himself. It required, also, that he should love the Lord his God supremely; that is, more than all other objects. If he had that true love for God and man – if he loved his Maker and fellow man more than he did his property, he would be willing to give up his wealth to the service of God and of man. Jesus commanded him to do this, therefore, to test his character, to show him that he had not kept the law as he pretended, and thus to show him that he needed better righteousness than his own.
Such is the life of many, loving this present world and what it has to offer. Many hear the call to repentance and salvation but the love of what this world has to offer more than eternal life in Jesus Christ. It is not as though they don’t desire eternal life but rather their love of something other than Christ keeps them from repenting and surrendering all at His feet. Many will not even show a bit of remorse over the decision to reject this offer of eternal life. They just simply cast it out of their mind giving it no further thought. Many will try to do enough good and wrongly think it is good enough to inherit eternal life. Many will even teach such. With such thoughts, the eye of the needle is very small and their attempts to enter through it with these thoughts of being good enough make them the size of a camel trying to enter. It is impossible.
The eye of the needle, as it were, is reserved for those who humbly repent, turn away from sin, and the love of this worlds pleasures and offers, surrenders, follows, trusts, and relies solely on Jesus Christ.