My uncle Joe became mad at me. He did not speak to me for months.
Why?
Because he did not like my question.
“If I win a lottery, I will help the poor,” he said to me.
“How much do you help the poor now?” I asked. My question made him angry.
When I wrote this chapter, I read posts on Facebook about LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs.
One post said that James had helped many poor young people by paying their college tuition.
The other post said that Kelce, instead of buying an expensive car for himself, bought a building in Kansas City and made it into a place where young people could study and learn technology.
I do not know the veracity of the two posts. I did not fact-check them. But both athletes have been widely acclaimed for their philanthropy.
In the Gospel, we read of a rich young man going to Jesus to ask how he could enter eternal life.
The man was rich and honorable. People in the community respected him.
He went to the synagogue every sabbath. He obeyed God’s commandments.
Yet he felt there was something lacking in his life. So when he heard that Jesus was coming to town, he went to meet Jesus.
“Master, what do I need to do to enter eternal life?” the rich young man asked Jesus. (Matthew 19:16-22).
Do you know the answer to the rich young man’s question?
I think the rich young man did.
If the rich young man knew, then why did he ask Jesus?
Maybe the young man wanted to hear Jesus affirm his goodness.
Or maybe he wanted Jesus to introduce him to the crowd, saying, “Ladies and gentlemen, this young man is exactly the kind of follower I am looking for.”
If the rich young man was expecting Jesus’ praise and commendation, Jesus’ reply was not what he wanted to hear.
“Obey the commandments and you enter eternal life,” Jesus told him.
“Which ones?” The gentleman asked.
Jesus recited the commandments to him.
“I have followed them all,” the young man told Jesus.
The rich young man felt good because he thought he had covered all the bases.
At this point, he should have stopped and said, “Thank you, Jesus. Nice meeting you,” shook Jesus’ hand and went home.
But the rich young man did not go away.
Instead, he asked “Jesus, what still do I lack?”
Here is where Jesus nailed the rich young man. “One thing you lack,” Jesus said, “Go home, sell everything you have, give the money to the poor, then come back and follow Me.”
Wow! Can you imagine what went through the rich young man’s mind when he heard what Jesus told him?
Maybe he thought, “Be serious, Jesus. This is a bit too extreme” or “I have worked pretty hard to be where I am” or “I have obligations” or “Sell everything I have and give it away?”
He may have continued thinking, “I cannot just pack up and leave. I have a wife and kids to support and workers that are depending on me. I have financial deals that are pending. I own a lot of land here. Let us not be too radical about this.”
Or “Maybe I should just write a larger check to help the poor.”
The rich young man was devastated.
Jesus looked at the rich young man’s soul and heart.
On the outside, the man was doing the right things. But in the inside, his heart and mind were divided.
The rich young man’s possessions and position were competing with God for primacy.
The rich young man had surrendered his outward behavior to God. But his commitment was not absolute. He had not made a total surrender to God.
Jesus was looking into the heart of the rich young man and saw that he had not relinquished his life unconditionally to God. The man’s status and his possessions were his idols.
This line is sobering: “When the rich young man heard what Jesus said, he went away sad because he had great wealth,” Scripture says.
The rich young man simply could not surrender everything. He turned his back on Jesus and went away sad.
To follow Jesus is to surrender our lives completely to Him. To follow Jesus means to forsake everything and completely place our lives in his hands.
When we say we want to be his disciples, yet attach a list of conditions, Jesus refuses to accept our terms.
Jesus said that if anyone comes after Him, one must deny oneself and take up one’s cross and follow Him; that whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Jesus and for the Gospel will save it, for what good is it for a man to gain the whole world and yet lose his soul? (Mark 8:34-36).