As this young influencer found out, sometimes the answer Jesus gives isn’t the one you’re looking for

3 min read

But when the young man heard this, he went away sad, for he had many possessions. -Matthew 19:22

In line at the local grocery store, I was between two men in a casual conversation. They hadn’t seen each other for a long time and both summed up what they had been doing lately as “Just working.”

One guy talked about how his employer offered large bonuses for working weekend overtime. When someone chimed in, “You know, you can’t take it with you,” one of the men said “I’m gonna try!”

As I listened to the conversation, it reminded me of something I had just read in the Bible.

Possessed

The story of the exchange between Jesus and the rich young ruler in the Gospels highlights an age-old tension between having money versus having faith.

Apparently, the young man who approached Jesus had been on a fast track to wealth, because the text says “he was very rich” (Matthew 19:22, NET). And having already accumulated material wealth, he wanted to add eternal life to his portfolio.

When he asked Jesus how he could do this, the Lord answered him differently than he answered other people on the same issue. When Nicodemus, for example, asked essentially the same question, Jesus gave this famous reply:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16, ESV

But when the rich dude asked, curiously Jesus first told him to keep the commandments. The self-assured tycoon replied, in essence, “Check, I’ve done this.”

Then the Lord threw him a curve and told him to go sell everything and give the proceeds to the poor.

And that was the deal-breaker.

If we’re honest, what Jesus tells the man is a little confusing. I mean, it isn’t the normal description of how to receive eternal life.

Was the plan different for a rich person, or was Jesus simply trying to expose the man’s real god?

Probably the latter.

They say that before someone can be found, they have to be lost. Or, before you can be healed, you have to realize and acknowledge that you are sick.

Jesus showed the rich man that he was possessed. He was possessed by his possessions and he needed to put his faith in something more durable than dollars.

But rather than trusting Jesus on this one, he clutched his money even tighter.

Where is the Love?

Wealth and possessions aren’t inherently evil, but to be controlled by them, this is the rub. Do we own, or are we owned? Do we manage our resources, or do they manage us?

As the Apostle Paul clarified, it is “the love of money” that is the root of all evil (1 Timothy 6:9-11). The issue is one of the heart and from what, or from whom, we find our deepest sense of security and fulfillment. Unless money is our god, we won’t mind giving it away generously when prompted by God to do so.

I’m just guessing here, but I imagine that had he done what Jesus told him to do that day, the young and rich guy would have gotten it all back and then some. Like Abraham, after offering Isaac. Like the little boy on the hillside, with his five loaves and two fish. What these offered up was returned to them in heaping measure.

In a world that celebrates being super rich as if it were the ultimate, don’t buy it.

It’s a new day with God. Run with it.