The rich young ruler (2) - All The Good Seed Daily Devotionals for 2024

Jesus said to him, Why do you call me good? No-one is good but One, that is God.
Mark 10:18

The rich young ruler (2)
The young man had addressed the Lord as "Good Teacher". Proceeding very gently, Jesus set about making him consider two essential issues: who is Jesus and what is man? The Lord thus rejected the ruler's form of address as unsuitable. If He were merely a man like any other, as the ruler thought, He could not be good. He made the young man understand that for that title He would have to be God as well, for "there is none that does good, no, not one" (cf. Romans 3:9-20).

If, however, Jesus is the incarnate Son of God, then He is Himself God, and the form of address "Good Teacher" is too limited. "The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world" (1 John 4:14). That is the tremendous message of the New Testament. God the Son came down to us as Man. We can receive Him as our personal Saviour only by acknowledging Him to be the Son of God.

The Lord's answer made it clear, at the same time, that no-one is good in himself. The young man had imagined that there was a great deal of goodness in himself: after all, he kept the law. He expected to be able to earn eternal life by good works.

The Lord stressed that God alone is good. His creature man came into existence as a good being, but since the fall even the most noble among us, including the rich young ruler, have the seed of sin within us, so that all our deeds bear its stamp. This leads to the logical conclusion that One alone is good: God. The Lord Jesus proposed to make this fact even clearer to the young man.

(to be continued tomorrow)

Today's reading: Joshua 21:27-22:10 · 1 Corinthians 15:12-19