What Makes Someone Good?

As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone.”

You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’”

“Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”

Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

                                                                Mark 10:17-21

 

“He’s a good man.”

I’ve said that many times about people who have come up in conversation.  I’ve heard lots of other people say it to me about people they know.  But what does that really mean?  As I think about it now, I think when I say it, I usually am describing more of a feeling I get about my experience of that person.  My experience of that person has been good.  But really, what does it really mean to display the fruit of goodness in the way that we live?

Jesus brings clarity to this issue in a conversation found in three of the four Gospels.  Jesus picks up on what seems to be an unimportant part of the man’s question to make an important point – a point that will make it clear what we must do to display goodness. 

The man addresses Jesus as “Good Teacher.”  Jesus asks in reply, “Why to you call me good – only God is good?”  Some have actually suggested that this is denying his divinity, but I think the exact opposite is true.  I think Jesus is trying to lead the man to realize that he is in fact divine.  To illustrate, let me use a different imaginary conversation.

A man named George approaches his Doctor, and says, “Hey Dr. James…”

Dr. James replies, “Why do you call me Dr?”

George thinks for a moment.  When looking for a doctor, he did a search on the internet and Dr. Kendrick James came up in the results, so he called to make an appointment.  But he realizes, he doesn’t really know if this man he has entrusted his health to is actually a medical doctor. 

“Come to think of it,” George answers, “I don’t really know. Are you actually a doctor?”

Dr. James walks over to the wall.  “So glad you asked… here’s all of my degrees, including my medical degree from Johns Hopkins.”

Something similar is happening in Jesus’s conversation with the man in the above passage and there’s some really important teaching here.  First, Jesus points out, “only God is good.”  If there is goodness in anyone, it comes from God.  Second, after pointing out that only God is good, Jesus goes on to walk him through six of the Ten Commandments.  It was a long time before I noticed that the six Jesus mentions are the six that have to do with loving people.  God ahead and check above.  I’ll be here when you come back.

The man responds to Jesus by confirming he has kept these six commandments since childhood.  Jesus doesn’t dispute that.  Instead, he points to other four Commandments that have to do with loving God without actually listing them.  He says, ““One thing you lack; Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

“Then, come follow me,” is the key phrase here.  Jesus establishes that goodness only comes from God, that the man has made money his God, and so he must give that up and follow Jesus to inherit eternal life and goodness.  In effect, Jesus is saying, “to be good, follow me because I am good because I am God,” 

My goodness and your goodness do not come from us.  They come from the God who created us and called us good.  Our goodness grows and blooms from following the Spirit of God within us.  Next time, we’ll talk about those “blooms” or fruit of goodness.

 

Prayer:  God, you alone are good.  We thank you that you have created us, redeemed us, and sustain us for sharing in your goodness.  Grow your good fruit in us.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for lawmakers at every level as they seek to make changes in our laws that will allow healing of the deep divisions in our country right now.

 

Song:  Israel & New Breed - You Are Good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ul6i6Kz2p2k

The Problem With Having It All

Mark 10:17-31, The Message - As he went out into the street, a man came running up, greeted him with great reverence, and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to get eternal life?”

Jesus said, “Why are you calling me good? No one is good, only God. You know the commandments: Don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t lie, don’t cheat, honor your father and mother.”

He said, “Teacher, I have—from my youth—kept them all!”

Jesus looked him hard in the eye—and loved him! He said, “There’s one thing left: Go sell whatever you own and give it to the poor. All your wealth will then be heavenly wealth. And come follow me.”

The man’s face clouded over. This was the last thing he expected to hear, and he walked off with a heavy heart. He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and not about to let go.

Looking at his disciples, Jesus said, “Do you have any idea how difficult it is for people who ‘have it all’ to enter God’s kingdom?” The disciples couldn’t believe what they were hearing, but Jesus kept on: “You can’t imagine how difficult. I’d say it’s easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye than for the rich to get into God’s kingdom.”

That got their attention. “Then who has any chance at all?” they asked.

Jesus was blunt: “No chance at all if you think you can pull it off by yourself. Every chance in the world if you let God do it.”

Peter tried another angle: “We left everything and followed you.”

Jesus said, “Mark my words, no one who sacrifices house, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children, land—whatever—because of me and the Message will lose out. They’ll get it all back, but multiplied many times in homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and land—but also in troubles. And then the bonus of eternal life! This is once again the Great Reversal: Many who are first will end up last, and the last first.”

 

                One of the most memorable moments from the movie Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory comes at the end. After bequeathing his factory to the boy Charlie, Wille Wonka, played brilliantly by Gene Wilder, says the following to Charlie:

 “Don't forget what happened to the man who suddenly got everything he wanted…. he lived happily ever after.”

If only that were true.  So many people have found this out the hard way.  They amass wealth, power, and/or influence, thinking it they are securing the keys to happiness only to find themselves miserable in ways they never dreamed.  Jesus looks into the eyes of this young man who already has acquired great wealth and sees the hints of this misery already developing this young man and is filled with compassion for him.  He wants to save him from the suffering that is already on it’s way, but realizes it will be costly to the rich young man.  The hold that wealth has on the man is complete.  Jesus realizes that the only way this hold can be loosened is if the man is physically separated from it.  The hold that the wealth has on him is confirmed when he leaves Jesus sad because he cannot bear the truth with which Jesus confronts him. 

After the man has left, Jesus uses the encounter to point out the difficulty of wealth to his disciples.  It is a rare individual who can be wealthy and follow God completely.  This is hard for anyone to hear, but in Jesus’s time, it was even more difficult because the teaching flies in the face of the then-common belief that wealth was a sign of divine blessing.  Jesus teaches here and elsewhere that often, the opposite is true; wealth can be a curse.  It can create a blockage to divine blessing and connection.   

We’d all like to think that we are the rare individual who could pull it off – we’d be the one who could hold wealth, but not let it erode our trust in God.  I think the disciples may have been thinking the same thing and so they ask, “than who has any chance at all?”  They were hoping Jesus would say something like, “it won’t be a problem for you guys,” but alas he says something even more surprising. 

““No chance at all if you think you can pull it off by yourself. Every chance in the world if you let God do it.”

Peter points out that all the disciples hearing this actually done what Jesus told the unfortunate man to do.  They’ve left behind people and things in order to follow Him. 

                Jesus finally offers some reassurance in response that the disciples’ sacrifices have been noticed by God.  They have chosen God over other things and their choice was the wisest thing they’ve ever done.  They, unlike the wealthy young man, were able to trust God to provide for them when they gave up the means to provide for themselves.  However, their choice doesn’t accomplish the provision; God does.  God always does.  This truth is at the core of the entire passage.  Only God can offer eternity.  Eternal life cannot be earned; it is always the gift of God. 

 

Question:  To what extent do you believe you have earned the blessings you now enjoy? 

 

Prayer:  Lord, expose any way in which we feel entitled to the good things we enjoy and break any unhealthy attachments we have to things other than you.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for those who are wealthy nut miserable nonetheless.

 

Song:  Can’t Buy Me Love – The Beatles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srwxJUXPHvE