Scripture Daily

Context No. 3807 of 4322 · Luke

Context · Reflection

Luke 18:15-20: in context

15They were also bringing their babies to him, that he might touch them. But when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. 16Jesus summoned them, saying, “Allow the little children to come to me, and don’t hinder them, for God’s Kingdom belongs to such as these. 17Most certainly, I tell you, whoever doesn’t receive God’s Kingdom like a little child, he will in no way enter into it.” 18A certain ruler asked him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 19Jesus asked him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good, except one: God. 20You know the commandments: ‘Don’t commit adultery,’ ‘Don’t murder,’ ‘Don’t steal,’ ‘Don’t give false testimony,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’”

A prosperous ruler comes to Jesus with an earnest question: Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus responds first by testing the man's easy use of the word good: why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. He is drawing the man to consider what goodness really is, and where it is found, in God alone.

Then Jesus points him to the commandments he knows. The ruler's question assumes that eternal life is something he can secure by doing, by adding one more accomplishment to a successful life. But Jesus' words begin to dismantle that confidence: true goodness belongs to God alone, and the commandments, rightly seen, expose that none of us keeps them as we should. The way to life is not a matter of what impressive thing we can do to earn it, but of coming to the God who alone is good, with empty hands. Just before this, Jesus had said the kingdom must be received like a little child, as a gift by the humble, not achieved by the self-sufficient.

Do I come to God recognizing that goodness and eternal life are his to give, received as a gift, rather than something I can earn by my own doing?

Sources