Matthew 19:13-30--How to Come To God

​Matthew 19:13-30 English Standard Version (ESV)
Listen:  https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/esv/Matt.19.13-Matt.19.30

Let the Children Come to Me
13 Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, 14 but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” 15 And he laid his hands on them and went away.

The Rich Young Man
16 And behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” 17 And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” 18 He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, 19 Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 20 The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” 21 Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 22 When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

23 And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” 26 But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” 27 Then Peter said in reply, “See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?” 28 Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. 30 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.

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Jesus transitions (I think naturally) from teaching on marriage and divorce to teaching about children, since children are the natural product of a healthy marriage and are usually some of those hurt most by divorce.  The disciples are trying to keep the children away--maybe they thought they would be an annoyance, or maybe they thought the message was not for them to hear, but Jesus corrected them and said that they should not hinder the children from coming or forbid them to come, because the kingdom of heaven belongs to those like them.  Then He took time to lay hands on them and bless them before He left.  This is a different look at Jesus than we've seen with Him being confrontational with the Pharisees and other religious leaders.  Jesus knows the heart of the audience and knows their faith and their intentions.

We'll see this in our next passage which in most of your Bibles will be titled "The Rich Young Ruler"....we gather all the details about him being a rich young ruler from parallel passages in several gospel accounts one of which tells us he was young, another that he was wealthy and another that he was a ruler.  This man approached Jesus and called Him "Good Teacher," probably to butter Him up a bit given Jesus' reaction,  and to ask what he must do to have (to earn) eternal life.  Jesus doesn't miss the teachable moment to ask the man why he called Jesus "Good Teacher" if he knew that only God was good.  There is an implied question, "Are you calling me God?"  Jesus told the man that if he wanted to earn eternal life there was only one way to do so and that was to keep the commandments perfectly.  The man's then asks, "Which ones," I would have to assume because he knew it would be impossible to keep all 613 commandments in the Mosaic Law (according to Jewish tradition).  Jesus started off easy with Him but still set what should be an impossible standard by just talking about the six commandments in the Ten Commandments about how we treat other people as these would be things that people.  The man claimed he had obeyed and kept all these since he was young (probably meaning since the age of accountability for him), but even then he knew this answer was not enough because he comes back and says, "What else do I lack?" because he knew in his heart that he was lost.

Jesus in order to reveal this man's sin to him tells him that if he wants to be perfect to sell all that he owned, give the money to the poor and leave everything behind to follow Jesus.  The man went away sad because he had great amounts of wealth and material possessions here on earth in which he was finding his security and he was unwilling to trade that for future treasures in heaven.

As the man is walking away Jesus takes the opportunity to make sure His disciples didn't miss the less and said, "It is very hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven."  Then to emphasize the amount of difficulty (that it was more like an impossible), Jesus said it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of needle than for rich man to enter the kingdom of God.  Yes, this is hyperbole.  No, Jesus is not talking about a camel getting through a gate in the wall that was really hard to get through that it had to get down on its knees and crawl through because we are not saved by works--not even acts of humility and contrition.  The disciples understood this at this point.  They also added their own little bit though that they had assumed from culture that rich people were blessed by God in this life and somehow that meant that they were God's favorites and would have it easier in the time of judgment and if this was their standard than what chance did anyone, especially a poor person like them have?  They were not wrong that the standard was the same for rich and poor if you try to make it on your own...absolute perfection, and not just to the 613 commandments in the Law of Moses, but all the others in the rest of the Old Testament and the New Testament and the instant you break one of them you are a law-breaker and can do nothing to change that.  It's like they know there has to be another way because God wouldn't send all men to hell.  Jesus says it would take an act of God to make this possible and leaves it at that, but knowing full-well that He is God's very answer to that question and He's about to head to the cross to die for everyone else's sins so if they believe with faith like a child, they can enter the kingdom of God.

Peter didn't want to miss an opening to say "What about us?  We've left everything to follow you?"  Jesus chooses not to criticize Peter for missing the point here, but instead assures him and the other disciples that they will sit on twelve thrones reserved just for them near the throne of Jesus and they would judge the twelve tribes of Israel and that anyone who gave up anything in this life for the cause of Christ would be paid back 100 times what they lost in God's coming kingdom and they would also have eternal life.  This is not telling them a way to earn eternal life, but just saying the only way this type of change in someone's heart happens is if God has saved them because no natural man would give up everything for the cause of Christ unless they were chosen by God to be part of His remnant.

Then Jesus' summary statement that turned things on their head for the disciples and was a lesson He'd continue to teach and reinforce all the way to the cross--Many who are first (great) now will be last (insignificant) in the coming kingdom and many who are last now (seemingly insignificant) will be first (given positions of high honor and esteem).  Jesus would say this man times like "Those who exalt themselves will be humbled, but those who humble themselves will be exalted." or "Whoever wishes to be the greatest among you must be a servant to all." We must be willing to give everything up to follow Christ and not cling to anything or anyone else for meaning, safety or security.

We are to have no other god before us and we are not to make for ourselves an idol and worship the created rather than the Creator.  We will see what happens to men who do that when we get to Romans 1.  Read ahead if you'd like to see.​