The text for this lesson is Book of Matthew 19:16–26
Key Point
- God commands that we fear, love, and serve Him. In the gift of His Son, Jesus, who died on the cross for us, God gives more than enough reason for us to praise and adore Him.
- Law: Just as the rich man learned that God expects perfect obedience in thoughts, desires, words, and deeds on every point of the Law, so in the Close of the Commandments God shows me how much He wants me to cling to Him alone. Because of my sin, I, too, fall short and deserve nothing but His righteous anger and punishment.
- Gospel: God’s Son, Jesus, kept God’s Law perfectly in my place and went innocently to the cross. Through Him, God forgives sins, gives eternal life, and promises grace and every blessing to me and all who believe in Jesus.
Context
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- Jesus Christ was and is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets. During His earthly ministry, our Lord Himself explained that He did not come into the world to abolish the Law but rather to fulfill it. Jesus came also to fulfill the promises of the Old Testament. His ministry culminated in the redemptive work of suffering and dying; those, with His resurrection, are the fulfillment of God’s Law and the down payment of the kingdom of heaven for all who believe. Leading up to this reading from Matthew, Jesus leaves Galilee behind and begins teaching in Judea beyond the Jordan River.
Commentary
This encounter seems to have an unpleasant ending, at least from the rich man’s perspective. Nonetheless, the Lord tells him exactly what he needs to hear. First, there is the reference to what is “good.” The rich man believes that having done the good, he will have eternal life. He trusts that he is able to be good enough to satisfy God. Before listing the Commandments, Jesus asserts that there is only one who does what is good. By asserting God’s unique ability to do what is good, Jesus exposes the man’s inability to do what is good on his own. Second, by asking why the rich man asked about eternal life, Jesus is pointing to Himself as God, the only one who does what is good.
As sinners, we struggle with hearing God’s Law. It exposes our wretched sinful state. Hearing that God Almighty expects perfect obedience to every point of the Law in every aspect of our lives, we realize how far we have fallen short. Because we are sinners, we cannot keep God’s Law. We are lost without God in Jesus Christ. We react to God’s Law either with (1) desperate fervor, hoping a greater effort will please Him; (2) despair, realizing we are hopeless on our own; or (3) hardened hearts, resenting God for His unreasonable expectations.
God’s Law is good. He brings His Law to bear on our lives in order that we would avoid the wrath that is to come. God’s goal is not to torture the soul with shame but rather to provide the only solution to our problem: full forgiveness through faith in Jesus Christ.
God desires that sinners have the salvation for which He paid such a dear price. We see not only the ferocity of God’s justice against sin, but also His tender mercy and boundless forgiveness in Jesus Christ, His Son. As a human being on the earth, Jesus was not above the Law. He was born under it. In other words, He was obliged to keep it perfectly, just as we are. Yet, unlike us, He never failed. He loved God’s Law and obeyed it to the letter every instant of His life on earth. In this innocence, He went to the cross and redeemed us. Through Jesus, God embraces sinners and showers them with blessings upon blessings. The greatest of these are forgiveness and everlasting life in heaven.
