Matthew 19:22

‘But when the young man heard the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he was one who had great possessions.'

At these words the young man was stopped short in his tracks. Up to this point he had been convinced that he would do anything that Jesus suggested. But he had not expected this. It was unfair. Jesus wanted him to take the commandments literally! He actually wanted him to do what they said (compare Matthew 7:21). But he knew that he could not forego his riches. And he now also knew that he could not follow Jesus while being unwilling to yield up his riches. (And he also knew that he had not after all kept all the commandments). So he was now at an impasse. And he went away sorrowfully. And Jesus let him go. For He knew that until the hold that the riches had on his heart had been broken that young man could never receive eternal life. He could never come responsively like a little child to Jesus. We may perhaps note that this young man was the first person we know of who actually openly rejected Jesus call to ‘follow Me' (but compare Matthew 8:18). Soon almost the whole of Jerusalem (in contrast with the pilgrims) would do the same.

The growth in the idea of ‘following' Jesus in Matthew is interesting, and in fact Matthew has two concepts of following. The first is the following that demands everything. The four brothers left their nets and their boats and followed Him (Matthew 4:18). The unknown Scribe was reminded that following Him would involve having nowhere to lay his head (Matthew 8:19). Another disciple was warned that he must immediately leave all the affairs of home behind to follow Him (Matthew 8:21). Matthew was called on to instantly leave all his business interests behind (Matthew 9:9). See also the ex-blind men in Matthew 20:34; and the women in Matthew 27:55. Indeed all who would be His disciples must take up their cross and follow Him (Matthew 10:38; Matthew 16:24). In each case this was to leave all and follow Him (Matthew 19:27). So this young man was being called on to follow in a goodly line. In contrast are those who follow because they want to learn and want to be healed, some of whom would continue to follow while others turned back (Matthew 4:25; Matthew 8:1; Matthew 8:10; Matthew 9:27; Matthew 12:15; Matthew 14:13; Matthew 19:2; Matthew 20:29, compare John 2:23; John 6:66). So in a sense the young man was not the first to turn back, simply the first who did it so blatantly, not recognising the crisis point at which the call had come to him.

It is often customary at this point to explain why this only applied to the rich young man. And in a sense it does, for each of us have our own idols that have to be dealt with. But we make a mistake if we think that Jesus' demands are any less on us. For in the end it is only as, like a little child, we relinquish all that we have and come humbly to Him that we too can find life. That we too can be ‘saved'. We may do it in different ways. We may not understand all that is involved. But if there is some particular thing that has a hold over our lives then we can be sure that we cannot come like a little child to receive salvation until we are willing for that thing to be dealt with. We cannot bargain with Jesus. We cannot make a trade with Him. We must come just as we are leaving everything else behind. What He offers us is free, but it costs everything, even though we may not consciously be called on to relinquish it all at once. In this young man's case we must remember that a crisis decision was necessary, for Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem, and He knew what lay ahead. Thus for the young man it was in a sense ‘now or never'. Never again could he be given this unique opportunity. When we are moved to seek God we should beware. It could be our last special opportunity too.