Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me
9 And as Jesus passed forth
from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and
he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him. (Matt 9:9)
Today is the Feast Day of St. Matthew the Apostle. Christ found him busy at his
work of collecting customs. On the command to follow Him, without question,
Matthew arose and followed. How less painful would our life experiences be if
we simply dropped the things of this world and followed Christ at His first
call. In the military, the bugle sounds First Call prior to Reveille and
formations. It is a signal of call to duty. If a soldier ignores first call, he
will be in trouble at the next bugle call.
Idle hands are neither needed nor desired in the Kingdom of
Heaven. God desires DOERS of the Law and not hearers only. How many pulpit
wonders prance up into America’s pulpits, dressed to the tens, every Sunday and
preach a fair sermon from Scripture; and the following day take six days of
undeserved rest from lifting a finger to help the poor, visit the sick, or
clothe the naked? In calling His disciples, Jesus always called men who were
busying themselves in productive labor. See how He calls Peter and Andrew,
James and John by the shores of blue Galilee: And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two
brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the
sea: for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, Follow
me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their
nets, and followed him. And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren,
James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their
father, mending their nets; and he called them. And they immediately left the
ship and their father, and followed him. (Matt
4:18-22) All men
were busy in their labors DOING with all of their might that which presented
itself of work. One is reminded of the words of the Preacher of Ecclesiastes: Whatsoever
thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device,
nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest. (Eccl 9:10)
So is this a salvation of good works? Not at all, but rather a salvation unto
good works. There must be some empirical evidence in our daily lives to suggest
that a change has taken place when we come to Christ – that change is evidenced
in the good and compassionate works we do that typify the Lord who called us
unto them.
The Gospel for today (St. Matthew the Apostle) is taken from St. Matthew
19:16-21. It is the account of the rich young ruler who came to Jesus inquiring
of what “good thing” he could do to inherit eternal life. This may seem
contradictory to the good works mentioned above, but it is not! Let us examine
this account in detail:
16 And, behold, one came and
said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal
life? 17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one,
that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. 18 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus
said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not
commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,
19 Honour thy father
and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 20 The young man saith unto him,
All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? 21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and
give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow
me. (Matt
19:16-21) We have
studied this story many times over the past few years. I love the story because
it points to the cardinal points of the Gospel.
Note the APPROACH to Jesus of the rich young ruler: “And, behold, one
came and said unto him, Good Master.” He came to the right Person to ask
his question. St. Mark adds some detail to the account: And when he was gone
forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him,
Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? (Mark
10:17) He came
humbly kneeling, and he came hurriedly. We must all come in this way to Christ.
God hides many precious gems of truth in His Word, and He does so in the most
concise use of words. He tells us more in one sentence than great authors can
do in a large volume. Our literary and intellectual faculties, though they may
be noteworthy, are useless to open the hidden truths in God’s Word unless our
hearts be in earnest for Christ.
The unmitigated Grace of God extends to people of every
background and social standing; to the Centurion as well as to the man stricken
of leprosy; to the poor blind man as well as to the well-heeled man of the
Sanhedrin; and to the depraved and violent as well as to the morally upright,
though faithless, man of society. God has chosen His elect from all these
varieties of people. We should not trouble ourselves so much with ‘why God has
chosen others’ as to make our own election sure in Christ.
We are presented, in today’s text, with a man who “came
running” to Christ and “kneeled” before Him in the way. The young
man has done well so far. He runs to Christ. He kneels to Christ. This, must we
all do if we come at all. But true faith is revealed in the wholeness of our
lives and not in an instant of it. The young man’s salutation, as well as his
question, begins to run amiss of the mark: “Good Master” means, in the vernacular
of the day, ‘Good Teacher”. Is that ALL Christ is to this young man? His
salutation would have been more fully informed to call Him “Good Lord” for
reasons to be revealed in the continuing dialogue.
Note the wrong premise of the young man’s QUESTION:
The young man’s question also is full of error in understanding: “What shall
I do that I may inherit eternal life?” What is
wrong with this question? Well, first of all, we do not INHERIT eternal life –
it is a free gift of Grace. Secondly, the question presumes that we may
be saved by our good works. It is not what we DO that brings salvation, but the
One in Whom we believe!
The Lord’s RESPONSE: Why callest thou me good? there is none
good but one, that is, God? This is a question pregnant with
meaning. Christ reveals the man’s ignorance of Christ’s Person and Nature. Does
this man recognize Christ as God? There is none good but God. Christ is good
because Christ is also God. None other of our race can say, finally, that we
are good. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. (Rom
3:23) and …..there
is none righteous, no, not one! (Rom3:10). This rhetorical question is
intended to provoke a spark in the young man’s mind, and in ours. Do we know
that Christ is ALL good, and that we lack good apart from the imputed righteousness of Christ?
The Lord’s COUNSEL:
Christ then reminds the young man of the Commandments by citing five only. ….Let
thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live
(Prov 4:4). The
Lord is preparing the young man’s mind to grasp his failure, as well as the
falsity of his claim, in keeping the Commandments of God. The young man
responds : “And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I
observed from my youth.” It is quite possible the young man has been conscientiously
faithful to these five Commandments mentioned, however, he has been remiss in
keeping the most important one – the very
first that God wrote with His very finger on the Tables of Stone: I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of
the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. Thou shalt have none other gods
before me. (Deut 5:6-7) This wealthy young ruler
allowed wealth to eclipse his full loyalty to God! It is noteworthy that the
Lord mentions only those Commandments that deal with our dealings with other
men – except the first four dealing with our duty to God, and the last which is
a particular indictment of the condition of the young man’s heart – coveting!
But it should be observed that the dialogue that follows reveals that the young
man has omitted keeping the very first Commandment.
My heart is moved at the compassionate and gentlemanly
approach Jesus takes in opening the eyes of this man. The moment he came to
Christ, all of his shortcomings were known by Jesus, yet Christ did not hurl
claims of sin and shortcomings at the man. He gently and knowingly guides the
man to recognize the need lacking in his soul. Unfortunately, the young
man could not go the distance.
Jesus loved this young man when He heard his simple response
which the young man, no doubt, truly believed. But Jesus will open the man’s
eyes to see the answer to the question which he had brought to Christ. “One thing thou
lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou
shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.”
It is possible to come near the Kingdom of Heaven and, yet,
not be admitted. Christ congratulates, kindly, the young man’s zeal in trying
to live righteously, but also points out that none of us can do so apart from
the righteousness of Christ. – “One thing thou lackest” It is this ONE
thing that makes all the difference in our Coming to Christ – the One
Commandment that supersedes all others! The omniscience of Christ revealed to
Him that this young man placed his riches above all other considerations. He
loved well, but that love fell short of the mark. Look at the loving counsel of
Christ to this poor sinner (unaware of his depravity). The CURE: “Go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the
poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and
follow me.”
So simple, isn’t it? But yet so difficult. “If they right hand offend thee,
cut it off!” Whatever it is that keeps us from coming all the way to
Christ, dismiss it summarily and choose the greater good. There is no evil in “possessing
many things” unless the love of those many things keeps you from coming to
Christ. All men desire that their investment be placed at the most secure
place, and return the greatest benefit. There is no greater security than that
of heaven, and no greater return of interest.
Take
up the cross, and follow me.” Oh! Is THAT all?
Yes, I’m afraid it is! How unattractive the cross compared to opulence and
power! The garden hoe is the least distinguished of all tools, yet it is the
one tool that makes food for the table possible. Would we want to have the
resurrection to life eternal? If so, we must die to self and abide in Christ. We
must walk the ‘Via Dolorosa’ with Him. We must carry that instrument of
sacrifice on our way and all the way. Never mind those who stand
by the wayside hurling words of ridicule and contempt. Christ rose on the third
day according to the Scriptures. If we would rise, we must rise in Him!
This
cross was too much for the young man. He wanted eternal life, but it was, to
him, a business deal. It was not worth the investment required. So he went away
sorrowful – almost, but not quite, saved.
It
is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to
enter into the kingdom of God. There is a story (I know not if it is true, but consistent
as an illustration) that the Eye of the Needle was a small and low gate on the
north of Jerusalem. Because of the inconvenience of making entry there with
their camels, many merchants with their camels elected to circumnavigate the
city and enter at the south gate since it was less harrowing. To enter the Eye
of the Needle, the merchant must cause his camel to kneel, remove the burdens
of merchandise from its back, and literally crawl through the gate. This is the
manner by which we come to Christ – on bended knee and our burdens removed by
Him ere we make entry to His Kingdom. Yes, we must count the cost prior to
signing the contract, but, once signed, the counting stops.
Have you allowed Christ to remove your unbecoming yoke and
burden? If not, do so this very day of Lent, and remember: “With God all things
are possible!
Believest thou this, friends?
