Matthew 19 Study Notes

19:13-15 On Jesus’s blessing of children, see note at 18:1-5.

19:16-17 This story is related by Mark and Luke. Matthew identifies the man as “young” (v. 22). Luke notes he was a “ruler” and “very rich” (Lk 18:18,23). Thus the story is often labeled “The Rich, Young Ruler.” This man’s question wrongly assumed that eternal life can be earned through good deeds. The statement there is only one who is good was intended to shatter the man’s deluded notion of attaining a personal goodness that merited salvation.

19:18-22 Jesus’s command to sell your belongings . . . Then come, follow me was designed to show the young man that (1) his covetousness defied the spirit of the tenth commandment, (2) his neglect of the poor defied the commandment to love his neighbor, and possibly (3) his love for his possessions surpassed his love for God, thus breaking the commandment against idolatry.

19:23-26 The image of the largest animal in Palestine, a camel, passing through a small opening was an oft-used metaphor for impossible events. The salvation of rich people (tempted as they are to trust themselves and their possessions) is possible only by divine miracle.

19:27-30 The renewal of all things will take place when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, reigning over the new heaven and new earth. The reign of the twelve disciples over Israel demonstrates that Jesus’s disciples constitute the new Israel, the chosen people of God who will benefit from his covenant with Abraham. In a great divine reversal in which the first become last and the last become first, those who made personal sacrifices for Christ will enjoy enormous blessings, and those like the rich young ruler, who loved wealth more than Christ, will be punished.