Dignity of Persons

MEMORY SELECTION: “With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.” —Matthew 19:26

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: Matthew 19:1-30

IN THE context of our lesson is recorded the incident of our Lord’s encounter with the rich young Jew who desired to have life. His question was, “Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?” (vs. 16) Jesus replied that being a Jew and under the Law it was only necessary for him to keep all the precepts of the Law, for the Law promised life to any who could keep it perfectly. (Lev. 18:4,5) The young man professed that he had kept the letter of the Law and yet he realized that he did not possess life. His next question was, “What lack I yet?”—vs. 20

This was a difficult time of transition for the Jewish people. For some eighteen centuries they had been under the Law Covenant. Many sincere Jews had endeavored to keep its precepts perfectly but found that they were unable to do so, because the Law was a measure of a perfect man’s ability to keep it. Since the Jews (and the rest of mankind as well) inherited adamic sin and imperfection, no man would ever be able to keep it. The Apostle Paul states, “Therefore by the deeds of the Law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the Law is the knowledge of sin.”—Rom. 3:20

Jesus, at his first advent, came to the Jews to fulfill the promise to the fathers that they should have the first opportunity to be part of the seed of Abraham which was to bless all the families of the earth. The Apostle Peter in Acts 3:25,26 states, “Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. Unto you first God, having raised up his son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.”

The transition for the Jews was from the Law Covenant to the Abrahamic Covenant—the Sarah feature—which was to produce the promised seed of blessing. This covenant promised life too, but with different requirements. Jesus told the young man what these requirements were. “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.”—Mark 10:21; Matt. 19:21

Jesus is here expounding the necessity for making a complete and unreserved consecration to the Lord. This involved a willingness on the part of the young man to divest himself of all earthly aims, ambitions and desires, including his material possessions, and in their stead to accept and be obedient and submissive to the will of the Heavenly Father. At this time the cross was used by the Romans as a means of torture and execution, so it became a symbol of suffering and death. In using the symbol of the cross Jesus was saying that any who follow him must suffer as he suffered and lay his life down in the Master’s service. Those who agree to these terms would gain life, not on the earth, but they would be rewarded with life on the divine plane.

All of this was too great a price for the rich young man to pay and the Scriptures state that “he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.” (Matt. 19:22) This was astonishing to the disciples because, according to their view, the rich young man had all the qualifications to be acceptable to the Lord. Then they asked, “Who then can be saved? But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.”—vss. 25,26

The thought that Jesus wanted to impress upon his disciples was that when they make a full and unreserved consecration to the Heavenly Father, they are no longer relying on their own abilities and powers, but have put themselves into God’s hands and God, by his power, will accomplish the works. The Apostle Paul states the matter this way: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,” and again, “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” (Eph. 2:10; Phil. 2:13) And then in verses 28 and 29 Jesus proceeds to state what the reward will be for those who diligently follow in the Master’s footsteps.

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