SAGE RAINELLE A.

LINGATONG SEM 3
1-C ASSIGNMENT #1

Based on the story of the Rich Young Ruler (Luke 18:18-23), the Rich official regards
moral life as a way to inherit eternal life by following the Ten Commandments. He
simply followed and obeyed the Commandments without truly understanding the
essence of the Commandments. When the Rich official says, “All these I have kept
from my youth,” it evidently shows what the problem is. It shows that he is relying on his
own righteousness.

However, Jesus said to the Rich official, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have
and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”
By saying these words, Jesus is telling us that the essence of moral life is that only God
is good. If one calls another as good, then that person must be accepted as God for
only He is good. No one but God is good.

Jesus points out that one cannot depend on one’s righteousness because a person is
not good. One does not have righteous acts to depend upon. Jesus knows the heart
and the attitude of the Rich official and so Jesus tries to get him to think about his own
life. No one is good. One cannot go around calling people good because in the absolute
sense, only God is good and everyone else is sinful.

When Jesus tells us to do the commandments, our response cannot be, “Yeah, I have
that down. I have been doing them from my youth.” The requirement of the law is to
cause us to recognize our problem. No one was supposed to look at the law of God and
think that they are doing all that God has required of them. The law shows us our sins,
not our perfection.