The Rich Young Ruler

I had  few thoughts today about the story of the rich young ruler as we discussed it in Gospel Doctrine today.  The account in Mark 10:17-22 tells us an interesting detail about how the man approached the Savior: “There came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?”  Why was he running, and why did he kneel before the Savior?  On one hand it could have been because of his urgent desire to talk to the Lord and such great humility to be in His presence that he was brought to his knees.  But given the Savior’s questioning response to the man’s first statement, I think his behavior may have been more for show than anything else.  Here was a man well to-do in his society who had “great possessions,” and he clearly thought well of himself as he didn’t even hesitate to declare his own righteousness: “Master, all these have I observed from my youth.”  It may have been that when he came to the Savior calling Him “Good Master” that he meant to indicate, “Look, you and I are good—tell me in front of everyone how righteous I am.”  And in the Savior’s response may have been somewhat of a rebuke for the man, telling him, “You think you are good and have no need of repentance, but there is none good but God.” 

               In the Savior’s summary of the commandments, He cited five of the ten commandments: honor father and mother, don’t kill, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, and don’t bear false witness.  Why did He not cite the other five?  Two of them perhaps were of particular importance for this man: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” and “thou shalt not covet” (see Exodus 20:3-17).  The young ruler’s reluctance to follow the Savior’s counsel showed that he indeed had other gods before Jehovah, for he desired his possessions over following the Savior.  The commandment not to covet may have also been a problem for him—for he certainly seemed to covet his own goods.  Matthew’s account adds one more commandment, not officially part of the Ten Commandments (but in Leviticus 19:18), that also implicated the rich young ruler: “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”  Though the man was quick to respond that he kept this commandment, and the Savior was suggesting that perhaps he needed some improvement on this front: “Go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor” (Matt. 19:21).  Surely that would be one excellent way to keep the commandment to love his neighbors as himself—share what he had with them. 

Perhaps this rich young ruler had come to the Savior in the same way as the lawyer who had the exact same question: “Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”  Luke’s account tells us that the lawyer asked about his neighbor because he was “willing to justify himself” (Luke 10:25, 29).  He wanted to be justified in his own actions, to learn that he was good and doing everything right and given a pat on the back.  But, as the rich young learned, when we ask the Lord, “What lack I yet?” we may not be very comfortable with the answer.  Hopefully, though, we can learn to respond differently when the Lord answers it for each of us