It had to be a strange scene. A man approaches Jesus to ask him what he must do in order to obtain eternal life. Instead of answering the man’s question, Jesus’ immediate response asks why the man called Him good. The crowd had to wonder at the query. Jesus was known as a healer – He had cured leprosy (Lk. 17:11-19) and raised a girl from the dead (Lk 8:4-56). If that wasn’t enough, He had miraculously provided a hungry crowd with food (Lk 9:10-17). And yet He questioned why this man would call Him good. It must have seemed obvious to the crowd. They had to wonder why Jesus would even ask (Lk 18:18-30).
Yet He did ask. And He did so to help the man realize that not only was He good compared to other teachers, He was the standard of good. And if the man truly believed that than it necessitated that he orient his life in obedience to His Word. It meant be willing to sacrifice anything for the sake of Him and His Kingdom. The man’s unwillingness to do this, his refusal to give up his wealth in order to follow Christ revealed what Jesus knew all along – that the man did not really believe that He was Good. Instead, for the rich young ruler, his wealth was of more value than Christ Himself.
Later, however, Jesus would demonstratively prove why He alone deserved to be called good. The perfect One not only gave up the riches of Heaven for the sake of those He loved, but He took on the punishment that was rightly theirs so that they could be saved. He abdicated His Heavenly throne to unjustly suffer and die so that His followers could stand justified before a holy God. That Friday didn’t seem good to those who were with Him at the time, but it was on that day that His goodness was on full display. Not only did He die for those who were His enemies, but it was only because He is Good, the ultimate Good, that His sacrifice could pay the penalty for our sins and restore our relationship with God. Three days later He would rise from the dead and demonstrate what He had already conveyed to the rich young ruler – God was good and He was God. May we honor His sacrifice and may we remember why that Friday is called good.
