Matthew 19:16-30
Ambition is truly a gift and a curse. It seems like our world is run on ambition. We celebrate the ambitious in business, government, athletics, and nearly every field where one can prove themselves the best. It drives us to be the best version of ourselves and inculcates a worldview that problems can be solved through the application of focus, tenacity and excellence. We spend billions on self-improvement. We drive ourselves to be in the best shape, have the best education, the most money and resources. There is this ideal we are chasing; laboring to get to the pinnacle where the difference between us and perfection is infinitesimal. This ambition-fueled quest does not account for human limitations. It does not allow those enamored by its fragrance to acknowledge that there are problems beyond ambition’s application. Some problems require humility. Humility is a hard thing to employ when your experiences and hubris have convinced you that your resources have the remedy.
To the credit of the young man in today’s passage, he does employ a semblance of humility in his question for Jesus. Yet, there is still an ambition in the subtext that Jesus quickly rebuffs. Jesus’s question, “Why do you ask me about what is good?” moves the focus from ambitious accomplishment to humble obedience (v.17). The young man’s follow-up question, asking for specificity about the commandments he needs to keep to “enter life,” show that the ambition is not entirely squelched (v.18). There is a hierarchy in the question that resonates with the “work smarter, not harder” ethos of the ambitious. In this pursuit of greatness, the ambitious are interested in what path gets them to greatness most efficiently. It is telling that among the commandments Jesus names, the commandments regarding idolatry and having “no other gods” is not on the list (Exodus 20). There is a particular revelation that Jesus is delivering to this young man, and it hinges upon the young man surrendering the very thing that defines his self-worth.
The young man, seeing no area of lack in his endeavors, is still on his quest. What Jesus says to him reveals the depth of his idolatry and how far off the path he is. Jesus offers to him that he can have treasure in heaven after he sells his possessions and gives the money to the poor. This revelation leads to dissonance and devastation. The young man has not checked this off his list and instead of viewing it as another challenge to be conquered, he is heartbroken in the face of his idolatry. His material things, his wealth, are things he is unwilling to give up even when faced with the prospect of perfection.
We are not so different from this rich young ruler. Particularly those of us in developed nations where we are conditioned to view exploits and excess as a baseline. Popular culture often speaks of “first world problems” which underscores a bit of self-awareness toward how much we have even when we are inconvenienced. There is a divine inversion that the kingdom of God provides all people. Those who are driven by ambition, accustomed to the accumulation of stuff as evidence of their success, are confronted by the meaninglessness of stuff. All the wealth in the world means nothing in a health crisis. This text exposes the consequences of a soul sickness that persists even in the face of Jesus’s prescription. The clinging to wealth in the face of salvation is the meeting of Jesus’s question, “Do you want to be made well?” (John 5) with a resounding “no.”
Matthew 19:16-30 underscores the goodness of the gospel for the poor. While those who have are given pause when asked to give up their belongings, those who have given up the very little they had in the first place “will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life,” (v.29). This should revolutionize our power dynamics and how we think about charity. For far too long the powerful have enjoyed the self-righteousness that comes with charity. Self-promotion is too often attached to alleged good deeds that barely mask their contempt for those experiencing poverty. This text tells us that more time should be spent learning how to live with less. Perhaps our ambition should be aimed at remedying social ills rather than attaining social status. Maybe we will finally realize that not everything is a business and there are sectors that are worthy investments even if they are not profitable. The idols in our lives are cacophonous and drone out the calls of a simpler life where love of neighbor is intertwined with our love for God.
Questions for reflection on Matthew 19:16-30
- What are the idols in your life that impede your journey with God?
- How has ambition shaped your worldview?
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