By Paul Koch –
The story of the rich young man, as it is usually called, is an especially difficult text for us to deal with in the church. Not that it is a complex story that is hard to unpack, not that it is full of analogies that are distant from us and therefore hard to understand. No, this text is difficult for us precisely because it deals with the heart of the matter. It cuts to the core of our desires and hopes in the church. It is not a theoretical discussion about heaven and hell. It’s not a description of an evangelism mission seeking to convert the unbeliever. This is not a text that seeks to simply enlighten your hearts and minds or give your cause to ponder heavenly things. This is a text that leaves no one untouched, that gives you nowhere to hide, that exposes everything. For this is about a man who ardently desires to be saved. He comes directly to the source, to our Lord Jesus Christ, and asks the question that all long to have answered; “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”