The David Spoon Experience 10-1-24 part 1

A) Jesus' response is quite classical. He says, "Why do you call me good? Only God is good." This is Jesus' way of saying, "You are asking a teacher for wisdom and advice, but you don't recognize who you're actually asking. You are asking God; you just haven't figured that out yet, but you will in about 60 seconds."

B) Jesus tells him that to receive eternal life, he must keep the commandments. This might seem confusing because Jesus sets the whole thing up by saying, "If you keep the commandments," and then lists all the commandments related to mankind. He doesn't mention any of the first three, and there's a reason for that.

C) In his own self-justification and defense, the rich young man claims he's kept all of them. But then Jesus drops the one commandment he wasn't expecting: "Go, sell everything you have, give it all away to the poor, and then come follow me." The commandment to "come follow me" is for everyone and encapsulates the first three commandments. The young man understood how to treat people well from a human perspective, but he didn't grasp the divine perspective of a relationship or commitment to following God.