A rich young man’s face lit in admiration.
As hardly could he hide his elation.
Having heard this Teacher’s wisdom,
He wanted a part of His kingdom –
A kingdom unlike any here:
The mute talk and the deaf hear.
Healing to the sick and sight to the blind
That meant blessings to loose and evil to bind.
When He raised a leader’s daughter back to life,
He scolded doubting religious leaders’ strife.
The young man turned wealthy having done the right thing.
He ignored youthful passions and painful toils’ sting.
Tenacious in his pursuit of a great fortune,
To sweet rest, he was quite immune.
He greeted “good night,” but showed up at dawn.
He resolved never to take others’ good as pawn.
That is a line that he has drawn in the sand.
So the word said, and so he listened.
He became blessed, obeying the holy book,
He counted the costs, ignoring treats he forsook.
Young maidens saw in him a suitor,
His parents viewed him as their benefactor.
Young men craved his grand company.
For of all things he had no lack of any.
Yet as blessed and wealthy as he was,
Of his gloom, he knew no cause.
The missing piece, he could not grasp.
Working like a bee, he felt like a wasp.
This wise Rabbi must know his misery.
If he asked Him, He might reveal this mystery.
Perhaps his life would be complete
If of eternal life his soul were replete.
So no matter to him the cost,
The Master he had to accost.
By virtue of his great success,
He ventured to ask with boldness
How in Heaven to be an heir:
By his Master’s side be safe there.
Of the Teacher he implored the benevolence,
Calling His Master “good” made to him much sense,
For he had seen Him in action:
So kind and full of compassion.
He might have called the Master “good,”
But of His deity little he understood.
What good Master would ask seamen to toss their oars,
And join Himself to sinners, hookers, and beggars?
Moments later the lad would learn,
As he asked in sureness so stern,
“What must I do for eternal life, good Master?”
“Why do you call me ‘good’?” replied the good Master.
“God is good, and no human can be so labeled.”
How our prince missed a claim so bold!
If he dared call “good” the One teaching from the stool,
Snubbing His deity made out of him a fool.
But modifiers easily lose their meaning.
After all, He is not called “the Word” for nothing.
To be “Good” may be His heavenly quality,
But from a man’s lips, “good” is but pure vanity.
So to appraise the rich young ruler’s sentiments,
The Master asked him concerning His commandments.
The fellow seemed from his boyhood,
To have done well and by them stood.
For som’thing to be still lacking
Caused him grief, despair and aching.
He fancied firmly to apply
The advice Jesus would supply,
And substitute that missing piece
By what would grant him God’s sweet peace.
Jesus told him to go and sell,
And in order to avoid hell,
To the poor, all he had to give.
Then he could eternally live,
And in Heaven a vast treasure
Would precede him with great pleasure.
However, selling all he had
Made him so very sad.
Giving the spoils to the needy
Made him very gloomy,
And for him to chase a dreamer
Made him all too somber.
The loss of his hard-earned fortune
Was a prospect not to attune.
How could he give away all to the destitute?
Be it a lame, a widow, or a prostitute?
Should he also lose of his servants the respect?
This Master does too much expect.
Keeping fortune and respect to him sufficed.
To have gotten that far, enough he sacrificed.
What the stubborn prince did not know
Was the one to whom he said no
Was no ordinary Master.
His goodness was than life better.
He could be totally trusted
As all matter on Him rested.
He left a throne in Heaven, came to save from sin,
And accepted vile man to be his assassin.
He had made this wonderful world
By the power of His great word,
And He owns it all.
So He makes the call.
Though the world is His,
He cares not to seize
The desire oh so haughty
To flaunt his supreme majesty.
Born in a manger – feeding trough,
He grew up never having enough
Of seeing the wood, the nails and the hammer
Of his stepfather, the carpenter –
The same elements of his execution
Pointing to his earthly condemnation.
He who left the highly divine attendance
Of Heaven’s angelic audience
To come to the enemy’s front
And bear man’s grievous affront.
Though He could defeat His rivals
By sending legions of angels,
He chose instead the fate of a forsaken lamb
Rather than the glory of an almighty champ’.
His sacrifice was so priceless and great
That to neglect it is like to berate
The Son of God who came to save
All who were lost whether fearful or brave.
The rich prince hoarded what could surely vanish
And sadly forfeited what could never tarnish.
He was thoughtless about his word
To the one good Master – His Lord.
He might have called Jesus, “Master,”
But his wealth was his true master.
What an inheritance to scold!
All for the sake of futile gold.
How wasted on his lips was the word “good!”
How he would have wished that by it he stood!
And what inheritance comes without death?
Not in Heaven, and surely not on earth.
Using vain smooth human language
Cannot this grave loss assuage.
This Master is “good.” And had the prince believed,
Of his heavy emptiness he would be relieved.
Instead, he turned and left,
Still carrying all of that heft.
The mammon that could not be forsaken
Would soon enough from his hands be taken.
And for a prudent man with much wealth rife,
He just lost God’s gift of eternal life
How having plenty could he still be so empty?
How scarcity of faith has become so weighty!
As much as lightening up one’s load may be pricey,
To cast-off such a dear prize is pure lunacy.
Why on earth holding on to gold?
It is just paving material.
Is it not for the streets of gold,
Which are all celestial?
And though our affluent prince came with good intent,
He was never to be filled, neither be content.
Eternal life is not for the able or the wealthy,
But for the culpable who in humility,
Submits to the Master’s will,
Who in His word says, “Be still,
And acknowledge that I am God…”
Salvation with man is impossible.
But with Almighty God,
All things are possible.
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