Say what?!

Have you ever read one of those passages in the Gospels where Jesus is explaining something or interacting with someone and he makes some statement that seems to be completely out of no where, or completely unrelated to the topic at hand? Well I had a question posed to me at work this week and the passage in question had one of those lil statements, and after i worked through it and finally understood it; i came to the conclusion that in those situations it is that enigmatic statement that is probably the key to understanding, interpreting, and applying the passage.
So wanna know what i figured out? (don't hold your breath Jim, you already have this one sorted out) The passage in question can be found in Matt 19:16-30; Mark 10:17-22; or Luke 18:18-30. There is one phrase in these passages that seems completely out of place, or at least at the hight of randomness, and it comes right at the beginning of the conversation between Jesus and this really rich, important dude.
"Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone" (Luke 18:19). Well lets see Jesus... umm you are God, and at the very least you seem to be doing some really good things like heal people and take care of people. So yeah, I would probably call you good too. What does that have to do with this whole conversation about entering the kingdom of God?
Come to find out; EVERYTHING! What is the purpose of this story? What is Jesus trying to teach and reveal to us in this interaction? Well how does it end? It ends with the important, wealthy guy walking away upset, Christ saddened, and everyone else confused. But why did the important dude leave upset? Well because he was apparently stinking rich and liked being that way.
Jesus tells our friend, that in order to inherent the kingdom, you need to keep the law. Our friend positively replys he has done this. We all smile sarcastically at the naeivity of our friend... DUDE! no one can pull that off... but Jesus doesn't argue this point with the fella like we all want too. He lets him have that point, and makes one more stipulation. Take everything you have, sell it off, give it all to other people in need, and the come follow me. Ahh yes, the deal breaker...
But why didn't Jesus argue the whole keeping the law point?
Well He was/is God, so he had a perfect understanding of the situation and our boy's heart. He knew just as well as we did that this really important dude didn't keep the law like he said, but what else he knew was that the issue with this guy wasn't keeping the law as much as it was a divided heart.
This guy was trying to do it on his own. Our important friend was setting up his own standard of good (which was no doubt way low) and nailing it every time. Jesus knows this and as soon as He hears the word "good" out of the rich guys mouth, he cuts to the chase. Our boy's standard of good was off. It was a man made standard. The rich guy was all about situations that he could benefit from with as little cost as possible. Jesus simply begins by stripping away this false standard and laying his royal flush of sorts right out on the table.
God demands perfection and radical commitment to His cause. No one can be a part of His kingdom and still run their own kingdom on the side. We all want it Good, but the standard that we have set up for good is soooo much lower than what it should be. This guy is no different. He wanted in, but he wanted in on his terms. God's terms didn't seem good to him. This isnt any different than what He asks of every other person when they are confronted with the exclusivity of Christ.

Whats the app here? Let's answer a few questions and see if that helps us understand.

First: What was our boy looking for? A way in on his terms. R U?

Second: Do you really believe that God is good? Then by definition God's way would always be the best.

Third: Where does all good come from? Well the theological answer is God. So when you begin to think about this whole interaction; if the rich, important dude would have stopped and paid attention to what Christ says at the beginning, (you know the part where no one is good but GOD) then the rest of the conversation would have never happened. The only reason he was rich was because God was so very good he blessed this guy. Our problem is that we as human beings get hung up on the good things we are blessed with and miss out on what is really good, or best!

If we enjoy stuff like this w/o submission to God's authority and rule, imagine what it might be like if we did submit to God's authority! There is a whole new (eternal) world of good that we haven't even touched.

So you gonna keep eating the knock off brand of chips, or are you gonna eat some Lays Wavy Potato chips? Both good, but one is better than the other and we all know it.

(One more note while I am thinking about it. If you live in America, the EU, or any other 1st world nation you are so stinking rich its not even funny. I don't care if you only make 25k a year, compared to the rest of the world you live like a king!)