We’re continuing our study of these stories in Matthew’s Gospel that tell of encounters between the Lord Jesus Christ and certain individuals. So far we’ve been looking mostly at his encounter with individual people. But in the twenty-first chapter we come to a story of his encounter with a whole group of people—the money changers in the temple in Jerusalem, and also the chief priests and the teachers of the law, who stood behind the practice of the money changers.
I said earlier there were three questions, and I’ve treated two of them. The first was “What good thing must I do?” asked by the rich young man. The second was “Who then can be saved?” posed by the disciples in reaction to the man’s departure. After this, Peter butts in and he asks the third question, which is what wraps up the chapter. Peter’s question is this: “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?”
That provoked a second question, which immediately followed Jesus’ comments about riches and how many rich people actually inherit salvation. Verse 25 tells us that the disciples “were greatly astonished and they asked, ‘Who then can be saved?’” Now what did they have in mind? Well, one thing they had in mind was that according to most Jewish theology, including in the teaching of the Old Testament, riches were an evidence of God’s blessing.
Now how do we look at this? I would like to look at it on the basis of three questions that are asked. The first question is the question the young man asked, and we find it in verse 16. He said to him, “Teacher,” addressing Jesus, “what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”
