What did you call me?

Mark 10:17-21; Parallels: Matthew 19, Luke 18

"And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, 'Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?'

And Jesus said unto him, 'Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God. Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honor thy father and mother.'

And he answered and said unto him, 'Master, all these have I observed from my youth.'

Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, 'One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.'"

I've intentionally taken this out of context by not going on and reading what Jesus said next. Just realize that the Scripture goes on to explain why Jesus told this particular individual to sell all he had and give to the poor. But that's not what I'm going to discuss today.

This morning, while I was laying in bed, the Lord revealed to me that I had been misinterpreting this conversation.

Did you notice Jesus' question to the man? "Why did you call Me good? No one is good but God alone."

I've always believed that Jesus was posing a rhetorical question here; and that He was correcting the man when he mistakenly called Him good. But I was wrong. Jesus never disagreed with the man. Look at it closely in your Bible. There's a pause; a new paragraph begins when Jesus says, "You know the commandments..."

Jesus was waiting for an answer! Here's how I think it happened.

The man sees Jesus and the enormous crowd of His disciples following Him. He runs after Jesus and falls down on his knees; forcing Jesus to stop walking.

"Good Master, how do I gain eternal life?"

"What did you call Me?
No one is good but God alone. Why did you call Me good?"

*pause*

Jesus is silent; waiting for an answer. He's thinking now; "Why did you call Me good? I know I'm good, but do you; really? Has the Father given you insight into the depth of My goodness? Do you really know Who I AM; or was that just a lucky guess?
Why did you call Me good? Are you a worshiper? A true worshiper? Are you the kind of man that I have been so tirelessly searching for as I walk throughout the whole of Israel with full awareness and relentless anticipation?
Here's your chance! Oh please, answer the question! Why did you call Me good? Say it! Tell Me I'm good. Tell Me I'm the One. Tell Me you know that I AM the Son of God. Call Me out in front of all these people. You said it once, say it again; and mean it! If you only knew how close you are in this moment to the Truth..."

*no answer*

Finally Jesus says, "You know the commandments..."

The man answered, "Master, I've kept all of these commandments from my youth up."

Notice he didn't say 'Good master' this time.

*pause*

Internal. "You're not a worshiper. You don't know Me. I'm not good or a master to you at all. You let Someone question what would have been the greatest conviction of your life; and you doubted the truth you spoke just three minutes ago."

Jesus looks intently into his eyes. He sees the very image of God. He loves him with a perfect and penetrating love.

"There's just one more thing." Jesus says. "Sell the stuff you own and give to the poor. Then follow Me like you see these others doing."

The man went away; sad. He knew he had just missed the opportunity of his life. He couldn't fully grasp what Jesus was trying to give him, but whatever it was, he now understood that it really was good, and he had missed it.