Matthew 19:13-19

Rachel Workman: ¹³ One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could lay his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples scolded the parents for bothering him.
¹⁴ But Jesus said, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children.” ¹⁵ And he placed his hands on their heads and blessed them before he left.
¹⁶ Someone came to Jesus with this question: “Teacher,^[f] what good deed must I do to have eternal life?”
¹⁷ “Why ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. But to answer your question—if you want to receive eternal life, keep^[g] the commandments.”
¹⁸ “Which ones?” the man asked.
I love Jesus' answer here. Why ask me about what is good? There is only One who is good. And that person is Christ himself. There are plenty of people who have this same mentality. What must I do to earn my way! If I force Christ on others, if I serve in the church, if I give enough money I'll earn my way. There is only one way to salvation and that is through Christ. It cannot be earned. It is through believing and repenting.

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John Burnett:  ¹³ Then some children were brought to Him so that He might lay His hands on them and pray; and the disciples rebuked them. ¹⁴ But Jesus said, “^[a]Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” ¹⁵ After laying His hands on them, He departed from there.  This passage, should give us comfort when we here of a young child dying because it does say the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.

The Rich Young Ruler

¹⁶ And someone came to Him and said, “Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?” ¹⁷ And He said to him, “Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” ¹⁸ Then he *said to Him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not commit murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; ¹⁹ Honor your father and mother; and You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  There is only One who is good enough to pay the price for us to enter into eternal life.  His standard is perfection and in our sinful state, we cannot follow all of them.  Loving your neighbor as yourself is the catch all that no one follow to His standard.

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Allen Michaels:  ¹³ Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them.

¹⁴ Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” ¹⁵ When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.

The disciples seemed to have had the first recorded cases of ADD. They obviously had forgotten what Jesus had just said about children in 18:4-6; “⁴ Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. ⁵ And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. ⁶ “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” Jesus wanted little children to come because he loves them and because they have the kind of attitude needed to approach God. He didn’t mean that heaven is only for children, but that people need childlike attitudes of trust in God. The receptiveness of little children was a great contrast to the stubbornness of the religious leaders who let their education and sophistication stand in the way of the simple faith needed to believe in Jesus.

The Rich and the Kingdom of God

¹⁶ Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” This man was seeking assurance of eternal life so Jesus pointed out that salvation does not come from good deeds unaccompanied by love for God. This man needed a whole new starting point. This man simply needed to submit humbly to the lordship of Jesus the Christ.

¹⁷ “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.” ¹⁸ “Which ones?” he inquired.

Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, ¹⁹ honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’” Jesus told him to keep God’s Ten Commandments. Jesus then listed only six of them, all referring to relationships with others. When the man claimed to have kept the commandments, Jesus told him that he must do something more—sell everything and give the money to the poor. This was the man’s great weakness. In reality, his wealth was his god and idol, and he would not give it up. This is in direct violation of the first and greatest commandment. Two examples of the greatest commandment are in Exodus 20:3; “You shall have no other gods before me.” and, as we’ll soon see in Matthew 22:36-40, “³⁶ Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” ³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: