Interpretation help please

[MH84]

Hi!
I have a question about the popular story of the rich young man (Mark 10:17-22).

1. Does anyone now about why Jesus said to him. “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.” I have heard something similar to the fact that Jesus was pointing out to the man (or the disciples) indirectly that He is God. Reading the New Testament carefully and with faith shows that the Messiah was indeed God incarnate. Is it true that Jesus is referring to the fact that if someone is rightly calling Jesus “good” and because Jesus is saying that no one is good but God alone, Jesus is saying that he is truly God!

Is there another way of interpreting statement or am I on the right track?

 

[conan025]

I have heard the same thing, and it make sense to me.

The Sermon on the Mount contains another example of a claim to deity that most modern readers miss, the refrain “You have heard it said [in the law of Moses]; but I say unto you…” God gave the Law, and only God could change it. This was thus a claim to be God. No wonder Jesus’ first hearers were “astonished”.

“Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse.” Mere Christianity.

 

[Nita]

Here’s some commentary from the Venerable Bede, Doctor of the Church (b. 672 AD, d. 735 AD) that confirms the interpretation you’ve heard.

“The Lord, therefore, does not deny Himself to be good, but implies that He is God; He does not deny that He is good Master, but He declares that no master is good but God.”

(Quote taken from Catena Aurea by St. Thomas Aquinas, Volume II St. Mark)

Nita

 

[MH84]

Thank you for your responses

 

[John_Hiner]

Does anyone now about why Jesus said to him. “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.”

I agree with the points that have been made so far. One valid interpretation of this passage is as Jesus making a clear statement that He is God.

A second meaning of the exchange is as establishing the absolute definition of “good.” By asserting that the meaning of “good” must refer to God, Jesus asserts a unity of values that ties Heaven and earth together. This secondary meaning is parallel to:

But be not you called Rabbi. For one is your master; and all you are brethren. And call none your father upon earth; for one is your father, who is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters; for one is you master, Christ.
Matthew 23:8-10 (Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition.)

These commands tie the roles of teacher, father, and master, which are filed by humans, directly to God and His activities. It asserts that human teachers, fathers, and masters must do God’s work.

Similarly, the statement about “good” in the passage under discussion asserts firmly that the idea behind the word “good” must be ordered to God; it also declares that Jesus is God.

I do not think these two means are in conflict. In fact, I think the establishment of these permanent connections between our experience in the created order and God is a primary work of the Incarnation. By expressing these two truths in the same short statement, the passage under discussion can be seen to have yet a third meaning: it shows us what it means that Jesus is Christ.

In that elegant profundity that marks the Spirit of God, the passage (1) tells us that Jesus is God, (2) teaches us that our good is tied directly to God, and (3) by doing those two things in one gesture, it shows us the nature of the work of the Messiah.

Pax Christi nobiscum.

John Hiner

 

[MH84]

I think also we do not know the tone of voice Jesus was using. He might have meant by, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone”, to be Why do you call me good? …Pause to see what the rich young man says… Is it because somehow you realise Who you are calling “good”. However it is possible that at the time the rich man may have no intention of actually, saying at least at that time, that Jesus You are really God.

Oh, BTW often Jesus is referred to as “Lord”. eg. when Thomas proclaims "My Lord and My God! Do you guys think that during these Gospels when Jesus is referred to as Lord, it was in regards to his divinity, or is it just used as a honorary title? I really hope it is the former because I can’t help but think that at the time Thomas may be exclaming to Jesus’ Father, like an element of surprise or prayerfully prayer to the Father. I have to add though that if Thomas was actually directing the comment to Jesus, as many people do belive, this is indeed a powerful and underated statement to unbelivers out here.

But if Thomas really at that time knew Jesus was God why was he so surprised about Jesus conquering death…maybe he was just surprised at how Jesus was meant to suffer in a terrible way first, or he underestimated the omnipotence of God.