Jesus’ investigation begins with one word and how he had come to this conclusion,“GOOD”. This young man had made the measurement of “GOOD” a comparison between flawed humans where one is less damaged than the other. Jesus asks, “Why do you call me good?” Jesus is saying don’t use this term as a means of courtesy. He never wanted people to give Him honor or title till they knew what they were saying! This young man needed to think both on WHAT good is as well as WHO good is! As I see it there were two things that need to be answered that the rich young ruler had wrong:
What is the base line of good?: Jesus wastes no time in addressing his assessment. There are those that want to suggest that Jesus is denying that He is God by saying, “No one is good but One, that is, God.” But in reality Jesus’ answer is not self denunciation of deity but the opposite. Jesus in other places that Jesus spoke of His deity such as John 10:30 where He said that “I and the Father are one.” In Matthew 26:63-66 in His exchange with the religious leaders just before His crucifixion, He said that in the future they would see Him sitting at the right hand of the Power and coming in the clouds from heaven. The response of the religious leaders tells us that they understood that Jesus was saying that He was God as they tore their robes and accused Him of blasphemy. The point of Jesus questioning lies in the young man’s evaluation of what is good:
•Is it a comparison between others in humanity, a percentage that we must be above others to be considered “GOOD”? Does God grade good on the “curve”?
•Or as Jesus points out to this young man is the standard God and His goodness. Does God grade good on the “cross”? This would lead this young man to realize two very important truths:
•He isn’t good and never will be good enough!
•And the person he had asked this question to is none other than God the Son who is the only person who has ever walked upon this earth who is GOOD! That is why Jesus asks him the question, “Why do you call me good?”
•Is it possible to inherit eternal life if it is based upon our performance?: Inheritance is based upon relationship not performance and clearly this rich young ruler didn’t grasp that. That is the reason behind Jesus quoting keeping the commandments, which he claimed to have done since he was young but yet still recognized that with regard to “inheriting eternal life” he was lacking.