Why do you call me Good?
If the Lord Jesus was God why then he said “No one good but God alone” to the rich servant?
This story of our Lord interacting with a rich man it is paralleled in three gospel accounts, Mark 10:17-19, Matthew 19:16-17, Luke 18:19
17 And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.
19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’”
20 And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.”
21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
22 Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
23 And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!”
24 And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God!
25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
26 And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?”
27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”
Mark 10:17-27
I understand two things from this story. First, our Lord indicating himself is God and he alone is good and gives definition to it. Second, the rich man he loved his possession more than God himself.
The Lord Jesus was challenging the definition of what is good to the rich man. What’s interesting our Lord implied it’s impossible to be saved without God but only God alone can saves.
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Mark 10:45
In the same chapter Mark 10, Our Lord says he is the One who came to save us from our sins, which something Only God can do (mark 10:27) because he is God in flesh.
But Jesus looked at them and said, “With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible.”
Mark 10:27
In Christ,
Mustafa.
