Bear Fruits Worthy of Repentance by Caring for the Poor

The King James Version (KJV) is mostly used in these lessons. Click here to access the KJV online.

This instruction of Yahushua to the Pharisees is reminiscent of Daniel’s advice to Nebuchadnezzar in which Daniel instructs Nebuchadnezzar to redeem his sins through almsgiving and of John the Baptist’s admonition to bear fruits worthy of repentance by caring for the poor. This intersection of repentance, greed, and caring for the poor gets put into the specific context of discipleship in Yahushua’s encounter with the rich ruler in Luke 18:18–23:

And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” And Yahushua said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but Yahuwah alone. You know the commandments: Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.” And he said, “All these I have observed from my youth.” And when Yahushua heard it, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” But when he heard this he became sad, for he was very rich.⁵¹

In this story, a rich ruler has come to Yahushua seeking what the rich ruler must do to inherit eternal life, or, in other words, salvation.⁵² Jesus, in response, notes that the rich ruler knows the “commandments (entolas)”. And Jesus proceeds to list many of the commandments that belong to the second tablet of the ten commandments that concern proper behavior toward one’s neighbor. The rich ruler responds that he has observed all of these commandments from his youth. Then Jesus tells the rich ruler that the rich ruler lacks one thing and that he should sell all of his possessions and give the proceeds to the poor for treasure in heaven, and to follow after Yahushua. Instead of following Yahushua, the rich ruler leaves sad because he was “very rich.” This passage and its parallels in Mark and Matthew have elicited much commentary. What exactly is lacking in the rich ruler? What will be the reward for the rich ruler if he follows through with Yahushua’s instruction? And does this encounter provide a way to understanding an integral link between almsgiving and Christian discipleship? Each of these questions deserves a response

What is lacking in the rich ruler is a detachment from material wealth that shows a lack of interior purity. He suffers from what ails the Pharisees in Luke’s Gospel: the debt of sin due to greed. As a privileged and wealthy person among the Israelites, he is too attached to his own wealth to follow through with Jesus’s instruction by emptying himself of his possessions and using the proceeds for the poor. This story should make one recall what Yahushua said in Luke 16:13: “No servant can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve Yahuwah and mammon.” The rich ruler can only serve one master and has chosen to put his faith in wealth instead of in Christ. There is at least one silver lining here in the rich ruler’s reaction. One should feel at least pity for the rich ruler since he went away sad instead of sneering at what Yahushua said concerning mammon. Like the Pharisees in Luke 16:14, if the rich ruler had been able to let go of his possessions through his act of repentance, he would have gained three rewards: interior purity and release from the sin-debt of greed and attachment to material things; a treasure in heaven, a kind spiritual credit/currency set aside in heaven; and becoming a disciple/follower at Yahushua’s invitation. These connections are noteworthy because of this parable’s concerns regarding the use of possessions/wealth with notions of bearing/harvesting fruit and the storing of treasures.