I wonder if sometimes the rich young ruler gets a bad rep. He seems sincere in his seeking out of Jesus. He has a real desire to know the answer to his question. Somehow, in spite of his riches and his wholehearted keeping of the law, he still had no idea if he had eternal life. I don't know what he expected to hear from Jesus, but it obviously wasn't the answer he got. It says he went away sad. I think that's the sort of reaction you have when you are blind sided by something and need time to think about it. There's nothing that says he ever took Jesus' advice, and the implication is that he probably didn't. But perhaps he had a good long ponder over the whole thing.
Jesus says there is only One who is good. That's in response to the rich young ruler asking what good thing he can do. Perhaps the implication is that we cannot do anything good per se because we ourselves are not good. Or more likely, those good things that we do don't amount to making us good in ourselves. That must be it.
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