Stories can be dangerous when they don’t come directly from the source. When hearing a story secondhand, it is easy to assume the outcome.

In the Bible, there is a story about a rich young ruler and it is a part of the synoptic gospels of Jesus’s life, found in Matthew 19:16-30, Mark 10:17-31 and Luke 18:18-30.

The story of the rich young ruler begins with him approaching Jesus and asking him what he must do to receive eternal life. In response, Jesus asked the rich man about several of the Jewish laws and commandments. 

The rich man stated that he had lived his life in accordance with all the commandments Jesus listed. Then, he asked what else was necessary to obtain eternal life.

Jesus’s simple answer was to sell all the man’s possessions. All three gospels say the man left sadly, without further discussion with Jesus.

This is the story as written in the Bible. The rich man is not mentioned further throughout the New Testament. 

And what does Jesus say after this encounter? “It is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again, I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God” (Matthew 19:23-24 NIV).

Now, the story of the rich man is not small or unnoticed. I have heard many messages throughout my life regarding this story. However, the lesson is never exactly what I read in the Bible.

In many messages about this story, the speaker reads through the tale of the rich young ruler and upon reaching the end, they often remark on the ending of the rich young ruler’s part in the story as he leaves: “And he left sad, because he just couldn’t let go of his possessions.”

But that isn’t what the book says. In Matthew 19:22, it is written that “When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.” But none of the gospels says what he did after he walked away.

After he walked away sad, he could have made any number of decisions or appeared sad for any number of reasons.

He might have been sad because he couldn’t bring himself to do what Jesus asked. Or, maybe it was because he knew he had to sell his possessions.

There is a lesson to learn from the rich young ruler regarding the love of material possessions, but there’s rarely just one possible lesson in a story. What else could the story of the rich young ruler teach us? He can teach us to accept the possibility of a struggle.

When we are asked to do something that we don’t want to do, whether by a coworker, a friend or a family member, our first instinct is rarely to jump with joy as we complete the unwanted task. Sometimes, the work we must do isn’t easy to accept and we don’t want to do it. But we do it anyway.

This was the case in the story found in Matthew 21:28-32. A man asked his two sons to do some work in his vineyard. 

The first claimed that he would not work in the vineyard, but later did the work anyway. The second son, promising to do the work for his father, never completed it. Which son did what his father asked of him?

Though the first son’s attitude was negative upon receiving instruction, he still did what he knew was right. As many of us do, he struggled with directions.

The rich young ruler could have left that interaction with Jesus, unsure if he could follow through with what had been asked of him. But upon arriving at his home full of things, could it be that he decided none of it was worth the future possible with eternal life? 

What if, in the end, he still did what was right? When we only look at a story or person the way they have always been looked at, we will never discover anything new. 

Within the Bible, there is no perfect translation or understanding. Sometimes, you have to read between the lines.