June 1

And behold, one came and said unto him, Good master, what good-thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life! And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good! there is none good but one, that is God.—Matthew 19:16, 17.

SOME indeed accuse this young man, as one dissembling and ill-minded, and coming with a temptation to Jesus, but I, though I would not say that he was not fond of money, and under subjection to his wealth, since Christ in fact convicted him of being such a character, yet a dissembler I would by no means call him, both because it is not safe to venture on things uncertain, and especially in blame, and because Mark hath taken away this suspicion; for he saith, that, having come running unto him, and kneeling to him, he besought him, and that Jesus beheld him, and loved him.

But great is the tyranny of wealth, and it is manifest hence; I mean, that though we be virtuous as to the rest, this wins all besides. With reason hath Paul also affirmed it to be the root of all evils in general. For the love of money is the root of all evils, he saith.

Wherefore then doth Christ thus reply to him, saying, There is none good! Because he came unto him as a mere man, and one of the common sort, and a Jewish teacher; for this cause then as a man he discourses with him. And indeed in many instances he replies to the secret thoughts of them that come unto him; as when he saith, Ye worship ye know not what; and, If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. When therefore he saith, There is none good; not as putting himself out from being good doth he say this, far from it; for he said not,

Why dost thou call me good? I am not good; but, there is none good, that is, none amongst men.

And when he saith this selfsame thing, he saith it not as depriving even men of goodness, but in contradistinction to the goodness of God. Wherefore also he added, But one, that is, God; and he said not, "but my Father," that thou mightest learn that he had not revealed himself to the young man. So also further back he called men evil, saying, If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children. For indeed there too he called them evil, not as condemning the whole race as evil,—for by ye he means not "ye men"—but comparing the goodness that is in men with the goodness of God, he thus named it; therefore also he added, How much more shall your Father give good things to them that ask him? And what was there to urge him, or what the profit that he should answer in this way? He leads him on by little and little, and teaches him to be far from all flattery, drawing him off from the things upon earth, and fastening him upon God, and persuading him to seek the things to come, and to know that which is really good, and the Root and Fountain of all things, and to refer the honors to him.

Since also when he saith, Call no one master upon earth, it is in contradistinction to himself he saith this, and that they might learn what is the chief sovereignty over all things that are. For neither was it a small forwardness the young man had shown up to this time, in having fallen into such a desire; and when of the rest some were tempting, some were coming to him for the cure of diseases, either their own or others, he for eternal life was both coming to him, and discoursing with him. For fertile was the land and rich, but the multitude of the thorns choked the seed. Mark at any rate how he is prepared thus far for obedience to the commandments. For "by doing what," he saith, "shall I inherit eternal life?" So ready was he for the performance of the things that should be told him. But if he had come unto him, tempting him, the Evangelist would have declared this also to us, as he doth also with regard to the others, as in the case of the Lawyer. And though himself had been silent, Christ would not have suffered him to lie concealed, but would have convicted him plainly, or at least would have intimated it, so that he should not seem to have deceived him, and to be hidden, and thereby have suffered hurt.

If he had come unto him tempting, he would not have departed sorrowing for what he heard. This was not at any rate ever the feeling of any of the Pharisees, but they grew fierce when their mouths were stopped. But not so this man; but he goeth away cast down, which is no little sign that not with an evil will he had come unto him, but with one too feeble, and that he did indeed desire life, but was held in subjection by another and most grievous feeling.