SURELY WE CAN CALL JESUS GOOD

Yes, of course we can refer to our Lord as good, even the essence of goodness, but it is remarkable that Jesus himself resisted being so-called, and there is something of a mystery as to why. The story is told by Matthew, Mark, and Luke. According to Mark 10 and Luke 18 a “rich young ruler,” as he has come to be known, came to Jesus and asked him, “Good Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Before answering his question Jesus questions him, “Why do you call me good?” And then adds, “No one is good but God alone.” Mark and Luke tell this story alike except that Mark has the inquirer running to Jesus and bowing before him.

   But Matthew 19:17 alters the story by omitting Jesus’ “Why do you call me good?” even though the old King James Version retains it. Most any modern version reveals how Matthew changed the way it reads in Mark and Luke. William Barclay points out that Matthew wrote sometime after Mark and Luke and by that time he had what he considered good reasons for changing the story. It is evident that Matthew believed that Jesus was good, even good like God, and that the rich young ruler was right in calling him “Good Master,” and should not have been questioned. But Matthew had a problem, as we might all, with Jesus denying his own goodness

   It helps to realize that Matthew, who had Mark and Luke as sources, frequently made changes that protected Jesus (and his apostles) from anything that might be derogatory, such as when Mark says that Jesus was “a carpenter,” a despised trade in that day (Mark 6:3). Matthew changed that to “the carpenter’s son” which was also true (Matthew 13:55). Another instance is when Mark records that it was James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who asked Jesus for special status in his coming kingdom, which put them in disfavor with the other apostles (Mark 10:35-41). Matthew gets the two apostles off the hook, by saying it was their mother who made the request (Matthew 20:20), which could also be true in that both the sons and the mother could have been culprits?

   While Mark reveals how Jesus sometimes upbraided the apostles in surprisingly caustic language — “Do you still not understand, still not realize? Are your minds closed? Have you eyes and do not see, ears and do not hear? Or do you not remember? (Mark 8:17-18) — Matthew, even though he uses Mark in great detail — omits anything like this lest it denigrate the apostles.

   And Matthew makes theological changes. Luke has the first beatitude read, “Blessed are the poor,” which is almost certainly what Jesus said (Luke 6:20), while Matthew renders it “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (Mathew 5:3), which is quite different. While Mark has Jesus prohibiting divorce with no exceptions (Mark 10:11), Matthew takes liberty to add “except for fornication” (Matthew 19:9).

   It should not be surprising then if Matthew, confronted by a passage that appeared to have Jesus questioning his equality with God and denying his own goodness, would do some redacting. But we are to remember that Matthew was an apostle inspired by the Spirit of God, and this would include his role as a redactor. Jesus may never have made “except for fornication” an exception to his prohibition of divorce, but Matthew, after decades as a leader in the community of faith and seeing the evils of unfaithful unions, allowed for divorce. This was his right and duty as an apostle of Christ. The apostles were promised that whatever they bound on earth would be bound in heaven (Matthew 18:18).

   But Mark and Luke were also inspired of the Spirit. It is all Scripture and the church accepts it as the word of God. When there are conflicts in the narratives, we are to accept them as such, and seek to be faithful interpreters. The Bible can be meaningful to us without there being absolute clarity. There will always be mystery and uncertainty, but the basic message of Scripture always comes through loud and clear.

   I think there might be a biblical clue as to why Jesus made such a surprising response to the rich young ruler —“Why do you call me good? None is good but God alone” — and that clue will allow Mark’s and Luke’s account to stand as recorded with no need of redaction. That clue lies in what Jesus understood by good or goodness. As a faithful Jew Jesus believed in the God of Scripture, and to him the Scriptures would be what we call the Old Testament. Those Scriptures repeatedly refer to God as good and as the essence of goodness, such as Psalm 107:1: “Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good (or goodness).” This plea is repeated throughout the Psalms: God is to be praised because he is goodness. Or as in Nehemiah 9:25: “They delighted in your great goodness,” or “The goodness of God continues forever” (Psalm 52:1) If we go to the New Testament we find Paul saying “Do you not know that it is the goodness of God that leads you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4).

   The most impressive passage on the identity of God as goodness is in Exodus 33:19: “I will make all my goodness pass before you.” Moses had asked God to show him his glory. In response God places Moses in the cleft of a rock, and promises that as he passes before him he will see his goodness — not his power or majesty, but his goodness. This is saying that God is Goodness.

   As a faithful Jew Jesus would have firmly believed that God is one and by nature is “abundant in goodness.” God is in the word good, and that is who God is, Goodness. When the rich young ruler approached Jesus using that entrée, Good Master, it evoked in our Lord a resistance to being identified as God. Peter had already identified him as Messiah and as Son of God, and Jesus had accepted that, but that did not make him God. As he lectured the rich young ruler with, “No one is good (goodness) but God alone,” that included even the Messiah. That affirmation would have found approval with any professor rabbi at the Temple. Jesus was hardly a Trinitarian, and this passage does not lend itself to that hallowed and historic doctrine. Jesus would have balked at such theological inventions as “the Triune God” or “the hypostatic union of three persons.”

   But Jesus would approve of or even pray Psalm 144:1-2: “Blessed be the Lord, my rock, my goodness, and my fortress, my high tower, and my deliverer’

   By the way, when we say My goodness! what do we mean?

News and Notes

I am presently teaching a summer session for adult classes at my home congregation on “God’s Redemptive Power.” The first lessons are on the gospel in the Old Testament. The covenant people of God in the Old Testament did have a Savior, God himself. We will also look to the Exodus and the Return from Exile, which I call the Second Exodus, as instances of God’s redemptive power.

I will again be at Pecan Grove Church in Greenville on Sunday, June 30.

All these essays are online at www.leroygarrett.org; for the essays click on Soldier On! We add new names to our mailing list upon request.