<p>18:18 <i>And a certain ruler asked him, saying: Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?</i>- Mark adds that he came running to Him and kneeled before Him. The idea was: 'Give me a list of dos and don'ts, I'm game'. But the answer was ultimately: &quot;Follow me&quot; (:22)- 'don't worry about specifics, but have a spirit of life committed to following Me, bearing My cross'. For that is reward enough. Likewise Peter was interested in what the reward would be for having given things up for the Lord; and the final answer is really 'I'm going to die on the cross- please share that death with me' (Lk. 18:28-33 and parallels).</p><p>The man was clearly influenced by the Jewish idea that one supreme good deed could assure the doer of salvation. This was particularly popular amongst the zealots, who considered that suicidal attacks on the Romans could assure them of salvation; the same mentality is to be found in Islamic suicide bombers today. But in His typical manner, the Lord doesn&rsquo;t address the misunderstanding but rather works with it. He ends up telling the man that if he sells all he has and gives to the poor, then he will have &ldquo;treasure in Heaven&rdquo; (:22). This, therefore, isn&rsquo;t a global command to every Christian. It was designed especially for this young man who thought that just one great act of obedience would secure salvation. The Lord went along with this by giving him such an example; but added: &ldquo;And come and follow Me&rdquo;, thus gently correcting the idea that one great act is enough for salvation.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>Rom. 7:19 is Paul&rsquo;s allusion here, where he laments that like the young man, the good that he would do same Greek words &quot;shall I do&quot; he finds himself unable to do because of the sin that dwells within him. But instead of walking away from the Lord as this man did, Paul threw himself upon the Lord&rsquo;s grace. This zealous young man was also understood by Peter as representative of us all; for he clearly alludes to him in 1 Pet. 3:10,11: &ldquo;He who would love life and see good days cp. the young man wanting to &ldquo;have eternal life&rdquo;&hellip; let him&hellip; do good&rdquo; (same Greek words).&nbsp;</p><p>Mk. 10:17 notes that he also asked what he must do to &ldquo;inherit&rdquo; eternal life, as if he considered eternity a right that he must receive if he does only one great deed. The disciples heard the Lord assuring His people that those who follow Him will &ldquo;<i>have</i>&nbsp;eternal life&rdquo;, enter the Kingdom, enter into life, etc. But having heard all that, Peter asked: &ldquo;We have left all&hellip; what shall we&nbsp;<i>have</i>?&rdquo; (Mt. 19:27). The irony of it all is tragic. They&rsquo;d just been promised they would &ldquo;have&rdquo; eternal life. But that wasn&rsquo;t enough. Their focus was very much on this life; what shall we have&nbsp;<i>here and now</i>? They couldn&rsquo;t see very much beyond the present, past the curvature of their earth.&nbsp; Ruth&rsquo;s unnamed relative could have been her redeemer; but when he realized he would have to marry her and have children, and split up his fields into more strips so as to give those children an inheritance along with that of his existing children- he pulled out. He wouldn&rsquo;t &lsquo;mar his inheritance&rsquo;. He saw ahead to his death, to the next generation. His horizon was 20 years at most. But Boaz who didn&rsquo;t think like this established his spiritual inheritance eternally, and is therefore mentioned in the Lord&rsquo;s genealogy. Whilst the short sighted man passed off the page of history anonymously; his name wasn&rsquo;t preserved.</p>