We have all heard a variation of the phrase, "If you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all." This wise instruction conveys to the listener the idea that he or she could prevent an unnecessary creation or expansion of a conflict by remaining silent.

Movies and television make heavy use of this common human situation. They depict children or teens at a school and focus on their reactions when the "weird kid" shows up in the cafeteria. Students in various cliques snicker among themselves, and a few bolder ones shout, "Loser!" or "Nerd!" The bullied child endures the stares and rude comments and sits at a faraway table by himself. Usually, one person looks on sadly, possibly empathetically, saying nothing. As the story develops, this character and the bullied child become friends and eventually heroes, much to the chagrin of the original scoffers.

In Luke 18:18-19, Jesus employs a subtle version of this concept in His encounter with the rich young ruler: "Now a certain ruler asked him, saying, ‘Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?' So Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.'"

Christ's response is somewhat puzzling. As He often does, He answers a question with a question—or perhaps we could better describe it as asking a question about the ruler's question. Here is Matthew's parallel account of this meeting:

Now behold, one came and said to Him, "Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?" So He said to Him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments." (Matthew 19:16-17)

Jesus' responds to the ruler's question, "Why do you call Me good?" We can draw two insights from it. First, Jesus is not proclaiming that He is not good or denying His divinity. In fact, He is hinting at just the opposite.

Second, He is gently correcting the rich young ruler while answering part of his question at the same time. We may see this easier in the English Standard Version's translation of Matthew 19:17: "And [H]e said to him, ‘Why do you ask [M]e about what is good? There is only [O]ne who is good'" (emphasis ours). Emphasizing these pronouns helps to bring out that Jesus is calling the young ruler's attention to his identification or description of Him.

By doing this, He is challenging the young man's assumption that He is a mere man. The young man addresses Jesus as "teacher" or in some translations, "master." At the time among the Jews, this title—calling Him essentially an excellent and righteous teacher or rabbi—was high praise. He is buttering Jesus up to ask his question. Today, a college student might ask, "Professor, you're the best! What do I need to do to get an A?"

By responding to the man as He does, Jesus lets him know that his title for Him—despite his perhaps calculated use of it—is more accurate than he knows. For, indeed, Jesus is God, for only God could truly be good.

Conversationally, Jesus is so quick on His feet that it boggles the mind. His words strike like lightning, directly hitting a target His audience never realizes is there! We get a sense of His unique approach when we ask God to help solve a problem. As an answer, He sometimes turns our attention to something out of the proverbial leftfield to reveal where our weakness—and the key to the solution of our problem—actually lie.

Jesus hits the heart of this young man's issue: His problem is with God. He does not recognize Him, truly worship Him, or believe Him. As John writes of Jesus, "He knew what was in man" (John 2:25; see Matthew 9:4; John 16:30). As God, He could peer into men's hearts and understand their motives and thoughts. He does this with this rich young ruler.

We can see how this plays out in the rest of the account:

So He said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments." He said to Him, "Which ones?" Jesus said, "‘You shall not murder,' ‘You shall not commit adultery,' ‘You shall not steal,' ‘You shall not bear false witness,' ‘Honor your father and your mother,' and ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'" (Matthew 19:17-19)

The list of commandments Jesus gives may strike us as a little odd, as it begins with the sixth commandment, proceeds to the seventh, eighth, and ninth, then returns to the fifth. Finally, He tacks on the Second Great Commandment (Leviticus 19:18; Matthew 22:39) for good measure. We could argue that Jesus leaves out the most important commandments, the first four, which directly relate to a person's relationship with God.

Such oddities often point to the speaker deploying a rhetorical device to make a point. And here, Jesus is setting a beautiful trap for the young man to walk right into—which he does. Jesus' trap is not malicious but designed to help the young man grow. By it, He will answer the heart and soul of this man's question. But would he have the humility to accept it?

In verse 20, the rich young ruler steps into the trap: "The young man said to Him, ‘All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?'" His response opens the way for Jesus to move the conversation toward the man's most pressing "lack": his idolatry. His problem is his relationship with God, which is almost nonexistent.

Jesus' teaching here is brilliant. In one stroke, He acknowledges the good this man had done, positively reinforcing that behavior while also exposing his blind spot. We see how the encounter ends in Matthew 19:21-22:

Jesus said to him, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." But when the young man heard this, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

When we read this passage, we usually emphasize how the rich young man ultimately loved his possessions more than God. However, we need to understand that his many possessions were his god. He was guilty of idolatry, putting his wealth and all that came with it—status, popularity, fine living, political sway, etc.—before God. If Jesus had told him that he needed to keep the first commandment, "You shall have no other gods before Me" (Exodus 20:3), to enter God's Kingdom, the young man could not have truthfully answered, "All these things I have kept from my youth."

In this scenario, Jesus uses His rhetorical question as a foundation for correcting the young man's error while answering his probably genuine question about attaining eternal life. It is one we have all asked ourselves occasionally: "What do I have to do, God?" By calling into question the man's use of "Good Teacher," Jesus establishes His authority and subtly reminds the man and us that if we come before Him and declare Him good, we ought to be prepared to listen to what this only good One has to say.

In Part Two, we will continue to consider how Jesus teaches in this passage.