Reflection
Sometimes we are most afraid of what we most need. Happiness, peace, and healing—indeed, eternal life itself—can be right in front of us, but instead of embracing them, we back away in fear. That’s why it is easy to identify with the rich young man in today’s gospel who asks Jesus a question that resonates with all of us: “Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?”
Jesus’ initial response is hardly surprising. He tells the young man that “if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” Jesus’ counsel confirms that the commandments comprise the attitudes and actions that lead to life.
But notice that Jesus distinguishes between entering into life and the perfection of life.
Obeying the commandments, which the young man has always done, puts us on the path to life; however, it is not enough to make us perfect, not enough to transform us into persons who wholly possess and can completely enjoy the absolute fullness of life. If the rich young man will ever cross the threshold into fullness of life, he must, Jesus insists, “sell what you have and give to the poor.”
The young man—along with anyone else who hears this story—is stunned. Jesus tells him that he will “gain eternal life” only by doing something that seems utterly reckless and wildly preposterous.
Jesus says that lasting happiness and genuine peace will come to the young man only when he loosens his hold on everything he owns—all his wealth and all his possessions—by handing them over to the poor.
But because the young man cannot relinquish these lesser goods for the sake of a much greater good, “he went away sad.”
In the rich young man, we meet ourselves. In Jesus, eternal life is standing right in front of us, but instead of embracing it joyfully, we back away in fear because we are not yet able to find our security—indeed, our identity and the meaning of our lives—in following Christ. Until that happens, we will spend our lives walking away sad.
