Then someone came to him and said, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” And he said to him “why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” He said to him, “Which ones?” and Jesus said, “you shall not murder; not steal; you shall not bear false witness; Honor your father and mother; also, you shall love your neighbor as yourself,” The young man said to him, “ I have kept all these; what do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “ if you wish to be perfect, go sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” When the young man heard this word, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions.”
- Matthew 19:16-22
Ouch!!! Jesus often hits us right where we are the most vulnerable. This well known exchange with a young, unknown member of the crowd, has been the source of many sermons in many different churches. But we can find ourselves in this exchange as relatively wealthy members of a wealthy church, in a wealthy district of New Orleans. We, like the young man have many possessions, so it is easy to pass over this gospel reading for another day.
But upon rereading it, I think we have more thinking to do if we want to be serious about what Jesus was saying to us.
The young man who is speaking with Jesus has obviously tried to do his best according to the laws of Moses. But he senses that he is missing something, so he asks Jesus. Teacher, what else am I to do? Where am I going wrong?
I found some food for thought in Richard Rohr’s meditation today. He quotes a German mystic, Meister Eckhart who says it like this (and I paraphrase)
“We are made in the image of God. And being the image of God, we have no allegiance to anything but the Infinite Love in whose image we are made. But we wander into cul-de-sacs with imagined authority less than this Infinite Love: that is the problem.”
Unknowingly the young man had wandered into a cul-de-sac. And he could not see a way out. “Direct me teacher,” he pleads. (And that is also our plea—help me Lord!)
Jesus pointed to the solution. It sounded so easy, but the young man found it too hard to accept, for reasons we can sympathize with. Maybe it is not about his possessions but about his allegiance to his possessions. His heart was not focused “on the Infinite Love in whose image we are made.”As we ponder our allegiances, we can drift back to this important young man. He is us in many ways. We are surrounded by cul-de-sacs crying for our attention. We will never know if he rethought his life and what he had created for himself, or just walked on, leaving the real prize behind.
Musical Reflection Kyrie Eleison - Mozart Requiem in C Minor
Dear Lord, show us how you would have us live in today’s world. Help us to stay on your path and not gets distracted by the many cul-de-sacs into which we can easily wander. Light your way for us as we are often blind and easily confused. In your name we pray. Amen.
