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Gospel: Matthew 19: 16-22
A young man approached Jesus and said,
“Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?”
He answered him, “Why do you ask me about the good?
There is only One who is good.
If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.”
He asked him, “Which ones?”
And Jesus replied, “You shall not kill;
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.”
The young man said to him,
“All of these I have observed. What do I still lack?”
Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go,
sell what you have and give to the poor,
and you will have treasure in heaven.
Then come, follow me.”
When the young man heard this statement, he went away sad,
for he had many possessions.
The Gospel of the Lord.
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In the mind of the disciples, this rich young man must be the perfect new recruit – youthful, wealthy, educated, Law abiding, religious, and interested in Jesus. What more could one ask for?
This wasn’t a leper, a beggar, a sick or blind person. This was a winner, an ideal son, the type of boy that any parent could be proud of.
So, when the Lord sent him away, the disciples were dumbfounded. Turning to Jesus exasperated, they question, “Then who can be saved?”
Wealth was not this man’s Achilles heel.
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What prevented him from joining the ranks of the disciples was fear.
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He was afraid of risk, afraid of taking a leap of faith. Afraid that, if he gave up all of his belongings – if he dropped his nets, as it were – then he wouldn’t be happy. He’d be sad.
Afraid that, if he followed Jesus that day, then the Lord would take away everything fun from his life. Afraid that “eternal life” might only come after years of taking up his cross, grafted with hardship, suffering, sacrifice, and penniless living.
It was the same type of fear that caused Peter to sink into the Sea of Galilee – the fear that somehow God was not enough.
Perhaps the rich young man approached Jesus that day hoping there was a road more traveled, some way to satisfy his conscience, or some Herculean way of saving himself by “doing” more, like following every last commandment of the Law to a “t” and then some.
But all Jesus wanted was his heart.
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Do the fears of the rich young man sound familiar? Are we ever afraid that the path God traces for us, or the doors he opens, will not be enough to satisfy us?
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This fear is a lie.
May the Lord calm our hearts so that he may give us life – happiness, joy, peace – in abundance. As Saint Ignatius of Loyola often prayed, “Give me only your love and your grace. That is enough for me.”
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Image credits: (1) Quote Fancy (2) Christ and the Rich Young Man, Andrei Nikolayevich Mironov, Wikimedia Commons (3) God’s Story through my life from 2005 through eternity