Monday of
20th Week in Ordinary Time
August 18, 2014 6:30am and 2:30pm (Faculty)
I have to admit that I am not
about to sell my car and everything else I own and give all the money that
comes from that to the poor.
My bet is that no one here is
about to do that.
Does this mean, as Jesus says
this morning, that we will never be perfect?
I think Jesus is using some
exaggeration with this young man to make his point.
Jesus does that at times – like
when he says that if your eye is a source of sin, pluck it out.
Sometimes Jesus exaggerates to
get his point across.
So then, what is his point here?
When this rich young man asks
Jesus what he must do to gain “eternal
life,” Jesus quotes some of the commandments.
And the interesting thing is that
the commandments Jesus quotes all deal with our relationships.
Jesus wants us to be thinking
about others.
In contrast, the rich young man,
maybe unconsciously, maybe without being aware of it, is really focused on
himself.
He asks: “What can I do to inherit eternal life?”
“I have kept all of these commandments.”
“What do I still lack?”
He is focused on his own
long-term, ultimate well-being.
He thinks that by keeping the
commandments which are minimal and which are mostly do-nots, he is okay.
Jesus exaggerates to wake up this
rich young man.
He wants him to act for the good
of others, to go beyond the minimal requirements of the commandments and do
what he positively can do to assist others.
It is this attitude or mindset
that will lead him and us to eternal life.
In fact, the very term “eternal” in this passage means life as
befits God or as is characteristic of God.
And the dominant characteristic
of God is that God loves and gives.
So Jesus is saying here that if
we live with a loving, giving attitude or mindset toward others, then we will
gain eternal life.
In fact, then we will already be living
God’s life, eternal life.
