Gospel MT 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.
Reflection:
A young man approached Jesus and said,
“Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?”
Jesus replied, “If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.”
When asked which commandments he should obey, Jesus mentioned only those commandments that dealt with the young man’s personal conduct toward others.
By obeying these commandments the young man had avoided breaking religious law: He did not murder, lie, steal, commit adultery, neglect his parents, or abuse his neighbor.
The young man said to him,
“All of these I have observed.”
Although he understood that observing the law was commendable, it was still not enough. The young man did not feel fulfilled.
So, he then asked Jesus, “What do I still lack?”
Jesus pointed the young man to the virtue of sacrifice; this would lead him to a sense of personal fulfillment and life everlasting.
“If you wish to be perfect, go,
sell what you have and give to the poor,
and you will have treasure in heaven.”
The very nature of Jesus Christ, the “eternal” God, is to be giving.
If we are to gain life everlasting, we must go beyond “obeying the rules.” We must be willing to sacrifice for the sake of others.
Christ lived and died sacrificing for others. It is by imitating Jesus’ life of sacrifice that we too shall find fulfillment in this life and have “treasure in heaven.”
Jesus then told the young man that after selling what he had and giving to the poor he should, “Then come, follow me.”
“When the young man heard this statement, he went away sad, for he had many possessions.”
It truly is “sad” that the young man who was seeking heaven had failed to understand that the riches of God are not attained from what we possess but from what we give away.
“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, what are you doing for others?” Martin Luther King Jr.