Today’s Gospel brothers and sisters in Christ is one of the most misunderstood in the Bible. Today, we meet the rich man who was addressing a serious question to Christ. Namely, what is required to be done to gain eternal life. On being asked the question Christ tells him to keep the commandments.
The man then asks which commandments, as if some commandments were greater in priority than others. In his response Christ limits his answer to what the man could understand in the context of his faith under the law. Christ refers to six commandments all of which deal with human relationships. They focus upon personal morality and duty towards your fellow man. Note that there is no reference to this rich man’s relationship with God in those six commandments. All that Christ demanded was that he be a loving person to his neighbour and treat his neighbour as he would want himself to be treated. One would have thought that Christ’s answer to him to lead a good moral life would have sufficed and he would have left his inquiries there.
However, the man, to justify himself, responded by saying he had done all these things since his youth but still lacked something further. It is at that point that Jesus states to him if you want to be perfect go and sell all you have and give it to the poor and come and follow me.
Let us now pay attention to what Christ was saying to this rich man. Firstly, the man was required to sell all he had. This means that whatever possessions he owned he was to dispose of them all – leaving nothing for a rainy day or in reserve and otherwise totally divesting himself of every material good – and then giving everything away to those who had need. That in itself is a huge ask of any person – rich or poor. Which of us has sufficient faith to say that God will provide? How many of us could, with total abandon, solely rely upon the promises of Christ that we should not worry about what we eat or drink or about our bodily needs or what we put on and instead to seek the kingdom of heaven and trust that the righteousness of God will provide those things we need, as is promised in Matthew chapter 6.25-33?
Note that although today’s gospel reading is about a rich man it has equal application to the poor. Whether you have a little or a lot it is still the same. You are called upon to sell what you have and give to others worse off than you and you will have treasure in heaven. In this sense the poor person that does not sacrifice all is in the same position as the rich person who does not sacrifice all. The only difference is that the rich person has more to forsake. However, as difficult as this is, namely to sell all you have, it is nowhere near as difficult as the second requirement imposed by Christ, namely to follow him.
“Follow me” is the hardest commandment for each of us. The reason for this is that follow me is a command which continues from the time we commit to Christ until our death. In other words we dedicate our lives to Christ and no matter how we may feel or what circumstances we find ourselves in we continue to put Christ first in our lives and follow him. However, having a human nature means that we sin on a daily basis. Sinning is falling away from Christ. We then repent our falling away, once again commit to Christ and then again fall away. We continue this pattern throughout our life whether for small sins or large sins it makes no difference. To follow Christ means to use Christ as the example of your daily living. This means to put into practice Christ’s teachings which include Love for your enemy. It also means to put the other first. In short, being a Christian is the most difficult thing to do. It means having to put on Christ and living your life in total imitation of him.
If you sell all and follow Christ you would then be perfect. Perfection is absolute – it means that there is no further scope to improve on that which is perfect. As human beings, however, our spiritual growth has no point where we can say we no longer can progress. Thus perfection is both our goal and also our unending progress towards union with Christ. During our lifetime we are all works in progress and can only constantly strive towards perfection. Whether we can be considered to be close to perfect or not can only be answered once we have ended this mortal life. It is only then that we can say, as Paul states in 2 Timothy “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith”.
So, what Christ is really saying in this gospel is that perfection is something that is beyond human nature. Only one is perfect and that is God. What we can do through our spiritual growth is to grow in the likeness of God by grace by selling all and following him.
It is little wonder that this rich man who had a lot to forego went away sorrowful. The ability to understand the difference between ownership and stewardship is one of the hardest Christian lessons to absorb. We should all understand that each of us is uniquely created. In all of creation, all that has been and all that is to come, there will only be one of you. For all that, on our time on earth, all of our talents, wealth and relationships are on loan from God. As Psalm 21 puts it “the earth is the Lord’s and all its fullness, the world and that those who dwell therein” God is the owner of all and whatever wealth and all good things we possess ultimately will be left behind and all we will take with us are our deeds. If you understand this lesson – really understand it – then material possessions, whether you have a little or a lot, whether you consider yourself rich or poor or affluent or in need, form a barrier between us and Christ. This is because we focus upon our needs in this world and consider that we will live forever without understanding that what we live for in this world is for God and to seek the kingdom of heaven and eternal life in the world to come.
It is for this reason that Christ states that it is harder for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. When asked by his astonished disciples who then can be saved? Jesus gives us the answer. The task of salvation is beyond our efforts. It cannot be merited. It cannot be attained by good works. No matter how deeply we may wish it is beyond our ability. The only way that we can be saved is through the mercy of God.