“What shall I do to inherit eternal
life?”
The rich
young man in today’s Gospel wanted to know the answer to a question we all have: How are we to live now so that we may live with God forever? He sought what today’s
reading from the Wisdom of Solomon calls “the spirit of wisdom” and what we may
call the wisdom of the heart.
The young man learned that the wisdom he sought is not a programme of works to be completed or a list of
rules to be followed or behaviours to be avoided. As Jesus tells him, observing
the commandments is essential to walking the path of salvation—but it can only
get us so far.
The Wisdom of
God is not a precept, but a person — Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Incarnate Wisdom
of God, the same Logos, the same spirit of wisdom sought by and given to Solomon.
Jesus is the
Word of God spoken of in today’s Epistle. Jesus, as he reveals himself to the
rich man, is God.
In Jesus we
encounter Wisdom, the living and effective Word of God and just as Jesus looks
at the rich young man, he looks upon each of us with love. That look of love,
that loving gaze, is a personal invitation — to follow in his path of
self-giving, to offer ourselves unreservedly – to follow him.
And Jesus
gives us the answer. What is not possible for people, is possible for God. It
is possible for Jesus. It is Jesus himself, who is God. As God with us (Emmanuel), he follows all the commandments, does the Father’s will. Jesus himself, who is God, sacrifices himself totally—
giving everything he has, even his life for us.
This self-giving love is the source of our thanksgiving, of our eucharist.
Jesus opens the
floodgate of grace for us and makes our salvation possible. What
Jesus did accomplishes what is not possible for any of us alone; he enables us, by
grace, to carry out good works. This is our reason for thanksgiving to God, the incarnate God who is with us, for us, among us and offering eternal life for us and for others through us.
However, nothing is concealed
from God’s gaze, as we hear in the Epistle. In God’s eyes, the thoughts of our
hearts are exposed, and each of us must render an account of our lives. His sword of truth cuts through the lies and deceits of the
world.
In order to pursue eternal life we need the
attitude of Solomon, preferring Wisdom to all else, loving God more than even
life on earth itself because life, and all we possess, is a gift, not to be clung to as
Jesus saw the young man doing. This
choice, this love, requires a leap of faith and we will be persecuted for this
faith (as we know to one degree or another having chosen the Catholic faith).
But, we trust
in God’s promise—that all good things will come to us as we ask for them and as
we require them, both now and forever. This is who we thank, not ourselves or fate but the incarnate Word, Jesus, who is at the source of all things.
What, then,
are the “many possessions” that keep us from giving ourselves totally to God?
What are we clinging to? Are these material
things, comfort zones, power, position, relationships? What will it take for us
to live fully for Christ and the sake of the Gospel?
Let us pray for
the wisdom to continue to walk into the kingdom of God.
The good news
today is that we do not have to go away grieving like the young man. We don’t
have to tune out the message Jesus challenges us with regarding out attitude towards
possessions. We can embrace the gift of
God’s grace with true thanksgiving.
We cannot
earn salvation on our own, anymore than a camel can pass through the eye of
a needle; but Jesus has opened the path to eternal life, despite our failings, because what is impossible for us alone, is possible in and through our
relationship with Jesus.
Our yearning
for God is grace, what we do for God as our response is also grace, and
whatever we do in co-operation with God bears fruit because of grace. That is
good news indeed and is the answer to the question:
“What shall I do to inherit eternal
life?”
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