What does it take to enter eternal life?

Priest of the Notre-Dame de Vincennes parish, Father Marc Dumoulin comments on the gospel of the 28th Sunday of Ordinary Time, that of the rich young man. Eternal life cannot be possessed, Jesus asks us to enter into it. To enter, you must give your only possessions.

What must I do to inherit eternal life? How similar he is to us, this man who runs to Jesus and falls at his knees. A young man, Matthew will specify in his Gospel. The rich young man. He is rich in many ways and he has organized his life according to his riches. He is rich in great goods to the point that these goods will make him renounce even Jesus, because he will not wish to part with his possessions. It will become dark and sad.

Jesus reminds him of the commandments and the young man responds, not without confidence, that he has observed them all. He checked all the boxes.

Even more, he is rich in his virtues: he has committed neither murder nor adultery nor theft; nor bear false witness, nor wrong anyone; he honored father and mother. Rich in goods, rich in virtues, today we would say that he is the perfect son-in-law. However, he comes to find Jesus because he experiences an ineffable feeling that despite all his material and moral riches, something fundamental is still missing: in addition to all these goods, he seeks to have more, even more, something else: to have, possess eternal life as one possesses an inheritance. This is why he comes to find Jesus. Then Jesus reminds him of the commandments and the young man responds, not without confidence, that he has observed them all. He checked all the boxes and he would therefore be entitled to hear Jesus say to him: Well done ! You will have eternal life. And that’s not what’s happening.

Let us note, in the enumeration of the commandments, Jesus did not cite the one which he nevertheless presented as the first of them: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength; you will love your neighbor as yourself. Love, Jesus did not cite this commandment which nevertheless summarizes all the others. Jesus did not speak of it because Jesus accomplished it: Jesus looked at this man, and he loved him.

Eternal life cannot be possessed

Thus, neither material goods nor moral virtues obtain eternal life as an inheritance. Eternal life cannot be obtained, it cannot be possessed. It is impossible for us to have it; Jesus asks us to enter. He shows this young man the way, what he still lacks, the only thing he needs: Go, sell what you have and give it to the poor; then come, follow me. What he still lacks is missing.

The rich man was alone with his riches, alone with his virtues, alone in wanting to gain eternal life. But Jesus invites him to follow him. The rich young man ran up and fell at Jesus’ knees and asked him: What should I do? The leper also came to Jesus and begged, falling to his knees: If you want, you can purify me (Mc 1,40). The rich man says: Is. The leper, Tu. The rich man goes away sad; the purified leper proclaims the Good News. The Pharisee who went to the Temple said: I thank you, I am not like other men. The publican asked: You, show yourself favorable. The second became righteous; not the first.

Jesus in failure?

Let us listen again to what the Lord says: You only miss one thing. Just one thing? However, Jesus asks more than one, and even many: to go, to sell, to give, to come and to follow him. Until then, the young man had only acquired, Jesus now asks him to welcome. He understands that he still misses a lot and that he is only at the beginning of a path of renunciation of everything that is not the love of Jesus. We will always lack love to enter the Kingdom.

The rich young man walked away sad, a sadness probably much less than that of Jesus seeing him go away.

Will we, too, miss the call of Jesus who looks at everyone with his loving gaze? Will we hear his call? Will we hold Jesus in check? God made himself so fragile by loving us that he made us capable of making him stumble. Jesus will experience this scathing failure which will lead him to Calvary. The rich young man walked away sad, a sadness probably much less than that of Jesus seeing him go away. Jesus gave him his love. Man only saw his riches. Let’s not wait, let’s follow Jesus: let’s go, sell what we have, give it to the poor, come to Jesus and follow him. With him, we will go from difficult to impossible. Already in this time, we will receive a hundredfold; and soon, eternal life.

Readings for the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time: