28th Sunday of the Year, B

            “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” the man in today’s gospel excitedly asks Jesus.  Think for a moment about that question.... Now there are many questions that we must ponder in life, even in our ordinary daily routine.  But here, in the Sacred Record of our Lord’s life, this question is addressed to the One who announced, “I have come that you may have life, life to the fullest.”  This question, on the surface so matter-of-fact, is in reality for us all the question of questions; it is the inquiry of the soul that knows that its deepest thirst, its most aching hunger is not for money, power or fame, but for life, life itself.  And not a fleeting moment in history, a mere 70 or 80 years that ends in infirmity and weakness; not a short appearance on the stage of existence whose final curtain is death and the grave.  No, life.  As the young man in today’s gospel puts it, “eternal life.”  How, where do I find this one thing that makes all the other wants and commodities of the world pale into insignificance?  Please, Lord, answer this most urgent of questions:  I want to live, show me how!

            Jesus’ answer must have surprised the young man:  “You know the commandments.  You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; you shall not defraud; honor your father and mother.”  But, the young man, thought, what’s so new about all this?  I have kept all these things since I was a child, and still the question burns in my heart:  how do I find eternal life?  After all what is so special about someone who avoids murdering others, who adheres to the vow to be faithful to his or her spouse, who doesn’t lie and gossip about others, who doesn’t cheat other people and who refrains from dishonoring his parents?  No big deal.  That is just common decency. 

            Just so.  But the one who is not really interested in even following the basic rules of decency is rather unlikely to be moved to ask how he can find eternal life; he’s too busy lying, stealing, cheating, and dishonoring others.  Everlasting life is impossible to anyone who will not try to follow the commandments, simply because to such it never occurs to even ask, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

            And much is said about the times in which we live, when we seldom hear this question of questions raised, even in the Church.  Yet, it will not go away.  It will not go away because it is the question that is stamped on our very hearts.  Oh we can dodge it, try to ignore it.  We can even refuse to keep the basic commandments of God, the keeping of which articulates the question to the hungry heart.  But it will not go away, even in the hard-hearted a certain gnawing dissatisfaction will enter the void where this question should be asked and the answer sought. 

            Perhaps we are uncomfortable asking the question because we suspect that the answer may be overwhelming, too demanding.  Jesus replies to the young man:  “You are lacking in one thing.  Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”  Hmmm.  Just one thing?  Yet so much!   Jesus is asking too much.  He’s too demanding.  Really? when all he’s urged us to do is make heaven our treasure and to keep company with Him.  How is this too much?  Get rid of whatever it is, He is telling us, that keeps you from asking, Lord, what must I do to inherit eternal life? 

            But some may answer:  Lord, I don’t ask for much.  I have no grand notions about myself; my wants are limited to some share in life’s comforts, a reasonable amount of security, some time to enjoy what I have worked for.  I don’t ask for much. 

            “I don’t ask for much.”  And in saying that we reveal our bankruptcy.  Those who do not ask for much are not even where the rich young man was.  For God is working in us, in our lives, just to get us to ask for so much more.  Much more.  Why settle for so little, for what will not last?  Ask, Christ is urging us, for what you really want, deep down what you long for with a thirst and hunger that seems at times infinite.  Because it is.  For we pine after what will not end, what will not fade away, grow old and die.  We yearn, whether we realized it or not, for eternal life. 

            And so the question that preempts all questions is lodged there in our heart of hearts.  Perhaps we don’t often hear it.  And many times that is because the noise of our daily lives, the busyness that plagues our society, keeps us from pausing, from taking account of things; the hectic pace of modern life muffles the cry of the heart for something more than our time on this earth seems to give us.  The question is not heard, but the hunger remains, and modern people try to satisfy it with more noise and commotion, more diversions.  In the few moments allowed us, we may get the chance to ask God for just one more thing that we think we want.  And God answers us back in the words of Jesus, “There is one thing more you must do.”  You must stop, collect yourself, realize what it is that you truly desire; and then ask for all the treasures of heaven, ask for the companionship of God.  Ask for life, eternal  life.  Nothing else will ever ultimately satisfy.  As the young man in today’s gospel experienced.  He got as far as asking the right question, but he felt the answer too demanding, too severe; Jesus had asked him to let go of that which would never be enough for him.  But the young man had so many possessions and wasn’t convinced that they couldn’t be his happiness.  “Happiness.”  How ironic then that the scene in today’s gospel closes with the words, “At that statement his face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.” 

            Ask for life, everlasting life.  And we shouldn’t be surprised if the answer we receive from God is a bit overwhelming, weighty, rather awesome.  Such is heaven, such is eternal life.