Detachment

Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, ‘You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, ‘How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!’ And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, ‘Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.’ They were greatly astounded and said to one another, ‘Then who can be saved?’ Jesus looked at them and said, ‘For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.- Mark 10:21-26

Here we once again run into notions of freedom, and of what it means to serve. This is not about what you put on your resume. To enter the kingdom of heaven is not necessarily to be able to point to a list of achievements, or things you have accumulated or own. It is to have faith that the inner life is something real, that the possessions that moths can't eat and rust can't get to are real in that kingdom. To enter the kingdom of heaven is to put your faith in something that is within you, that will not necessarily gain you recognition in the world for your achievements.

This, in my opinion, is the hard lesson here. To have faith in God, to enter the kingdom, is to put aside notions of wealth as the measure of one's goodness or greatness. First, before accumulation, is the initiation into love and relationship - into the love and relationship with God, with Christ. Jesus is clearly saying here that it is this relationship that comes before all things, that nothing can stand in the way of that love or come before it.

This is something that I struggle with at all times, and indeed the apostles here are mystified. How can this be possible? Who, indeed, then, can be saved? These are profound, deep questions. And Jesus' reply is that this happens through God's help. It is through God's help, through grace, that we are able to cultivate detachment within ourselves, to put intangible values first, and then all things serve those values.