If you want to be perfect

Then the little children were brought to him that he might put his hands on them and pray, but the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven." And he laid his hands on them and departed from there.

Now behold, one came and said to him, "Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?" So he said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments." He said to him, "Which ones?" Jesus said, " 'You shall not murder,' 'You shall not commit adultery,' 'You shall not steal,' 'You shall not bear false witness,' 'Honor your father and your mother,' and 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' " The young man said to him, "All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?" Jesus said to him, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

- Matthew 19:13-22

Our recent readings have focused on humility, and the importance of relationship -- just how we are to relate to one another. These readings have focused on order and right-relatedness in the church, among his followers, between the hierarchy and the "little ones" in the church, and on marriage and relation of men to women. We extend this today in the first verses to the "little children" who are brought to Christ. From there, we have a teaching on "goodness" - and from there we will go to the subject of wealth and detachment. All of this is an extension of his teachings on how we are to relate to one another - on the basic and extraordinarily profound equality among all who are in this kingdom, and how nothing should stand in the way of that realization.

Then the little children were brought to him that he might put his hands on them and pray, but the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven." And he laid his hands on them and departed from there. My study bible notes, "Little children are given 'equal opportunity' to live in the kingdom of heaven (v. 14), for their humble openness accepts God's gifts. There is nothing about them, including their age of immaturity, to keep them from the Kingdom. Therefore children, like adults, participate in the Kingdom through baptism, chrismation, communion, confession, and anointing with oil for healing." Jesus has previously spoken of humility and relationships - exhorting the disciples to remember to treat the littlest ones among their members (meaning the humble in stature who come to them to be members of the church) as if they are welcoming Christ himself. He has taught them to remember that "in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father in heaven." He has spoken to the men of their hard-heartedness toward their wives, that Moses granted an easy form of divorce for this reason, but that the spiritual purpose of marriage is love and care. Today he reaches out to the least powerful, the little children, and embraces them in the fullness of his teaching to the disciples. There is no barrier of power, status or rank that keeps anyone from this kingdom, and inclusion in the teachings of love and right-relatedness!

Now behold, one came and said to him, "Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?" So he said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but One, that is, God." My study bible says that "the young ruler sees Jesus as a man only, a Good Teacher of the written Law, not as God. Jesus answers him accordingly, Why do you call me good? (v. 17). Jesus instructs him to keep the commandments, demonstrating the connection of virtue to salvation. In saying, No one is good but One (v. 17), our Lord rejects the worldly view that he is merely 'a good man,' at the same time teaching that goodness is in God alone." There are many ideas in this note that are worth pondering. The first is an understanding of the leap we are taking into notions of relatedness. Jesus has emphasized over and over again in the teachings on relatedness (and right-relationship) the inclusion of all - even today, to the little children. There is a tremendous sense of equality expressed in all of these teachings, as Jesus extends to the disciples the notion of proper respect for all persons, especially in the ways in which we relate to one another. Here he takes a tremendous leap, and extends even to himself - in the person of Jesus - this equality. Jesus teaches that "no one is good but One, that is, God." All "good" is measured by this yardstick, even Jesus himself. His humility extends to this tremendous leveling in the eyes of the gospels and his teachings on love and how we are to relate to one another.

Then, my study bible says, Jesus "exercises the duties of goodness by opening the treasures of heaven to the young man, offering himself as the guide to them. In doing this the Lord reveals himself as God." "But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments. He said to him, "Which ones?" Jesus said, " 'You shall not murder,' 'You shall not commit adultery,' 'You shall not steal,' 'You shall not bear false witness,' 'Honor your father and your mother,' and 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'" I find this an interesting concept - Jesus is like God - as God, he opens up the treasures of heaven to the young man, and thereby "exercises the duties of goodness." We receive the reality of God, but also the example in Jesus of what it is to embody goodness. And he will go further in the next teaching, in its fullness.

The young man said to him, "All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?" My study bible says on this verse: "Formal observance of the Law does not equal fulfillment of all the commandments of God. Indeed, saying that one has kept the letter of the Law can create a false satisfaction about virtue. Salvation does not depend upon external things, whether they be many or few, great or small, but on the virtues of the soul -- faith, hope, and love -- the reward of which is salvation. These virtues the young man still lacked." So we are once again here in the midst of a teaching about humility. Even Jesus has said that only God is good, when he was called "Good Teacher." So it is in the exercise of true virtue -- that is, of being like God, that we encounter true goodness, we practice it. This requires tremendous humility and detachment.

Jesus said to him, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. My study bible says here: "God acts in cooperation with the human soul. To save the unwilling would be compulsion, but to save the willing is a show of grace. Perfection is voluntarily to sacrifice all and to follow Christ for the cause of the Kingdom. The Kingdom of God does not belong to sluggards, but to those who want to be perfect." A hard saying, indeed! And yet, elsewhere, Jesus has told us to "be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect." Certainly this entire passage is an example of how we are to be like God. As we are made in God's image (as quoted from the Old Testament in yesterday's passage on marriage), so we are to strive to be "like God" if we wish to be "good." In order to do that, it seems, we need the humility of detachment. It is not in our outward modeling that we are "perfect" but rather it is in an inward reality that asks of us to be our focus. This is how we seek the kingdom first. What is good? Who is good? What is goodness, what is perfection? These are the questions Jesus opens up for us today in this teaching.

Many times I find that I must detach from someone or something - which may be precious to me, which the world may label "good" - in order to find real virtue, the true gold or true "treasures of the kingdom" as my study bible refers to them. We remember that we are to store up treasures for ourselves where neither moth nor rust destroys nor thieves can break in and steal. It is this type of detachment, that couples us with the necessary quality of detachment, that will allow us to both see and experience what is truly good. It is for this reason that Jesus gives this young man the particular teaching he needs here. We are asked to be in a living relationship. Jesus is not telling everyone (indeed, he does not do so) that they must give away all the possessions they own in order to achieve this. Rather, this young man is being given the lesson he needs - which he has asked of Jesus - that in order to be truly good, truly perfect, he needed to detach himself from the model of rank and appearance via possession. (I have also known those who make a great show of piety via penury, as if that were a "possession" too.) Counting and storing up our good deeds according to the Law, therefore, can be likened here to storing up possessions of wealth. It is in the practice of true goodness that we are to excel, and that demands an exceptional capacity for detachment (and therefore humility) in order to honestly view our true virtues, our living relationship with God - or how we are really like God in this living, cooperative relationship of love, faith and hope. This young man has practiced virtue in upholding the Law, that is true. But to be perfect is a different layer of understanding, that requires he strip away the things he relies on to teach him that he is good, in order to see the reality of virtue that is not defined by outward show. Jesus himself will be crucified as a criminal - he will defy the temple authorities and upset the status quo. He will not make a show of extraordinary power to "prove" he is Messiah as the temple authorities demand. These are not the "appearance" of virtue, and yet in him they are the embodiment of virtue. We cannot judge by appearance, or by what we collect. We live in relationship to God - and we are like God when we practice true goodness, the power of living faith, of acting with open heart, detached from appearance, in - if possible - all humility. I find that today humility is not such a great virtue in the common culture. Perhaps this has always been a worldly problem, and remains so today. How are we to strip away the things we hold important as appearance, and practice detachment? This teaching remains as tough for us today as it was for the young man then.