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

 

 Then little children were brought to Him that He might put His hands on the 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 the 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 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 

 

On Saturday we read that it came to pass, when Jesus had finished His sayings on mutual correction and forgiveness in the Church, that He departed from Galilee and came to the region of Judea beyond the Jordan.  And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them there.  The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?"  And He answered and said to them, "Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning 'made them male and female,' and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'?  So then, they are no longer two but one flesh.  Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate."  They said to Him, "Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?"  He said to them, "Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.  And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery."  His disciples said to Him, "If such is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry."  But He said to them, "All cannot accept this saying, but only those to whom it has been given:  For there are eunuchs who were born thus from their mother's womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake.  He who is able to accept it, let him accept it."

 

  Then little children were brought to Him that He might put His hands on the 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 the and departed from there.  My study Bible comments that the disciples rebuked the mothers for bringing little children to Christ both because their manner was "unruly" and also because they thought that, according to Theophylact, children "diminished His dignity as Teacher and Master."  Jesus rejects such thinking, and sets little children as an example of those who inherit the kingdom of heaven.  (See also the readings from Wednesday and Thursday of last week regarding "little ones.")  Therefore, my study Bible notes, children are invited -- even as an example to adults -- to participation in the Kingdom through prayer, worship, baptism, chrismation, and Communion.  

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."   My study Bible comments that this man does not come to test Jesus, but rather to seek advice from one whom he considers to be no more than a good Teacher.  Christ's response is not to deny that He is God, but designed to lead this rich man to this knowledge.  

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 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?"  My study Bible notes here that formal observance of commandments does not make one righteous before God.  This man had an earnest desire for eternal life, but sensed that he still lacked something.  So, therefore, he continues to press Jesus for the answer.

 

 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.  In order to be perfect, my study Bible notes, one must willingly sacrifice all and follow Christ.  There is nothing gained except this sacrifice is freely given.  The specifics of how one will follow Christ, however, will be different for every person.  In this case, wealth had such a grip on this rich young man that his only hope was to sell and give away all his possessions.  According to St. John Chrysostom, giving away possessions is the least of Christ's instructions here.  To follow Him in all things is a far greater and more difficult calling.  

In tomorrow's reading, we will receive Christ's response and teaching to the disciples regarding this episode of the rich young ruler who seeks eternal life.  In it we will read Jesus' rather astonishing response regarding the pull of wealth, which will astound the disciples.  But for now, let us focus on this young man who comes to Christ with what seems a very earnest seeking for eternal life.  Although the young man does not understand that Christ is divine, he calls Him a good Teacher, which expresses sincerity.  But the great stumbling block here is his possessions, which are great in the description of the Gospel.  Although it is possible to read this passage as if Jesus' pronouncement that the young man must sell all his possessions and give to the poor is something standard and almost flippant, it is really nothing of the kind, as my study Bible and patristic commentary notes.  In Mark's Gospel, we're told that Jesus, "looking at him, loved him," before giving this teaching (see Mark 10:21).  Therefore this teaching to the young man is given by Jesus with love, and what we can understand as the deepest insight for him.  So the emphasis falls here on the type of hold that wealth can have on us, and also that in this case it forms a stumbling block to the young man's salvation, his hope of eternal life for which he asks.  Let us begin by noting that once again Jesus speaks of an exchange here.  He counsels this young man to sell what he has and give to the poor so that he will, instead, have treasure in heaven.  This is an important sense of exchange for each of us in our lives, for it is what taking up our own crosses means.  We make a sacrifice of the things that stand in the way of our own salvation, and in so doing receive the things of the Kingdom, treasure in heaven.  In this case, as my study Bible explains, wealth has such a grip on this person that it will form a stumbling block, and indeed it does, as this young man goes away sorrowful at Christ's teaching, unable to accept it.  We can surmise perhaps that, as we know he is young, his possessions are a hint that he comes from one of the wealthier landowning families, and therefore is connected through family position within the temple and the society.  Therefore his identity is at any rate -- as we can see from his response -- bound up with his wealth.  He considers it too far of a sacrifice for him, even for eternal life.  Possibly Jesus gives him this counsel because in the Church, there will eventually come a time when all of Christ's followers will be persecuted by the religious leadership, and they will necessarily need to make this kind of hard choice to remain in the faith, and part from what they know.  For even the nation, in this sense, will reject Christ at His trial before Pilate.  These are -- or rather they may be for each of us -- the kinds of hard choices that appear for us in following our faith, and therefore taking up our own crosses in order to follow Christ.  These are the sacrifices that come up in a life of faith, where whatever we are asked to sacrifice acts as an attachment and stumbling block to following in faith.  As my study Bible indicates, these things will be different for every person, and can involve just about anything.  But the key, as with this rich young man, is our attachment to them in opposition to the way Christ would ask us to go forward in life toward a deeper communion with Him and the life He offers and asks of us.  In the Bible, we can read of the sacrifices the disciples will undergo themselves as they become apostles and pillars of the Church, having to choose between the deepest ties of earthly life and where they will go as Christ's servants.  Jesus asks of us personal sacrifices in terms of our own habits and proclivities to selfishness as well (see this reading, in which Christ uses the example of amputation necessary to save the whole body).  For these are the ways in which we are transfigured in the image He offers us, to the person He calls us to become more truly as our Lord.  Let us consider how the sacrifices we might be called upon to make draw us more closely to Him and to the life He offers, to treasure in heaven, to more closely following Him.   Note that the young man has already made a great discipline in his life of following the commandments, and this one given by Christ is that which is given if he desires to be perfect.  Perhaps it is an example to us of Christ's teaching, "For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more" (Luke 12:48).  But then again, Christ has asked the disciples, "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?"    Today's reading suggests that we must each ask ourselves this same question.