Readings for today: Exodus 8-9, Matthew 19:13-30, Psalms 24, Proverbs 6:1-5
“What good deed must I do to earn eternal life?” Such a good question. Such a common question. One I find a lot of people asking in my line of work. Have I done enough? Have I been good enough? Will my life be weighed in the scales and found wanting? Will St. Peter open the gates to me? I cannot tell you how many times I have had this conversation with someone who is near death. Lying on their deathbed, they so often want to know if they’ve done enough to earn their way into heaven.
It makes me sad but I get it. We’ve been raised in a culture of self-sufficiency. The great American myth is the Horacio Alger story. The rags to riches account of a young man who works hard to improve his lot in life. We talk about pulling ourselves up by our own bootstraps. No such thing as a free lunch. We assume that if we work hard over a long period of time, we will be successful. But then reality hits us in the face. As Martin Luther King Jr. famously said, “It’s all right to tell a man to lift himself by his own bootstraps, but it is a cruel just to say to a bootless man that he ought to lift himself by his own bootstraps.” Life has a way of creating obstacles for us. Especially if we are economically disadvantaged or belong to a minority group. And this truth points us to the even deeper reality that we are all - black, white, rich, poor, gay, straight, trans, cis - spiritually dead. How can one keep the commandments as Jesus suggests when one’s heart is corrupted by sin?
It’s easy to think that what Jesus is proposing here is strict adherence to the Ten Commandments. He’s not. Pay close attention to how he responds to the young man. “You’ve kept the commandments? All of them since your youth? Let’s put that to the test shall we? Go and sell all you have and give it to the poor.” The clear implication is that if the young man had indeed been keeping the commandments since his youth, his heart would be so deeply in love with God he’d have no problem letting go of all his material possessions. Furthermore, he would surely recognize the Author of those Ten Commandments when He stood in front of him and would give ANYTHING to follow Him! Sadly, he does not thus betraying where his true loyalties lie. He doesn’t love God with all his heart, soul, mind and strength. He’s been fooling himself all along. And therefore eternal life will remain out of reach.
This is shocking news to the disciples. “Who then can be saved if not this rich young man who’s done everything right his whole life?” It’s not about how our life appears on the outside but what’s on the inside that counts. It’s what we do but what we love that matters most. Do we love God? If so, we will joyfully leave “houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands” in Jesus’ name. Are we storing up treasure in heaven? Then we will gladly relinquish our wealth and possessions in Jesus’ name. Are we seeking God’s Kingdom? Then we will be more than willing to sacrifice our political, cultural, and social power/influence in Jesus’ name. Only when our hearts are oriented towards heaven. Oriented towards the Kingdom. Oriented towards Jesus, will we receive the gift He has promised. Eternal life.
Is this possible for us to achieve? Can we lay hold of faith like we do our bootstraps? No, we cannot. All we can do is open our hearts to Jesus. Receive the Holy Spirit and let Him do the work of regeneration that we are unable to do. "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." (Matthew 19:26)
Readings for tomorrow: Exodus 10:1-12:13, Matthew 20:1-28, Psalms 25, Proverbs 6:12-15