Reading
18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’”
20 “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”
21 Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
22 At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.
23 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”
24 The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 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.”
26 The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?”
27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”
Meditation
As Jesus is about to set out on his journey to Jerusalem, where his act of consecration for humanity will take place, he is reached by a man who runs towards him and gets on his knees, praying to he will be allowed to follow him. These details reported by Mark make show the enthusiasm of this man, whom Luke and Matthew tell us to be young (Mt 19,20) and "a notable" (Lk 18,18), probably a chief of the synagogue.
Jesus reserves the term good for God, the source of all goodness (cf. Mt 19:17). He does not deny his own divinity but implicitly affirms it, asking the young man to question why he recognizes him as good. If we recognize the goodness of Jesus and therefore the divine nature of him, we must also be ready to recognize the authority of his word and the extent of his call.
Faced with the rich man's request on what to do to have eternal life, Jesus mentions the commandments of the second table of the law, relating to the behavior to be held towards others. "Do not defraud" is an addition to the Decalogue, present only in the Gospel of Mark. It could be an allusion to the commandment “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor" (Ex 20:17).
The rich man, who claims to have observed all the commandments, is a good Jew and can be considered a symbol of Israel faithful to God. But the message of the gospel asks to overcome simple legalism, to give oneself entirely to the Lord. The eternal life that Jesus proposes is something more than what the rich man seeks (v. 17). It is not just a question of an unlimited temporal extension, but of an infinite qualitative difference, determined by full communion with God.
Jesus stares him in the eye (v. 21); Mark often reports on his gaze (cf. 3,5.34; 5,32; 10,23; 11,11), which in this case expresses great compassion for this young man who feels like a restlessness, a need to "go beyond" the observance of the commandments practiced until then.
The rich young man renounces to follow Jesus "because he had great wealth" (v. 22). This final note of Mark recalls the parable of the sower (Mt 13:1-23; Mk 4:1-20; Lk 8:4-15 ) where the seed fallen among the thorns bears no fruit for the seduction of wealth.
The Old Testament presents an ambivalent aspect of wealth and material goods: on the one hand, they are seen as a sign of divine favor (Job 1.10; Ps 128.1-2; Is 3.10). Therefore the words of Jesus cause astonishment among the disciples (v. 24), because in apparent contradiction with this way of considering God's benevolence. Again in the Old Testament, wealth is presented as an idolatrous temptation. Jesus, who requires of his disciples the radical offering of oneself, prefers this interpretation.
Wealth, power, and prestige are considered an obstacle to the Kingdom, since by generating false security they entangle the heart in the possession of things, while instead one's trust must be placed entirely in God and one's life put at the service of the needy.
How difficult it is for the rich to give up the exclusivity of their interests and pass through the "narrow door" of life is well summarized by the hyperbolic image of the camel that cannot pass through the smallest of openings (the eye of a needle). The attainment of salvation, which is beyond human capacity, depends on the goodness of God who grants it.
If we want to know God's will for our life we must hurry to consult him, placing ourselves humbly and with an open heart in his presence, like the young man who knelt before him; but unlike these, are we ready to accept the demands of the gospel? Whoever loves deeply goes beyond quiet religious conformism and finds in everything an opportunity to grow in love.
Perhaps, as the diligent protagonist of this Gospel episode, we too already feel "right with God", one step away from eternal life. Scrupulous in avoiding great failings towards him and towards his neighbor, we think that he only requires of us something superfluous to reach Christian perfection. But we are like camels in front of the eye of a needle. If we want to pass through the door of life we must "decrease", make ourselves humble in order to let God's grace work in us.
Prayer
Help us with your grace, Lord, and sanctify us with your Spirit; so that we can grow in generosity, recognizing that every wealth you have given us belongs to the poor. Amen.
- Rev. Dr. Luca Vona
