Reflection on Matthew 19:23-30

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Tuesday, August 18, 2020

A rich man comes to Jesus seeking to know what good thing he must do in order to gain eternal life. Jesus simply tells him to keep the commandments. Wanting Jesus to be specific he asks, “Which ones?” meaning, from all the many rules, norms and commandments, which ones must I do to inherit eternal life. Jesus lays them out for him: “You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; honor your father and your mother; you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” As soon as Jesus was done speaking, the rich man declares, “All of these I have observed. What do I still lack?” Jesus looks at him and tells him that if he wishes to be perfect, that is whole and complete, he must go and sell what he has, give the money to the poor and then come follow him. Upon hearing Jesus’ injunction, he walks away sad. When he left, Jesus says to his disciples, “Amen, I say to you, it will be hard for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven… it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” The rich man asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life, but when replying him, Jesus gave him four of the Ten Commandments given to Moses on Mount Sinai which are prohibitions. That is, things he should not do. But he also added two commands that tells of what he must do.  

Jesus invited the young man to become his disciple, just as he invited Peter, Andrew, James, John and others, but he rejected the invitation. Following Jesus means setting aside anything that is an impediment to discipleship. The first four disciples left behind them their fishing trade to follow Jesus as he traveled around Galilee; Matthew left his his job as a tax collector (Matt. 9:9). The young man was invited to do likewise. He was asked to get rid of what he cannot carry along as he follows Jesus, to give the proceeds to the poor who rely on the generosity of others for their survival. By helping the poor, he will be storing treasure in heaven. The young man claimed he loved his neighbor, but when Jesus invites him to do so completely, he balked, went away sad because he had many possessions. And guess what? His many possessions possessed him too. Jesus saw it, and wanted to liberate him from the strong hold his possessions had on him. Unfortunately, he refused to be liberated. 

But why will it be tough for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven? It is because the focus and lifeline of a rich person is hardly in God but in his or her wealth. To enter the kingdom of heaven, our focus needs to be on Christ. The Lord is not against riches or against rich people. Don’t look at today’s Gospel as a condemnation of rich people by Jesus or his approval of poverty. The danger in having too many riches, too many possessions is that rather than possess wealth and use it to serve God and help the needy, the wealthy are oftentimes possessed by what they should possess. With that, they lose their freedom to worship and serve God.