Monday of 8th Week, year ’B’
“Jesus said to him, ’Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.You know the commandments : you shall not kill you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not give false witness; you shall not defraud; ; honour your father and mother. and he said to him, ’Master, I have kept all these since my earliest days.”
God is the only good we can count on. Jesus said to this man who observed his commandments from his youth : ’You lack one thing.“We can find nothing in ourselves that be considered as a title giving the right of way to that which goes well beyond ourselves, God.These commandments concern our lives in link with that of our neighbour! The man replied : ’Master, I observed all this.’ We might believe in that this man is in harmony with God! That he is one with God, on his level, on the same wave length as his love and that he will find at last what he is looking for. The same goes for us : Do we have the Love in our hearts so that we do not threaten someone else’s life? We are unable to move the Kingdom forward by our own means. We can even ’kill’ a brother in our heart by a bad word about him. ’So, who can be saved?’ In response to this question, from the disciples, Jesus says that it is very hard for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom. Can they consider themselves as being rich? It’s not a question of great riches ’ but about what seeking reassurance about ourselves and about our future.”Jesus looked steadily at him and he was filled with love for him, and he said, ’You need to do one thing more. Go and sell what you own and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in Heaven; then come, follow me."
What is lacking for us? Looking closer, this man observes the Decalogue that Jesus sums up in a few words. But one has to sell ’the goods’ in giving the sum to the
poor and in following Christ. These words of advice can be in each other. As well, ’to sell and to give’ goes beyond a materiel meaning. It still goes to say that ’come and follow me’ indicates the end of a journey going from an observation of the law to love. The rich man stops short and does n ’t reach love.Whereas God’s love, that of Jesus is given to him.What is essential in our life is to receive love from the One who created us, who is our Father and who loves us. Let’s do all we can so that this love joins us and inflames us. How we love to see Jesus’ face light up, when the fire of love is truly transmitted to us : ’Jesus began to love him.’ But he, at these words, became all saddened and went away so sad, for he had so many goods.’ The disciples understood that this man is preoccupied by worldly affairs. Religion itself can just be a matter for the outside, made up of religious activities! Now the essential thing about a relationship with God is that we receive his Love, and be filled with this Love, making it overflow in us. The time we have to be transformed by God is a necessary time so as to be inflamed by Love and thus our relationships are transformed.
"Jesus looked round and said to his disciples, ’How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! ’The disciples were astounded by these words, but Jesus insisted, ’My children , ’he said to them, ’how hard it is to enter the Kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for someone rich to enter the Kingdom of God.They were more astonished than ever, saying to one another, ’In that case, who can be saved?’ Jesus gazed at them and said, ’By human resources it is impossible, but not for God; because for God everything is possible.’’
’ Everything is possible for God’. This is precious and this is also pacifying ; if we look at things from man’s side, with his merits etc, we ought to recognize that no body is upright enough, nobody has enough love in order to enter into the Kingdom of God and his Life. Jesus says :’impossible for man’, but if we look on God’s side we find ourselves on the side of absolute love, free love, with nothing in between. But the ’rich’ will be able to enter into the Kingdom of God, even the sinner, and we are all sinners. This will be possible for God if we place Him at the first place in our lives! We allow ourselves to be transformed by God’s Love, and
in the warmth of his heart, we love one another. It is such a marvelous reality to contemplate God’s loving plan and consequently to act in joy and thanksgiving.