Monday of 8th week, O.T. even numbered year
“Jesus was going on his way when a man ran up to him, fell on his knees and asked him :’Good Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
The way this man looked at Jesus is really quite surprising, he let himself be seduced by him, found a certain complicity between Jesus and himself and in what he had made of his life up until then.
Jesus gets him to go further than he thought he could go :
’Why do you call me good?’
He reveals to him that however good and pleasant he may be, there is someone else who is ’good’ : it is the Father.
God can conquer this man’s heart and push solidarity and to sharing with those in need with the poor, and so enter into a logic of gift.
Jesus joins this man in his desire : ’You know the commandments!’ This man’s joy is to respond to Jesus : Yes, Master! He no longer says : ’Good Master’. He finds his joy again in what Jesus told him. ’I have observed all these commandments since my youth’
Still today we come across these people who have had the grace to pass through storms of this world whilst keeping a great limpidity.
Jesus grasps the deep desire that dwells in this man and he fixes his gaze of Love, God’s gaze, upon him.
He understands what is this man’s weak point, the attachment he has to all his goods, this is why he proposes to give everything to the poor.
“Fixing his gaze upon him, Jesus loved him.”
How we would like to contemplate Jesus’ gaze! He has such an intense Love! The awakening of the gift of Creation is there, like an attraction towards ’somewhere beyond’. But this man cannot bear this gaze that already has taken him too far. He is attracted by the fullness of life, but he counts upon his
own wealth, thinking that eternal life can ’be acquired’ in observing perhaps a particular commandment.
Jesus’ gaze joins him in depths which up until now he is unaware of. He wants to make something good out of his life, in a form of ’having something’ : ’To have’ a lovely life to offer to God, ’to do’ lovely things for God.
Now, Jesus shows him that eternal life is not something we can have. This ’having’ can even be a major obstacle to union with God, to this new Life. ’To have ’a lovely religious life, ’to have ’ lovely reputation, is not something on the right level. Jesus has him discover that there is something to marvel at, like some kind of heaven that is incredibly beautiful in our hearts.
“But his face became dark at this proposal and he went away all sad, for he had many possessions.”
In this man’s heart there is a rumbling storm, the clouds come and the wind begins to blow within himself. And yet, Jesus leans on this man who was blocked before this proposal
’Just one thing is lacking : go and sell all you have.’
This meant , free Heaven that is within yourself ; free right now this gaze towards Heaven. Free your heart and then come ’follow me’, since you seek the Kingdom, Eternal Life.
So Jesus says : ’How hard it is for the wealthy to enter into the Kingdom of God!’
Hearing these words, the disciples were disconcerted, they were even more so when Jesus added :’It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle!’
Seeing their surprise, Jesus answered : ’For men it is impossible, but not for God : for God everything is possible.’
Our lives can manifest Jesus who is in agony when the Love he has given is not received. The disciples, even more astounded, said ’Who then can be saved?’