“Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life.”

Is not this the question that each one of us would like to ask Jesus? Is this not one of the reasons that we try to follow Jesus and observe his teachings? In today’s Gospel, we hear of a man who runs up to Jesus and kneels before Him to ask the question to which many of us would also like to know the answer: “What must we do to inherit eternal life?” In responding to this question, Jesus answers with three different layers to His response. The first response that He gives to the man is that he is required to both know and follow the commandments. We know this man must be a good person, because he testifies that this he has done his whole life. The man is already living a good life and sincerely seeks to follow Jesus. When this man tells Jesus that he has always followed the commandments, Jesus tells him that there is still one thing that he must do, “sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” With these words, the man goes away, sad that he is not able to follow Jesus, because as the Gospel tells us, he had many possessions. The man is not able to give up everything to follow the Lord. As the other disciples see this good man go away sad, they wonder about their own future and Peter asks on their behalf what will happen to them, since they have left everything. To those who have left everything, Jesus assures them that will have treasure in Heaven and that they will indeed inherit eternal life. Jesus has a stern warning, however, for those who cling to worldly wealth, since it will be an obstacle to them entering the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus uses the image of a large camel trying to pass through a gate in the wall of the city of Jerusalem, known as the “eye of the needle.” Just as no camel was able to pass through this gate, so too those who cling to their wealth, will not be able to pass into Heaven. Their attachment to this world will make it impossible for them to freely pass into Heaven. In fact, Jesus goes on to say that in most cases, it is impossible for people to be saved on their own. Happily, as Jesus reports, while it is impossible for a person to be saved on his or her own, with God all things are possible. For the person who truly wishes to be saved, all that is really required of him or her is that he or she welcome Jesus as a little child would do. For those who do this, salvation is very easy, because it is accomplished not by one’s own efforts but by God’s Grace. Continue reading →