Gospel: Matthew 19:16-22
A young man approached Jesus and said, “Teacher, what good must I do to
gain eternal life?” He answered him, “Why do you ask me about the good? There
is only one who is good. If you wish to enter into life, keep the
commandments.”
He asked him, “Which ones?” And Jesus replied, “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; and you shall love your neighbor as
yourself.” The young man said to him, “All of these I have observed. What do I
still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you
have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come,
follow me.”
When the young man heard this statement, he went away sad, for he had
many possessions.
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Reflection:
Would you give up all your material riches for the sake of the Lord?
The young man did all of the commandments except for one, to sell all his
materials treasures and give the proceeds to the poor. This was the stumbling
block to his desire to follow Jesus. Not being able to do what Jesus wanted
him, he walked away sad for he was rich.
A sad ending to a promising story of discipleship all because
of material possessions. The man failed to discern what is temporary and what
is eternal. He didn’t discern that his riches were temporary and following
Jesus was everlasting. If only he knew it he would have abandoned everything
for the sake of following Jesus.
We are being challenged by the gospel to be more discerning than this
rich young man. We are being challenged by Jesus to look deeply into our hearts
for the reason that we may be slaves already of this material world.
In hindsight, why is it that many of us are very much willing to become
slaves of this world when all that is in this world are passing? For example,
power, riches and other worldly comforts there will come a time that we will
leave it behind.
There will come a time that everything that we have will not matter
anymore except our relationship with Jesus. So, we have to follow the Lord than
be slaves of this world. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
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