Monday 20th week in ordinary time
"Mt 19:16-22"
And behold, one came up to him, saying, "Teacher, what good deed must I do, to have eternal life?"...If you would enter life, keep the commandments..." The young man said to him, "All these I have observed; what do I still lack?" Jesus said to him, "If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful; for he had great possessions.
"He went away sorrowful" writes St Matthew, who saw the scene with his own eyes. That boy had everything that was needed. When Jesus asked Him to keep the commandments, he wasn't satisfied. He was more ambitious than that. 'I do that already,' he said, 'what else can I do?' He was good but wanted to be perfect! He wanted to move forward in generosity with God. He wanted to do more. We are all born with great desires. We are born for greatness. Jesus loved the fellow's answer and saw a man who could do so much!
'Well,' Jesus explained, 'if you want to be perfect... you can still do one more thing.' Imagine the expectation of the boy after that sentence - he came to find out exactly that: 'what else can I do?' and it seems that he was ready to do whatever it took to be more generous with God. If you knew that the only obstacle between you and happiness were easy to remove, wouldn't you like to know exactly how to remove it? So the young lad was told, 'Your possessions are the only obstacle. Get rid of them and it's done!' But he didn't expect that. He had probably imagined many things Jesus could ask for, but he didn't expect that one. He had a sort of 'clause', as if saying to Jesus, 'You can ask me anything... except this'. Some people, like this fellow, are ready to give God 'some things' but not 'everything'.
It's not good to bargain with God, to want to save something for ourselves. To 'buy' God you need to pay your very last penny. A little sick child got a tiny young rabbit; the child was delighted with it, and when he was praying with his mother he said, "Jesus, I offer You my eyes, my ears, my tongue, my heart, in a word, my whole being"; he had a moment of remorse and added, "well, except my little rabbit." Mary, my Mother, help me to give God everything, including any 'little rabbit' I might have saved for myself.
