Heartbreakingly Rich

The story in our Gospel this weekend of the rich man who approached Jesus is truly heartbreaking. He reflects a longing that many of us have shared: the desire to fill the hole we still have in our lives even when we have everything we need, have checked all the boxes of how to live a good life, and have searched for answers to happiness in many different ways. He wants the answer, the key and reassurance that he will share in eternal life. He is looking for the spirit of holy wisdom that is so beautifully reflected on in our first reading from the Book of Wisdom, and he knows that Jesus can help him.

The earnestness of the rich man and the hope he has at the beginning of his encounter with Jesus compared to how dejected he is at the end is what is so heartbreaking. He truly is seeking something more. He is keen enough in his spiritual life to know that he is lacking something, even when he is following all the rules.  He is confident enough to approach Jesus, and we get a sense that he is a good man who, in keeping all the commandments, cares for others and those around him.  But he feels what we feel at times…there is still a hole in his heart, still something more to life that he has not figured out yet. Or maybe he has figured it out, but could not face it yet. Well, Jesus can help with that - looking truth straight in the eye. And when he gets the answer he so desperately sought, he just cannot do it.  He cannot sell all he has to follow Jesus.

Jesus’ reaction to him is very striking. Recently in our readings, Jesus has been harsh, or exasperated with the disciples when they do not quite understand Him. Here, when Jesus knows this earnest person is not going to be able to give what it takes to be a disciple, He “looked at him, loved him and said, “You are lacking in one thing. Go sell what you have and give to the poor…”  Jesus looked at him and Jesus loved him. We can tell that Jesus feels compassion for him when He knows this man cannot live without his attachments and what a lack of freedom his attachments are causing him.  

That is the message that is loud and clear in the readings today.  An invitation for us to take an honest look at our own attachments (and not only our riches, but also our pride, our addictions, and so on) and see how they are keeping us from giving all we are to God, from being truly free.  Do we, as the first reading suggests, prefer Holy Wisdom to anything else? Do we know that God’s word truly is holy and effective and are we willing for it to penetrate our hearts and live it out practically in our lives?
Let us do all we can to not be the rich man in the Gospel today – so earnest and good, yet lacking in giving of our all to follow Jesus. What is holding us back from giving our all to God?

Let us pray for one another in our journey of discipleship that we have the grace to let go of what keeps us from following Christ to our fullest.