Matthew 19:16-22

Judges 2:11-19

Psalm 106:34-35, 36-37, 39-40, 43ab and 44

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.

Opening Prayer: Lord God, I will follow your Son to the Cross, knowing that it is the path that leads to the glory of the resurrection and eternal life with you. Help me to keep the Commandments, detach myself from the things of this passing world, and serve my brothers and sisters in need.

Encountering the Word of God

1. Gaining Eternal Life: The story of the rich, young man is found near the beginning of the fifth major section of the Gospel of Matthew. The narrative (Matthew 19-23) leads up to the “end-times discourse” (Matthew 24-25). The young man has a question about how to gain eternal life. As a good teacher, Jesus poses a riddle to the young man instead of answering him directly. Jesus asks: “Why do you ask me about the good? There is only One who is good.” Notice that Jesus doesn’t say: “I’m not good; only God is good.” No. What Jesus is doing is inviting the young man to ponder his identity. In hindsight, we could respond to Jesus’ riddle: “Yes, Lord, I believe you are the One who is good.” When Jesus tells the young man to “keep the commandments,” the man asks for a clarification. There were 613 Laws of Moses. Which ones were the most important? Jesus highlights five of the “ten words,” and a commandment from the Book of Numbers about love of neighbor. The rich young man was confident that he had kept these commandments from his youth.

2. Attaining Perfection: The first part of the rich, young man’s question concerns the attainment of eternal life. The second part concerns the attainment of perfection. The two questions are not completely detached from one another. They could be seen as the same question asked in different ways: To be perfect means to be complete, to be whole, and to have attained your end-goal. The young man knew in his heart that something was missing from his life. And Jesus was able to pinpoint exactly what was missing. The young man was attached to his earthly possessions and needed to be detached from them. Jesus was able to expose the contradiction: If the young man was so attached to his money and possessions, how was he loving his neighbor? He thought he was following the commandments by not killing, not committing adultery, not stealing, and not lying. But does that mean that he was “loving his neighbor”? 

3. The Book of Judges: The Book of Judges is the seventh book of the Bible. It follows the Book of Joshua, which narrates the conquest and division of the Promised Land of Canaan. The generation led by Joshua did not hand on the faith. “Without faith, the next generation had no identity as the people of God, and so they adopted the identity of the pagan world around them: they ‘did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals; and they forsook the Lord, the God of the fathers, who had brought them out of the Land of Egypt’ (Jgs 2:11). Instead of ‘serving’ the Lord, Israel serves false idols. The Lord, in return, ‘sold them into the power of their enemies round about’ (Jgs 2:14). Exodus describes God as ‘redeeming’ (buying back) Israel and setting her free. The image of ‘selling’ Israel evokes the reversal of the Exodus, for only slaves are bought and sold. Judges 2:11-23 describes the terrible cycle characterizing this period. Israel’s sin leads them into servitude, from which they cry out in supplication to God, who raises up a judges to deliver them, but this salvation is soon forgotten and responded to with silence – as Israel fails to serve the Lord. This cycle is repeated throughout Judges, and with each repetition Israel finds herself in a deeper plight. Israel is in a spiral into darkness” (Cavins and Grey, Walking with God, 134). The Book of Judges can be very dark, with many stories about killing people, dismembering them, and sending the parts throughout the land. What Israel needs is a good king, capable of leading the people in faithful worship of the Lord God. 

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, teach me the path that leads to eternal life. Show me where I am still attached to earthly things. Enlighten my mind and move my heart to see how I can help others today.

Living the Word of God: Today, Jesus asks us simply and directly to follow him and imitate him along the path of love. This imitation reaches to our core and, by his grace, we are conformed to him. “Sharing in the Eucharist, the sacrament of the New Covenant, is the culmination of our assimilation to Christ, the source of eternal life, the source and power of that complete gift of self, which Jesus [...] commands us to commemorate in liturgy and life” (John Paul II, Veritatis splendor, 21).