Monday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time

The rich young man somehow knows enough to call Jesus good, but something is lacking in his discernment.  The rich young man wants to live out his human life in comfort, following the rules (basically) so that the comfort can continue in eternal life.  He is asking Jesus for a confirmation that he is already on the right path.  He isn’t actually looking for guidance, he is completely self-assured.  Jesus first corrects him on his perception of goodness.  The rich young man has a very mundane, human, and horizontal perspective on life.  Jesus is not simply another human teacher, He is God.  When the rich young man says, “good master,” what he is really saying is, “I’m good, and you’re good just like me.”  Jesus tells him that no one is good but God alone.  This criteria for goodness is a bit upsetting: it means that no one is “a good person,”  but we say and think that all the time.  Our petty little human goodness is rot compared to the rich goodness of God.

The challenge for the rich young man, and for ourselves, is not to keep the commandments.  We could say that keeping the commandments is only the beginning, but it is actually a dead end.  The only real way to live eternal life is to detach from and let go of everything that is not good, everything that is not God.  Everything we cling to that is not God will weigh down our lives and make us sad.  That would be a good “soul flossing” before bed – a kind of examen – what material reality am I not ready to part with?  What creature comfort am I not willing to let go of?  What relationship could I not do without?  Sadness only comes when our hearts are unwilling, today, in the big or small way that God is asking, to prefer Him to everything and everyone else.  True poverty of spirit is a liberation from the shackles of wealth.  Wealth is a shackle because it attaches us to what is passing away.  Sadness is a result of seeing ourselves foolishly holding on to what is passing away.

ANDREAS:

When God is the giver, the things given are both better and certain to materialize.¹

HILARY OF ARLES:

Peter means that God has acted to redeem us without any help from us. His mercy is great enough to be able to forgive every sin which has been committed in thought, word and deed, from the beginning to the end of the world.²

DIDYMUS THE BLIND:

In order to show how the inheritance of the blessed will continue forever, Peter calls it incorruptible and unfading, demonstrating by this that it is a pure and divine inheritance which will remain uncontaminated in the eyes of those who care nothing for their present wealth, knowing that they have something better and eternal waiting for them.³

BEDE:

Your place in the kingdom of heaven is ready, your room in the Father’s house is prepared, your salvation in heaven awaits you. All you have to do, if you want to receive them, is to make yourself ready. But since no one can do this by his own efforts, Peter reminds us that we are kept in the power of God by faith. Nobody can keep doing good works in the strength of his own free will. So we must all ask God to help us, so that we may be brought to perfection by the One who made it possible for us to do good works in the first place.⁴

OECUMENIUS:

If you love him now when you have not seen him but have only heard about him, think how much you will love him when you finally do see him and when he appears in his glory! For if his suffering and death have drawn you to him, how much more will you be attracted by his incredible splendor, when he will grant you the salvation of your souls as your reward.⁵

ORIGEN:

If it is the mind which prays and sings in the spirit and the mind which receives perfection and salvation, how is it that Peter says: “As the outcome of your faith you obtain the salvation of your souls”? If the soul neither prays nor sings with the spirit, how shall it hope for salvation?⁶

HILARY OF POITIERS:

He replied: “Why do you call me good?” In order to make known how much he was to be recognized and acknowledged as good, he declared: “No one is good but God only.” He would not have rejected the attribute of goodness if it had been attributed to him as God.⁷

He voiced his objection to the title of “good master” in such a way as to challenge the faith of the questioner rather than the designation of himself as a master or as good.⁸

JEROME:

He who declared that he had observed all the commandments had already yielded to the power of riches from the very outset.⁹

JEROME:

This is why those who are rich find it hard to enter the kingdom of heaven. For it is a kingdom which desires for its citizens a soul that soars aloft free from all ties and hindrances. “Go your way,” the Lord said, “and sell” not a part of your substance but “all that you have, and give to the poor”; not to your friends or kinsfolk or relatives, nor to your wife or to your children.… When once you have put your hand to the plough, you must not look back. When once you stand on the housetop, you must think no more of your clothes within. To escape your Egyptian mistress, you must abandon the cloak that belongs to this world. Even Elijah, in his quick translation to heaven could not take his mantle with him, but left in the world the garments of the world.⁹

AUGUSTINE:

One who gives up both what one owns and what one desires to own, gives up the whole world.¹⁰

CAESARIUS OF ARLES:

If you are unwilling to commit to full obedience, do what you can. But here is the radical divine requirement: “Sell all that you have, and give to the poor; and come, follow me.” The lesser road of the law says: You shall not kill, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not seek false witness, you shall not steal, honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as yourself.”¹¹

1. CATENA.  Bray, G. (Ed.). (2000). James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude (p. 68). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
2. INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER.  Bray, G. (Ed.). (2000). James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude (p. 68). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
3. COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER.  Bray, G. (Ed.). (2000). James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude (pp. 69–70). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
4. ON 1 PETER.  Bray, G. (Ed.). (2000). James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude (pp. 70–71). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
5. COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER.  Bray, G. (Ed.). (2000). James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude (p. 72). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
6. ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 2.8.3.  Bray, G. (Ed.). (2000). James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude (p. 72). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
7. ON THE TRINITY 9.16.  Oden, T. C., & Hall, C. A. (Eds.). (1998). Mark (Revised) (p. 132). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
8. ON THE TRINITY 9.2.  Oden, T. C., & Hall, C. A. (Eds.). (1998). Mark (Revised) (p. 133). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
9. LETTER 118, TO JULIAN.  Oden, T. C., & Hall, C. A. (Eds.). (1998). Mark (Revised) (p. 135). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
10. LETTER 157, TO HILARIUS.  Oden, T. C., & Hall, C. A. (Eds.). (1998). Mark (Revised) (p. 135). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
11. SERMONS 153.1.  Oden, T. C., & Hall, C. A. (Eds.). (1998). Mark (Revised) (p. 135). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.