Daily Mass Gospel Reflection - The Sacrifice of Discipleship

Word on Fire Ministry ^ | 2.28.22 | Aux. Bishop R. Barron

[MurphsLaw]

EIGHTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

MARK 10:17-27

Friends, in today’s Gospel, a rich young man asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. There is something absolutely right about the young man, something spiritually alive,
and that is his deep desire to share in everlasting life. He knows what he wants, and he knows where to find it.

Jesus responds to his wonderful question by enumerating many of the commandments. The young man takes this in and replies, “Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth.”
So Jesus looks at him with love and says, “Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor . . . Then come, follow me.”

God is nothing but love straight through, and therefore the life of friendship with him, in the richest sense, is a life of total, self-forgetting love.
Jesus senses that this young man is ready for the high adventure of the spiritual life; he is asking the right question and he is properly prepared.

But at this point, the young man tragically balks. The spiritual life, at the highest pitch,
is about giving your life away, and this is why having many possessions is a problem.

[MurphsLaw]

+++As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up,
knelt down before him, and asked him,
“Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus answered him, “Why do you call me good?
No one is good but God alone.
You know the commandments: You shall not kill;
you shall not commit adultery;
you shall not steal;
you shall not bear false witness;
you shall not defraud;
honor your father and your mother.”
He replied and said to him,
“Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth.”
Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him,
“You are lacking in one thing.
Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor
and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”
At that statement, his face fell,
and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.

Jesus looked around and said to his disciples,
“How hard it is for those who have wealth
to enter the Kingdom of God!”
The disciples were amazed at his words.
So Jesus again said to them in reply,
“Children, how hard it is to enter the Kingdom of God!
It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle
than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God.”
They were exceedingly astonished and said among themselves,
“Then who can be saved?”
Jesus looked at them and said,
“For men it is impossible, but not for God.
All things are possible for God.”+++