The gospel this weekend talks
about the difference to living according to the commandments and the living in
accord with the spirit of God. Sometimes it is easier to live by the letter of
the law and not the spirit of the law. Jesus challenges the young man in the
Gospel to completely trust God in a very radical way, he asks him to sell
everything and give the money to the poor. His reaction of the young man is one
of sadness. It may be good for us to reflect on what is happening in the life
of this young man. We already know he is a man who takes his faith seriously,
he obeys the commandments, he seeks to follow the way of God and he seeks out
the person of Jesus. Even the disciples are shocked by the words of Jesus when
they say, who then can be saved? However, I think the central message is that
salvation is not initiated by us it is initiated by God. It calls us to open to
God’s grace and surrender our lives to the reign of God. Often we can feel that
such a surrender will diminish us. The truth is that when we come to those
moments of surrender, God enables us to be more richly blessed. These can be life
changing moments that change the direction of our lives. The central question
is what moves us to become disciples of Jesus Christ and what holds us back?
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