What Must I Do?

Gospel: Matthew 19: 16-22

A young man asks Jesus: what must I do to gain eternal life? Jesus says - keep the commandments. Which ones? replies the man.  What Jesus says next is telling.  He instructs him to keep the second half of the Decalogue.  These are the commandments that govern our interactions and relationships with other people.  They are the bonds and foundations of a just society where we treat each person with dignity and respect.

But then there is more.  The young man says he has kept all these - what more must he do?  Justice is not enough to gain eternal life.  What Jesus says next is even more striking: sell what you have, give to the poor, and follow Jesus in his work of healing others, liberating people from their demons, and nourishing others at table.  In short, our relations with others must not only be governed by justice, but also by love and mercy through the example of Jesus.

The rich young man walked away sad, for he had many possessions.  Justice he could handle, but not love and mercy.  How similar the modern church is to this young man! And what we discover is that when we neglect love and mercy, eventually justice will no longer be our concern either.  When the church neglects the poor and marginalized, the stranger and outcast, it comes to be silent or an apologist for genocide, separation of families, unjust deportations, and cruelties of all kinds.