Overview:

Monday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time

A Reflection for Monday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time

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. (Mt 19:20–22)

Find today’s readings here.

Being invited to something new can be incredibly scary. 

Over the past couple of years, I have moved three or four times, from South Bend, Ind., to St. Augustine, Fla., to Boston and now to Chicago. Each time, I load up my SUV as full as I can, and donate whatever I can’t fit, and then 16 or 17 hours of driving later, I arrive at my new “home.” 

At some point along the drive (usually in the dead of night, when my Starbucks has already been finished), I have the “what have I done” moment, where I scour through the reasons why I should not have left South Bend, St. Augustine, Boston or wherever I was living. Yet, I begin to remember my initial discernment; God’s peace trickles back in, and by some miracle, I continue the journey and make it to my destination. 

We all, at some point or another in our lives, are this young man in the Gospel story today. I find it interesting that he gets the “hard stuff”—that is, the “stuff” of the law and the commandments of God, like “you shall not steal,” or “you shall not kill,” or “you shall not commit adultery.” The young man knows these things, and presumably practices them. 

But because the young man is asking what “good” he must do to enter heaven, he asks Jesus, “What do I still lack?” And it is in answer to this question that Jesus calls him to sell his possessions and to follow Jesus; the young man goes away sad due to his many belongings. 

One reading of this passage would be in its literal sense, as in the radical call to give away all of our material goods to serve those in need (as the early church understood Jesus’ call in Acts 4:34-35). However, I’m also struck that this call from Jesus is somewhat new. This isn’t one of the Ten Commandments or an explicit part of the Mosaic law (though providing for the poor is certainly a part of the law). Rather, it’s an invitation to radical discipleship of Jesus, a new thing. 

And that’s wildly scary. 

Jesus, through this story with the young man, asks us to trust him in our discipleship, and through that trust, to move away from what we might hold familiar and comfortable. Familiar and comfortable things are not bad in and of themselves, but Jesus invites us to continually trust in him, and to notice what things we might be holding onto in place of that trust. Maybe it’s moving forward in your relationship with someone, saying “yes” to a new job, moving (like me) across the country for school or work or simply carving out time each day for a moment of prayer instead of something else. 

It is there, stepping into trust, that we discover God’s peace and radical love for us. 

The Scriptures don’t tell us whether or not the young man actually sold his possessions and followed Jesus. In my prayer life, in my heart of hearts, I like to imagine that he eventually did and was able to witness all of Jesus’ ministry, including the resurrection. By trusting in God’s call for us, moving into something new and unfamiliar (and a little scary) in discipleship, may we become witnesses of the same, and God’s peace, “which passes all understanding” (Phil 4:7), might just fill our hearts. 

John Consolie is the assistant director of Outreach.