A Discourse for the Twelfth Sunday After Pentecost, on the Rich Young Man

«Now a certain rich young man came up to the Savior and asked Him: «Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? So He said to him: why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments. He said to Him: which ones? Jesus said: you shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, honor your father and your mother, and: you shall love your neighbor as yourself. The young man said to Him: all these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack? Jesus said to him: if you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Then Jesus said to His disciples: truly, I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. When His disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying: who then can be saved? But Jesus looked at them and said to them: with men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible» (Mt 19:16-26).

Let us explain this part of the Gospel, with God’s help, as briefly as possible. The rich young man, having learned by experience the sweetness of earthly, temporal life and the advantages of possessing earthly goods, is nonetheless yearning for eternal life, for eternal blessedness; he comes up to the Source of life and asks Him: Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? Which of us would not wish to inherit eternal life? Nothing terrifies us so much as death, as parting from all the pleasant things of life, and nothing draws us so much as life—life without end, all-blessed life. Let us, then, listen attentively to the conversation of the rich young man with the Savior, and see what is needed for the inheriting of eternal life. The Lord does not answer his question directly, but remarks to him: why do you call Me good? For no one is good but One, that is, God. How is it, Lord, that You are not good? Are You not God? Are You not the co-eternal Son of the eternal Father-God? Are You and Your Father not one? What does it mean that the Lord seems to deny Himself the title of good, when He Himself is eternal love and goodness? The Lord turns aside the title of good from Himself not as God, but as man: since the young man had addressed Him only as a good Teacher, as an ordinary man, and not as God, the Lord answers him as man, and not as God; for no man can call himself the ever-flowing source of goodness, goodness itself, for God alone is good in Himself, eternally, of His own being. So must the Lord’s words be understood: «why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God».

Further, the Lord answers the rich young man’s question directly: if you want to enter into eternal life, keep the commandments—do you hear, all of you, beloved brothers? — for the inheriting of eternal life, the keeping of God’s commandments is absolutely necessary, and without keeping them it is impossible to inherit eternal life. «The man who does these things shall live by them» (Rom 10:5). «Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven» (Mt 7:21).

Which commandments? — the young man asks the Lord; and Jesus said: do not murder; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not bear false witness; honor your father and mother; and love your neighbor as yourself. Lay these commandments of God upon your own hearts too, all of you, for the keeping of them leads into eternal life. Do not murder—that is, not only do not kill anyone, do not take anyone’s life, but also do not wrong anyone, do not humiliate anyone, do not condemn, do not slander, be angry with no one without cause, curse no one, harbor hatred or ill will toward no one, wish no one evil, misfortune, or death; do not kill by any means—by cruelty, by beatings, by flattery, by cunning, by treachery, by persecution; do not kill, by any material weapon, either others or, still less, yourself. Treasure the peace and well-being of every person as you would your own. Do not commit adultery—that is, do not harbor in your heart a carnal, impure, sinful, animal love for another person; do not overstep the bounds of love appointed by God, and look on no one’s face with lust, with an unclean thought—still less allow yourself a sinful union with any person. Do not steal; and, so as not to steal, do not desire to live in luxury, in splendor, in wealth, in gaiety, but be content with little, with what is necessary. Honor your father and mother; in your father and mother, honor and love God, who gave you being and upbringing through them; honor in them the authors, after God, of your being, the authors of your happiness; and love your neighbor as yourself: what you wish for yourself, wish also for others; what you do not wish for yourself, do not wish for another. As you wish people to act toward you, so act toward them (Mt 7:12).

The young man said to Him: all these things I have kept from my youth; what do I still lack? Jesus said to him: if you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me. One would think that, after such words from the Lord, the good Teacher, the young man would go and sell his possessions and give to the poor, so as to have his treasure in heaven, and then come and follow the Savior. But no: this is not Peter and Andrew, not James and John, the Galilean fishermen, who followed Christ at once upon being called by the Lord, leaving everything behind. Wealth confused and bewildered the young man. Suddenly he felt a grief in his soul, perhaps never before experienced. His heart grew sick and ached, sensing the imagined loss of his silver and gold coins and his various possessions; and in all of this lay his soul, his life, his hope; his heart, grown fleshly, had firmly, firmly grown into all of it. What now, rich young man? Where has your boldness gone, with which you approached the Savior of mankind? Wealth destroyed it, or rather, attachment to it; it robbed him of strength, and cast him down into shame, grief, and despondency.

Such is soulless mammon! Into such shame, humiliation, and confusion does it cast the one who is attached to riches! Hearing the Savior’s word, the young man—alas—went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. So much, then, for the love of neighbor as of oneself, of which the young man had only just boasted, telling the Lord: all these things I have kept from my youth. No sooner did the matter touch on giving money away to the poor than his heart ached; and eternal life no longer seemed so dear; and it became unpleasant to remain and converse with the good Teacher; and he, full of shame and confusion, went away—went away from the good Teacher. The Lord, as the Knower of hearts, had foreseen, without waiting for the outcome of the matter, the young man’s passionate attachment to his wealth, and had now only drawn it out into the open, to show the young man himself what a serpent he was carrying and warming in his own heart, gnawing away at his life and destroying all the noblest impulses of his soul, and how necessary it was for him to shake this serpent off from his heart, lest it kill him outright. All who are sick with the love of money, take these words to heart, and abandon this soul-destroying love of money!

Something like what tripped up the rich young man happens even now with many of us.

One thinks of himself, and another even says of himself, that he loves his neighbor; but when it comes to actually helping his neighbor—when, for instance, money must be lent, or something given to a beggar, or a stranger invited into one’s own home, fed and given drink, comforted and set at ease—then the heart turns away from the neighbor; he is no longer dear, and often even repugnant to look at; the heart only says: pass by, pass by, my good man, I have no business with you; you are neither kin nor kindred to me; some acquaintance or relation lies sick: one does not care to visit, to sit and talk with him; someone has fallen into trouble or misfortune: somehow the heart shrinks from him—in good fortune he was a friend, but in misfortune, no longer. So much, then, for love of neighbor as of oneself. For ourselves we always have more than enough, and there is money and everything else for our every whim; but for our neighbor—no, even though our neighbor is a member of our own body; for ourselves there is money for everything: for a rich table, for wine, for costly finery, for cards, for tobacco, for the theater, for every conceivable indulgence; but for our neighbor—no: everything is grudged him; a single copper is grudged, decent clothing and footwear are grudged, as though a beggar were not a person just like us, as though he were a soulless statue, as though he needed nothing at all. If we live this way, then surely we will not deserve eternal blessedness; for we did not receive the love of the truth, that we might be saved (2Thes 2:10).

Jesus, on the occasion of the young man’s grief at parting with his wealth and his withdrawal from the Lord, said to His disciples: truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven; and again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Why is this so? Because wealth is, for the wealthy man, an idol which he worships, on which he places his trust—on it, and not on God; because it hardens his heart, his soul, making it, as it were, earthly, coarse, dumb, a slave of corruption, incapable of the love of God. This is why the Apostle writes to his disciple Timothy: «command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy» (1Tim 6:17). Hearing the Savior’s words about how hard it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven, His disciples were greatly astonished and said: who then can be saved? But Jesus looked at them and said: with men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. This means that the rich, too, need not despair of their salvation, any more than the poor; only they must use their wealth for their own good and for the good of their neighbors, considering it not their own but God’s property, given to us not for ourselves alone, but for others too—for those who, through sickness or for some other reason, are unable to obtain for themselves the food they need, or the clothing or shelter they need.

Let us all, then, according to our own strength, share our goods with the poor and needy, that we may have treasure in heaven, and, by the grace of Christ our God, receive, for this small mercy shown to our brothers, eternal life. For the merciful shall obtain mercy (Mt 5:7). Amen.