Young, Rich But Not Free

We are all more like the rich young man in today’s gospel than we may realize.

First of all, we are basically decent people. We do the best we can not to hurt people and even to help them when we can. For the most part, we go to Mass on Sundays and pray for others. Though we are sinners and often fall short of what God expects of us, we keep the commandments. Despite our best efforts, however, we long for something more. Like the rich young man, our hearts are restless. We are not content with just meeting expectations. We are not happy with living our faith as if it were a set of hoops to jump through. From the bottom of our soul, we long for heartfelt communion with our Heavenly Father. We always want to go deeper.

Secondly, we are all rich. Though we may not live in mansions, have a yacht or take lavish vacations, we all have more than we need. By biblical standards if you have more than two coats, more than two pairs of shoes and eat more than two meals a day, you are rich. And when we consider that how many people in our world do not even eat one meal a day, it is clear just how rich we are. Also, for most of us, like the rich young man,  our possessions distract us from living our faith. For example, how many of us sit through Mass on Sunday with our minds focused not on the word of God nor on Jesus’ presence in the tabernacle but on what we need to get done at work this week or on how we are going to pay our bills? And, because we have more than enough, we are tempted to think that we don’t need God. We use our possessions and wealth to cover up that yearning within us that only God can fill.

Thirdly, like the rich young man, we all have something in our lives that is keeping us from following Jesus and living His word with all our heart, mind and strength. For the rich young man, it was his wealth that kept him from taking the path of perfection. For many of us, it may be indulging in pleasures that drag our spirits down. It may be unhealthy or sinful relationships that keep us off the path to holiness. Many of us are holding on to resentment, anger and bitterness which poisons the soil of our heart and makes it impossible for God’s word to grow within us.

We hold on to those possessions, attitudes or sinful relationships mostly out of fear. We do not walk away from unhealthy relationships because we are afraid that no one else will love us. We do not let go of our possessions because we think they give us security or because our identity is somehow bound up in what neighborhood we live in or what kind of car we drive. And we hold on to bitterness and anger out of fear that, if we let people too close, they will hurt us.

And so, like the rich young man, we walk away sad. Though we have more than we need, none of it ultimately satisfies us. We are looking to possessions and relationships to save us, and yet we are finding ourselves as lost and as empty as ever. In today’s world, we see the signs of this all over. The high levels of stress and anxiety common among people today comes from the sense that what we have is never enough. The depression that breaks the spirit of so many of the people we care about often has its roots in a feeling of hopelessness and helplessness. No matter how hard we strive, we can never find what we need and so our spirits fall into despair. And the cynicism and skepticism that scars the souls of so many of our young people is really a cry for help. They can see no real sense of meaning and purpose anywhere in today’s world and so they can only lash out.

Because we are so much like the rich young man, he also has something to teach us. Like him, we should run to Jesus. We can expect Him to look on us with love just as He did to the rich young man. No matter what type of life we have been living to this point, Jesus will never reject us. In fact, He assures us that there is more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than in a just person who has no need of repenting. Jesus accepts us as we are. He knows us better than we know ourselves. All it takes is the humility to turn to Him in our need, to allow Him to see us as we really are and to be open to letting Him guide us.

There is no need to be afraid. Jesus will be gentle with us. Just as He did not force the young man to follow Him, He will not force us to do anything we are not ready to do. He loves us as we are. All He asks is that we let Him into our lives and that we allow Him to lead us step by step along the way. There will be times when we are so tired of the life we have been living that we are willing to go anywhere with Jesus. There will be other times when we will need Him to carry us.
And there will be moments when we are stopped dead in our tracks out of fear. However, if we keep our eyes fixed on Him, we can be sure that He will gently guide us along. Somewhere along the way we will realize that the dissatisfaction, anxiety and fear we have lived with for so long has melted away. We will realize that we are living with real joy, conviction and a sense of purpose. That is because what our possessions and friendships could not give us, we are finding in our walk with Jesus.

There is no better day to begin this journey then today. We gather here today in this church because we are looking for that “something more”  that the world cannot give. That “something more” can only be found in Jesus. Give your heart to Him today in total trust that He will lead you into a more fulfilling and happier life in this world and an eternity of bliss in the world to come.