In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.
We easily imagine that eternal Life is like life in this world, a succession of moments streamed together. And this is an unsatisfactory answer—it leads to questions such as, “Would I be bored in Heaven?”—yet we stick with the premise that Heaven is one activity after another, a “forever version” of how we are in this world.
In today’s Gospel reading, the Rich Young Man thought in this way. “I prepare for eternal Life, what more provisions do I need?” He had money, he had wealth, so would be able to feed himself in the coming Life, clothe himself in the coming Life, live a life worth living in the coming Life. But he needed to be sure, “Good Teacher,” he cries out, “what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He both does not comprehend the truth of the question nor recognise the One whom he questions. “Why do you call me good?” replies the Lord. It is fitting and right to call Christ “Good,” though the Rich Young Man does not realise it, since “No one is Good but God alone.”
You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour your father and mother.’
And the man does not understand, “All these I have observed from my youth.” And we must take him at his word, he has observed the Law, observed Torah, strictly: but he does not recognise the eternal reality to which it points. For him they are “moral standards,” a minimum to which one must aspire to be considered an upstanding member of Jewish society. But for God they are not a minimum level which to jump over, they are a maximum to which we must all seek continually. For the entirety of the Law may be summed up in,
‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ …
[And] ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’
On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.
— Matthew 22:37, 39–40; cf. Mark 12:30–31, Luke 10:27; Deuteronomy 6:5, Leviticus 19:18
So laws of Moses the Rich Young Man has kept, but love for God and love for neighbour—the Law!—have slipped him by since on these “hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
And we must reflect on our lives—have we turned Christianity into a list of “Do’s and Don’t’s”? Have we transformed our Faith into rules, laws and precepts? Or is Christ at the heart and centre of all we do so that the Law of Love always points towards Him?
To shake the Rich Young Man up, to rouse him from his lethargy with the pigs and help him return to his Father’s House, (see Luke 15:11–32) the Lord says to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute it to the poor, and you will have treasure in Heaven; and come, follow Me.” The Law, which he had kept honestly and fervently from his youth, had become moralism and Christ shows how, when kept truly, it points to Himself. The Law reveals Christ.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us not transform our Faith into moralism and legalism—“Do this, don’t do that!”—because this is to make a philosophy, a school of thought, a way to live in this world; rather let our Faith and our Faithfulness point to Christ, as does the Law of Moses, which points us to eternal Life. And eternal Life is not a series of moments, one event after another in an unending succession, but a continuous moment united to our Lord. We catch glimpses, tiny instances of such a moment of contentment and bliss in our lives, but this is as “in a mirror, dimly,” but in Heaven, “face to face.” Immediate, imminent, truly revealed. “Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.” (First Corinthians 13:12)
Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to Heaven, and said: ‘Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You,
as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal Life to as many as You have given Him.
And this is eternal Life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.’
— John 17:1–3
Let us then, dear brothers and sisters, turn again to the living God who is present not in rules but mercy, not edicts but love, not death but Life, and by our Faithfulfulness and fidelity to Him—following His Law not as morality but as a means to draw closer to Him—we may inherit eternal Life.
To our crucified and risen God and Saviour Jesus Christ, who is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life,” (John 14:6) be all glory, honour and worship, together with His unoriginate Father and the All-holy, Good and Life-giving Spirit. Amen.
Brethren, see with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand. It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh that would compel you to be circumcised, and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. For even those who receive circumcision do not themselves keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may glory in your flesh. But far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. Peace and mercy be upon all who walk by this rule, upon the Israel of God. Henceforth let no man trouble me; for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brethren. Amen.
— Galatians 6:11–18
At that time, a ruler came to Jesus and asked him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’ ” And he said, “All these I have observed from my youth.” And when Jesus heard it, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” But when he heard this he became sad, for he was very rich. Jesus looking at him said, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! For 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.” Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” But he said, “What is impossible with men is possible with God.
— Luke 18:18–27