Today's Gospel

Your Story is Not Over

Welcome back to Radical and Relevant, where each day we explore the genius of the gospel. Today, we've got a very familiar reading. And so when we have these readings, it's more important than ever that we focus in, that we try and listen on a different level, that we try and look for different layers in these readings that we are very familiar with. Today is the reading of the rich young man from the Gospel of Mark, chapter 10, verses 17 through 27.

And as Jesus was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, "Good teacher, what must 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 kill. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not bear false witness. Do not defraud. Honor your father and mother. And he said to him, "Teacher, all these I have observed from my youth." And Jesus, looking upon him, loved him, and said to him, "You lack one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come and follow me." And that saying his countenance fell and he went away sorrowful as he had great possessions. And Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, "How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God." And the disciples were amazed at His words. But Jesus said to them again, "Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven."

And they were exceedingly astonished and said to him, "Then who can be saved?" And Jesus looked at them and said, 'With men, it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God." What is it that jumps out at you today? It's a great reading. There's so much here. One of the things that always strikes me here is that a rich young man, he comes to Jesus. He says to Jesus, "Lord, what do I need to do to inherit eternal life?" And Jesus says, "Keep the commandments. You know the commandments." And he lists some of them. And that was Jesus' answer.

The young man had a question, and that was Jesus' answer. But the young man pressed Jesus. Jesus didn't press the young man. The young man pressed Jesus. He said, "Yeah, but I've done all that since I was young. What else?" And that's when Jesus says, "Okay, well, there is one other thing. Go and give everything away you have and give it to the poor and come and follow me." And so I think it's fascinating that this wasn't Jesus' first answer. His first answer was to live the commandments. The young man, he could have gone away after the first answer.

He claimed to be living the commandments since he was young. He could have gone away, affirmed in, "Okay, I'm living a good life, I'm living in a righteous life. I'm walking the path with God. He could have gone away affirmed in that. But there was something in the young man that knew that he was called to more. And that's why he pressed Jesus. And only then did Jesus say, "Okay, this other thing." Other thing that always strikes me with these stories is we meet these people in the gospels, these epic figures, rich young man, right? Legendary. Historic. And we read that he went away sorrowful. But that wasn't the end of his story. And we don't know the end of his story. Maybe he went away sorrowful, and he slept on it. And he woke up the next morning and he realized, "Yeah. All this stuff, it's just stuff." And maybe he did sell it and give the money to the poor. And maybe he did follow Jesus. We don't know. Maybe he slept on it for a week. Maybe it took him three years. Maybe it took him 30 years for him to realize or to respond to the fullness of Jesus' message. We don't know. And that's good because wherever you are today is not the end of your story. You get to decide how you want to walk with God today, how you want to walk with God tomorrow, how you want to walk with God the rest of your life. Your story is not over. Have a great day. And remember, Be Bold. Be Catholic.

I hope you're enjoying the Daily Gospel Reflections. It's one of the things I love doing, spending this time with you each day. Recently, I released a book called 33 Days to Divine Mercy. If you haven't had a chance to check that out yet, I encourage you to do that today.