Today's Gospel

Pressing God for More

Welcome back to Radical and Relevant, where each day we're exploring the genius of the gospel, we're exploring the genius of the life and teachings of Jesus. And we're looking for a word or phrase or an idea from today's gospel reading to anchor our day, to focus our day, to bring great intentionality to our day, so that we can live the gospel in small ways and large in the midst of the world today. Today's reading is from the Gospel of Matthew 19:16-22. "And behold, one came up to Jesus saying, 'Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?' And he said to him, 'Why do you ask me about what is good? There is one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.' He said to him, 'Which commandments?' And Jesus said, 'You shall not kill, 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.' And the young man said to him, 'All these I have observed, what do I still lack?' And Jesus said to him, 'If you would be perfect, go and sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come and follow me.' When the young man heard this, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions."

What jumps out at you today? It's a beautiful reading. It's a sad reading. It's a reading we can all see ourselves in in different ways at different times in our lives. What jumps out at me is that the young man keeps pressing Jesus. His first question is, "What do I need to do to have eternal life?" And Jesus says, "Keep the commandments." And the young man presses Jesus. He's like, "Okay. Which commandments?" And Jesus recites the commandments. And the young man says, "Well, I keep those commandments. What else do I need to do?" And so he keeps pressing Jesus more and more and more. And whereas his original question was, "What do I need to do to have eternal life?" Jesus said, "Keep the commandments." And if he was, in fact, keeping the commandments, why didn't that answer satisfy his question? Why did he have this hunger or this desire to keep pressing Jesus more and more and more? And I think it's a question we need to ask ourselves. Are there ways that we are pressing God? Are there ways where God is inviting us to do something, where it's satisfying what he's asking us to do, but we're pressing him for more and more and more? And what is it that is driving that? Is that desire for holiness? Is that ego? Is that persona? Is that wanting to feel better than other people? Wanting to lord it over other people? What is driving that? Because it could be a very positive drive, and it could be a very negative drive. Have an amazing day. And remember, Be Bold, Be Catholic.