1 Corinthians 15:1-11; Matthew 19:16-26
A common temptation for religious people is
to fall into a form of a legalistic self-righteousness. It is appealing to assume that what God
requires may be boiled down to a simple code of behavior such that those who
obey it earn a reward, while those who do not merit condemnation. People who are not religious may certainly
have their own forms of legalistic self-righteousness, but our immediate
concern is to address our own temptations.
For the prideful attitude that we have somehow fulfilled all that God
requires of us is simply deadly for the Christian life.
The Jews of
first-century Palestine typically viewed people like the rich young man in
today’s gospel reading as those who were very pleasing to God. Not only does the man claim that he has obeyed
the Old Testament commandments, but his wealth was understood to be God’s
blessing upon him as a righteous person.
That is why the disciples were astonished when Christ said that it was
very hard for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Perhaps this man was like a Christian today
who lives according to the teachings of his church and is successful in his
business and family life. He was a model
citizen of his community and surely knew that.
The distance between
conventional religious and cultural success and finding eternal life remains
great, nonetheless. Perhaps that is why
the rich young man asked the Lord what he needed to do in order to gain eternal
life. He must have sensed that something
was missing or that there was more required to enter into the Kingdom. That is when the Savior gave him a challenge well
outside of the man’s comfort zone: “If
you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you
will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Since he loved his possessions, he went away
sorrowful. For the Lord gave him a
requirement that exposed his deep love for material things and the status and
comfort that they provide.
He revealed the
man’s spiritual weakness and brokenness by challenging him personally and
powerfully. Remember that the Savior identified
the greatest commandment as: “You shall
love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all you soul, and with all
your mind…And the second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law
and the prophets.” (Matt. 22: 37-39) By
giving away his beloved wealth to the poor and leaving behind his privileged
position to follow Christ, the man would show that he truly loved God and
neighbor. Given his particular spiritual
maladies, those steps were necessary for his healing. He lacked the strength, however, to obey that
command, which is why he went away in sorrow.
This fellow’s recognition of his weakness, however, did not necessarily
cut him off from the hope of eternal life, for as Christ said, “With men this
is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
The contrast
between this rich man and St. Paul is stark.
As he wrote in today’s epistle passage, St. Paul knew that he was “unfit
to be called an Apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.” Elsewhere he refers to himself as the chief
of sinners upon whom God had mercy as an example of His overwhelming grace. (1
Tim. 1:15-16) Before his conversion,
Paul had been “faultless” in obeying the Old Testament law and a zealous
Pharisee. (Philippians 3:6) He had come
to recognize, however, that the confidence he had had in his own religious
achievements was simply garbage to be left behind when he embraced the true
righteousness of God through faith in Christ.
As someone who had
previously persecuted Christians, St. Paul simply acknowledges that “by the
grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain.” He did not go away sorrowfully when the Lord
appeared to him in blinding light on the road to Damascus with the words, “Saul,
Saul, why are you persecuting me?” (Acts 9:4) He obeyed and said, “Lord, what do you want
me to do?” before being baptized and beginning his very unlikely ministry at
the constant risk of his life. Instead
of trying to build on whatever righteousness he had achieved by obeying the Old
Testament commandments, he threw himself entirely on the mercy of the Lord, trusting
that the One Who died and rose again for the salvation of the world was able to
heal his soul in ways that he had never been able to do through his own
conventional religious observance.
St. Paul died as
a martyr and his ministry involved deep struggles of so many kinds, including
imprisonment, beatings, narrow escapes from death, and arguments with those who
sought to corrupt and weaken the churches he had established. Who would not look at this former Pharisee
who became the great apostle to the Gentiles and say, “With men this is
impossible, but with God all things are possible”? His unique and exalted
ministry which has so profoundly shaped the Church to this day was not simply
the achievement of a gifted religious personality. It was the gracious blessing of God at work
through a person who had no illusions about his own brokenness and weakness,
who had learned not to trust in his own ability to earn anything from God. His humility made it possible for God to work
in him what Paul could never have accomplished on his own.
The Savior’s
exacting statement to the rich young man was an invitation to acquire the same
spiritual clarity about his life. By
revealing to him the weaknesses of his soul, Christ opened his eyes just a bit
to the inadequacy of viewing his relationship with God in terms of a list of
legal requirements to be checked off. He
needed much more than the legal advice of a rabbi who could clarify the
expectations. His inability to
demonstrate his love for God and neighbor by obeying Christ’s command showed
that he needed healing that he could not give himself. He needed the God-Man Who conquers death through
His glorious resurrection and makes us participants by grace in the life of the
Holy Trinity. He fulfills our ancient
vocation to become like God in holiness by healing our souls in ways that a set
of legal or moral standards never could.
Those who are so
strongly tempted to trust in their worldly accomplishments and comforts, or in
the admiration of others for their supposedly exemplary lives, often need a
bold, shocking message or course of events to wake them up from their complacency. If we will open the eyes of our hearts just a
bit to the light of Christ, however, we will see that none of us may claim to
have mastered God’s requirements or to earn our way into the Kingdom based on
our good deeds. Our calling is not
simply to be religious or moral people, but truly to become brilliant with the
divine glory. Before such a high
calling, we must not go away sorrowful due to our inadequacy, but should instead
fall on our faces and voice the Jesus Prayer from the depths of our
hearts. We must obey as best we
presently have the strength to do, using the awareness of our weakness to open
ourselves more fully to our Lord’s grace through our humility.
As we continue
to celebrate the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos, we should look to her as
the best example of a humble, obedient person united to Christ in love. She became the Living Temple of the Lord in a
shockingly unconventional manner when she accepted the Savior into her life as
His virgin mother. She did not go away in sorrow upon hearing the message of the
Archangel, but said, “Behold the handmaiden of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word.” She served Him the rest of her life, even
standing by His Cross and going with the other women to anoint His body on the
morning of Pascha. In her “falling
asleep,” she shows us that such a life of loving obedience leads to the Kingdom
of Heaven, not through legalism, but by humble, complete receptivity to the
grace of her Son, in Whom all things are possible. Let us all follow her
example for the healing of souls.
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