The late Comedienne Joan Rivers once said: “People say that money isn’t the key to happiness, but I always figured if you have enough money, you can have a key made.” I suspect a lot of people would agree with her.
We all seek happiness. We try to find it in a variety of ways. For some, it’s having lots of possessions. That’s why so many people today spend so much time and energy on earning money and then buying clothing or cars or jewelry or antiques or home furnishings. King of Prussia Mall, which started off as a modest open-air shopping mall 60 years ago, has become a cathedral for many people, who come to worship at the foot of consumerism. Pay attention to the marble walls and soaring ceilings. It’s no accident that these features were included in the design.
For others, being popular makes them happy so they spend hours a day on Facebook or Instagram or Twitter, or whatever the latest media platform happens to let them discover how many “likes” or “friends” they have. For others, it’s being comfortable. Checking off places to see on their bucket list makes some happy. Anyone who tries to find happiness in these various ways, however, discovers that this sort of happiness is ephemeral; it doesn’t last. Nothing here on earth lasts. True happiness can only come in eternal life with God. In today’s Gospel, we hear about a man who came to Jesus to ask what he needed to do “to inherit eternal life.” Evidently, this man was where many of us find ourselves at one time or other in our lives. His material needs were being met, but not his spiritual ones. He was not a bad man, just an empty one. So, he came to Jesus, who was preaching about the joys of eternal life. He approaches Jesus with great respect, kneeling down before him and addressing Jesus as “Good Teacher.” This is a very curious title the man gives to Jesus since the Jews recognized that only God is good. “Why do you call me good?” Jesus responds. “No one is good – except God alone.” In rebuking the man, Jesus was cautioning him not to put his ultimate confidence in anything or anyone, not even teachers or powerful people, but only in God. “You know the commandments,” said Jesus. “Teacher,” the man declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.” Like many Jews of his time, this man believed that, if he just kept the Mosaic Law, he would have it made spiritually – God would owe him eternal life. So, here’s his situation. He thought lots of possessions would make him happy, but they didn’t. He thought minding all the rules of his faith would make him happy, but it didn’t. All his life he had been taught that if he had enough possessions and if he was a good guy, that would be enough. But it wasn’t.
Mark tells us that Jesus looked at him and loved him. God loves us all. Jesus recognized that this man was trying to live as his society told him he ought to live. But, Jesus wanted to give him the key to what he really needed. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
“At this,” says the Gospel of Mark, the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had many possessions. One scripture scholar says that this may be the saddest verse in the Bible. This young man was in the presence of God himself. He could have found the fullness of life that he sought. But he turned away because he couldn’t let go of the good in order to grasp the best.
And then we hear that Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!” The disciples were amazed at his words. After all, in their society, it was thought that wealth, along with health and offspring, were signs of blessing from God. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
The disciples were even more amazed, Mark says, and said to each other: “Then who can be saved?” That’s a good question. If accumulating wealth won’t bring you lasting happiness and keeping the rules won’t buy you salvation, what’s it going to take? If we take everything we have and sell it, and give the proceeds to the poor like Jesus was telling this man to do, will that do it? Well, that depends. Is money what’s most important in your life? Is it accumulating friends or things or fun experiences? When Jesus told this man to sell everything he had and give it to the poor, he was teaching him that he had to divest himself of what it was that was keeping him from God. Jesus was simply revealing to this man the truth about what had come to take first place in his life – and they were his possessions. The man went away sad, because he was unwilling to put God first.
So, ask yourself: What is it that comes first in your life? Where do you devote your time, your money, your dreams, your energy? Jesus said, “Where a man’s treasure is, there will his heart be . . .”
This is the challenge for us today. God has made us for himself. He wants to have a relationship with us. As with any relationship, we can build ours with God only by spending time with him, by investing in him. And, since he is the only one who can lead us to true happiness in eternal life, we have to listen to him and follow his way. God must come before everything. “Whoever does not give up father or mother, brother or sister, or even his own life, cannot follow me,” Jesus says. For you, it might be as simple as giving up time in front of the television or on the computer to spend more time in prayer or reading sacred scripture.
Of course, the ultimate decision is what or who will you worship? Once you decide to worship the God revealed to us in Jesus of Nazareth, then all the other important decisions can be made quite readily. If you choose instead to worship an idol – whether wealth or comfort or fun experiences or popularity or any other temporal god – then life becomes much more complicated and the end result will only be sadness. That is not the message of our culture, but it is Christ’s message, and he is the way, the truth and the life.
The disciples were amazed at Jesus’ words about the difficulty of the wealthy entering the kingdom. Jesus looked at his disciples and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” Then Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow you!” “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age . . . and in the age to come eternal life.” Let us reach for eternal life and make sure nothing gets in the way.