Sermon on the 12 Sunday after Pentecost
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
In today’s Gospel reading we heard how a young man came to Jesus Christ, fell on his knees before Him and asked: “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?”
The young man possessed all what one can dream of: youthfulness, nobility and great wealth: all enjoyments of life were accessible to him. But he was preoccupied with something else: “what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?”
As for us how often do we ponder on this question, we, both young and old? However, this is a very important question, since all of us understand that our earthly life will end, and we will have to pass into eternity.
Especially among young people it is rare that someone think of the future life. Death doesn’t occur to a young man; he expects many years of fruitful, interesting life. Death appears to him very distant, too early to think about. There is a phenomenon, that we think of the coming years as long, almost endless. However, when we look back on our past years, they appear very short and blurry, like a dream.
The Lord answered: “If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments… ‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness, ‘Honour your father and your mother,’ and ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ “
The young man hastened to say: “All these things I have kept from my youth; what do I still lack?
One would think that the young man should have been glad: the Kingdom of Heaven was guaranteed to him, since he kept the commandments. But his heart was not at peace. “What do I still lack?” – he asked.
The Gospel of St Mark in the description of this event says that “Jesus, looking at the young man, loved him.” – The young man had a sincere, pure, ardent character.
“Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him: ‘If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me. When the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions”.
Why did the Lord advise the young man to distribute his property?
The Lord saw him entangled in the passion of acquisitiveness and wanted him to be freed from it, so that he would be able to follow Him.
Just as the Lord had previously summoned Peter and Andrew, James and John, and the other apostles, and they left everything and followed Him, so now He summoned this young man, advising him to give away all he had to the poor, so that he himself might become “poor, yet making many rich, having nothing, and yet possessing all things” (2 Cor. 6). The Lord summoned him to the apostolic ministry. This is what he lost because of his unfortunate love for riches:
Not the possessions themselves, but love for them is detrimental to the soul. Abraham and Job were very rich, yet they were perfect. When St Job lost everything, he said “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.” His true treasure was the Lord, and his heart was not attached to his earthly possessions.
We will understand that love for possessions took root in us, if having lost some money we torture ourselves for a long time because of this. This passion enslaves the soul, deprives it from freedom, as it happened to the young man. Apparently, he was longing for the way of spiritual perfection, but when this way was revealed to him, he went away sorrowful, being unable to destroy the bonds of the passion.
The Lord shows how dangerous this passion is, when He says: “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” (Math. 6)
It is necessary to struggle little by little with the passion of acquisitiveness so that it will not completely ensnare our souls. Charity, acts of mercy destroy the bonds of acquisitiveness.
The memory of inevitable death will help us in this struggle, reminding us that we will leave everything here. Only what we have shared with others, will go before us to the future life, as the Lord said to the young man: “Sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.”
Amen.
