is good? One, only, is good. If you want to enter eternal life, keep the commandments.” The young
man said, “Which commandments?” Jesus replied, “Do not kill; do not commit adultery; do not
steal; do not bear false witness; honor your father and mother. And love your neighbor as
yourself.” The young man said to him, “I have kept all these commandments. What do I still
lack?” Jesus answered, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell all that you possess, and give the
money to the poor; and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come back and follow me.”
On hearing this, the young man went away sad, for he was a man of great wealth.

Reflect

“Sell all that you possess.” A person is not made complete by possessing things.
At times, we think that we can find fulfillment in the material possessions we have while
tending to self-appropriate them selfishly. We may reflect that, in reality, we cannot
possess eternal life. We may enter into it but we cannot possess it in the same manner
we keep and enjoy our material possessions. We do not own it. It is shared to us by Jesus.
Jesus is inviting us to enter into it. Moreover, he is challenging us to experience being
complete by detaching ourselves from any enslavement to material possessions. In today’s
Gospel, a young and rich man approached Jesus, asking Jesus how could he have or possess
eternal life. Jesus’ answer was corrective of the mentality of the rich man. By implication,
Jesus was telling him that eternal life is something that is not to be possessed but
something which we have to enter into. It is not a possession to own. It is a relationship
where one may experience fulfillment and completeness. Jesus clearly challenged the
man, should he wish to be complete, to be detached from his enslavement from material
possessions.

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