17 As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’[” 20 “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.” 21 Jesus looked at him and loved him. “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.” 22 At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.
If we could time travel this character into the future and advance him about 20 centuries from his story … we’d easily recognize him. If he lived in our time and culture, he’d be all suited up in his Armani threads, speeding along in his Ferrari, checking the stock market closings on his smart phone while talking to his broker on speaker… not wasting a precious moment to make a killing on some hot tip … and he’s got another call on hold trying to getting himself an appointment with the spiritual guru who’s in town for the day.
His biggest problem was that he was born prematurely …I don’t mean a few weeks early … I mean he would have been more at home in our fast paced western society than he was in his own 1st century Mediterranean world. He strikes me as one of those guys who wanted to rub shoulders with the guru of the moment.
In his first century, Palestinian world he comes running in the desert, he does what you don’t do in the desert … he runs … because, of course, his life is full of the urgent, the essential and the all-important … he flings himself at the feet of the peasant whose teaching has been making headlines for months now. Rushing between his power lunches of the day, he breathlessly blurts out his pressing spiritual question: GOOD TEACHER, WHAT MUST I DO TO INHERIT ETERNAL LIFE? He wants a sound bite answer to a profound question.
At first blush we might see him as a spiritual seeker … but actually he’s the quintessential spiritual consumer.
I don’t think he’s asking: what do I need to do to make sure I get off this planet alive? He is not asking what do I do to live forever … his question is really about this life … in 20 word or less could you tell me how to make my life more fulfilling, satisfying and meaningful?
In our culture he would have asked which of the steps to success books should I read; what kind of meditation should I do and for how many minutes a day; which yoga practice is the best; which religion should I follow … Well, you get the idea …
The question is bold facedly narcissistic … let’s not mistake the fact that it is all about him. He is not asking how can he leave the world better than he found it … how can he make a difference … but perhaps there is a prayer he can pray, a chant he can learn, a self help book he can read, a motivational seminar he should attend, some kind of meditation he could do … you get the idea … we all know this guy.
I love the way the story has Jesus point him right back to the spiritual tradition he came from … he doesn’t say …. You need a new spiritual path … or you need a new religion … he says: “If you wish to enter into life (notice … he doesn’t say everlasting life, eternal life, the next life but life …), consider the commandments.” I can see his brow furrowing as he reaches for his phone to record the sound byte of spiritual wisdom … he asks Jesus if he could be a bit more specific … does he have to keep the big 10 … of the hundreds of purity laws or all the holiness code prescribed in the torah … or are there a few that are the high priority ones …
We notice Jesus starts the inventory smack in the middle of the pack of the top ten commandments … with #6: respect life: don’t kill 7: respect commitments: don’t be unfaithful 8: respect what another has: don’t steal , 9: respect truthfulness: don’t lie , and then back to #5 … respect what has come before you: honor to your parents/your elders.
This spiritual check up focuses only the practices that have been laid down in his tradition having to do with his relationship with the other members of his own species … with humanity. There’s isn’t a mention of the first 4 commandments that have to do with relationship with ancient Israel’s god. Maybe it’s because the root of spiritual bankruptcy has nothing to do with beliefs and everything to do his behaviors … his holiness code isn’t the issue … his compassion code could do with some attention … his spiritual crisis has to do with the quality of his relationships with other humans.
It isn’t that he needed to change his beliefs or find another god or fix up his creed or get a better theology … or establish a spiritual discipline … or find a faith community … it isn’t that Jesus has some big hate on for the rich … or that wealth is intrinsically evil … the deficiency in his spiritual life … the restlessness that has sent him running across the desert comes from being like a bird that is trying to fly without opening its wings … without exposing one’s heart.
In the world of the story, he broke the teacher’s heart open … whereas he is not a character that I find endearing … in fact, I find it easy to close my heart to him … I find him downright irritating but the story bothers to say: And Jesus, looking at him, loved him … and then he said … “you have it all … you are only missing one thing: you have give yourself away … you have to give yourself to love … you have to give yourself to the things that will create right relationship with others.”
With sadness, he went away empty hearted because he could not empty his hands … he couldn’t release his grip on privilege … he couldn’t let his heart be broken open … he couldn’t open his wings and expose his heart… he wasn’t willing to get a life by giving it away!
We have a door in our house that won’t stay open … as the house has settled over the years … under the weight of itself … with the passage of time, our house has shifted in such a way that our bathroom door always closes itself. We prop it open with something that looks like a stone but weighs almost nothing. And it does more than hold the door open. It is inscribed with the word “love” … a reminder that hearts, like doors, are only held open by love. That hearts, like wings, are meant to open to the fright and flight of life.
At some level we know his sadness … we know how hard it is to let our hearts be broken open … we know how hard it is to keep the door of our heart propped open … we know how hard it is to expose our hearts to the risk of flight … as hard as it is for camel to go through the eye of a needle … or a Ferrari to go through a revolving door ..
And we know that whatever our role in life, love is our primary commitment. Whatever our means, love is always ours to give. Whatever our job, love is our vocation. Whatever our career, love is our profession. And we never get to retire from love. As long as we have breath, it will always be the right season to plant love. So we take a little time to share some silence and to ask ourselves where it is that life invites us to plant love.
Nancy Steeves
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