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Mark 10:17-31
The man in this Sunday's Gospel reading is a lot like us. He's a busy guy, and thinks nothing about stopping Jesus as He starts out on a trip. He's a guy with a checklist, and approaches Jesus to make sure he's checking off the right places on his heavenly to-do list.
"Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" he asks Jesus.
Interesting choice of words, when you look at the question carefully.
"What must
I do".... The man who approaches Jesus does so with the mindset that eternal life is something that humans can do or control. Something they can earn. Perhaps that's why Jesus' first words to him are "No one is good but God." Jesus is trying to tell him that perfection is impossible even as the man insists he has kept all the laws since his youth.
"...to
inherit
eternal life?" The man uses the word "inherit" to describe obtaining salvation. Ironically, when you inherit something from someone, you don't have to
do
anything. You just have to
be the person named in the will or the legal heir. Jesus again is sending us a message about the Kingdom of God: it's about relationships and
being, not about checklists and
doing.
As we gather this Sunday at St. Timothy's, let us remind ourselves that redemption is Christ's free gift to us. The work God has given us to do is to "love and serve [Him] with gladness and singleness of heart" - in essence, just BE with God in relationship.
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