When the Bible—when Jesus—talks about eternal life, it means life now, in the present, life that is not threatened by death, life that conquers death. It is full life, life as it is meant to be, life—in St. Paul’s memorable phrase—that really is life.
That’s what the young man in the Mark text wants and does not have. What must I do to inherit eternal life?” he asks, “the life that really is life?” “You know the commandments,” Jesus responds. “I keep them all,” the young man answers. “Well then, you lack one thing,” Jesus says to him. “Sell what you own, give the money to the poor and come follow me.” The young man, Mark reports, went away grieving, for he had many possessions. He had a lot of stuff and he loved his stuff, all of it.
What must I do? it’s the wrong question . The answer the young man gets from Jesus is “you can’t do anything “but your wealth is keeping you from realizing that.” The young man couldn’t give away his possessions. He was trapped, enslaved by his commitment to the notion that he was in charge—even of his own salvation. The issue here is not wealth, but the man’s relationship to it, his responsible use of what he had, his freedom to live the life that really is life.
The real question is how shall you live—authentically, fully, deeply, passionately—how shall you live the life that really is life? For this young man, his possessions—his stuff—his wealth, was preventing him from doing that.
And so for each of us, the question is, what prevents us from knowing that our salvation is in God’s hands and that we are free to love and live fully, generously, joyfully—the life that really is life?
Dr. Willy L Mafuta, Ph.D, Th.D
Senior Pastor,
Hopewell United Methodist Church, Hopewell, NJ 08525