Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Lectionary #143

"Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

From ancient times philosophers have pondered what a good life might entail. Is it "healthy, wealthy and wise" like King Solomon? Does it mean being happy, living virtuously, and destined for an afterlife in heaven?

The ambitious stranger who approached Jesus in today's gospel seems to know something about the good life; he asks how he might inherit "eternal life."

The currently popular word for the good life is flourishing, as opposed to surviving. Flourishing is more than just getting by, or making it. Sometimes it seems like survival is the best we can do. Perhaps Henry David Thoreau was right when, from the ivory tower of his privileged youth, he observed that most people lead "lives of quiet desperation." Taken altogether, their family life, jobs, and duties as citizens and church members don't add up to fulfillment. They often dream of greater things.

Our entertainment industry exploits those dreams with mythical adventurers who not only overcome dangers few of us would even imagine; they flourish. Our hero survived the shark attack and saved many others from the terrible jaws of death. Our heroine survived the villain's machinations and brought down his evil enterprise as she saved the world.

Then they married each other and lived happily ever after. Occasionally these comic book characters usher in a new age of peace, security and prosperity for the nation, the world and the Universe!

Flourish, of course, is what flowers do; and flowers are not just beautiful; they mature into fruit. The person who flourishes is fruitful. It's more than just being content with one's life, or caring only for oneself. Something good and worthwhile comes of that life; It has lasting significance. 

The fellow in this gospel uses the word "inherit" to describe his expectation of "eternal life." He says, "...what must I do to inherit eternal life?" The word has the same etymology as heir, heredity, heirloom and heritage. All imply a privilege, right or entitlement of birth. You can't just walk in and claim an inheritance; you must have some prior right to it. Presumably, heirs have a vital relationship to the dead or dying, and that relationship gives them at least a hope of making good their claim. This fellow is already one of those privileged people, with every expectation to flourish in eternity, and not just survive.

However -- and this is a "big however!" -- The Letter to the Hebrews reminds us that someone has to die before an inheritance can be claimed.

Now where there is a will, the death of the testator must be established. For a will takes effect only at death; it has no force while the testator is alive. (Hebrews 9:16-17)

And Saint Paul reminds us that we are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. Romans 8:17

And that's why this ambitious fellow disappears as readily as he appeared. He wants the good stuff, but not the bad. He will not "suffer with him."

Perhaps we should have suspected something amiss when he asked about inheriting eternal life. An inheritance is usually unearned and undeserved; It's a free pass to Easy Street. When a wealthy person dies, family, friends and neighbors gather like buzzards around carrion, each hoping to get something for nothing. If there is such a place as Eternal Life, it's not found on Easy Street.

As the man walked away, Jesus sadly remarked,

"How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!... It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God."

This is the paradox of faith. We do enjoy an enormous privilege; we have been granted knowledge of Jesus Christ and his mercy. We had no right to this knowledge by birth, wealth, learning, social status, ethnicity or race; it was freely given. 

But this knowledge comes dearly, and only to those willing to pay the price. That is, to those who have given up house, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children and lands for my sake and for the sake of the gospel. They will receive a hundred times more now in this present age: houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come."

This is what flourishing means.