Matthew 19:16
Now someone approached him and said, "Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?"
Have you ever had one of those moments when you asked a question and almost instantly regretted it? Like when you were back in school and asked the teacher at the end of class if there was any homework for the weekend. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Thanks for reminding me". Or checking in with the boss before going home for the evening and getting saddled with and extra half hour of work before you can leave. Maybe, like me, you made the mistake of asking your dad for 10 bucks before noticing the lawn hadn't been mowed yet that week.
When I read the story of the rich young man in today's gospel I feel like the man was trying to trick Jesus. He knew that he was already following all of God's commandments. You can almost imagine the slightly sarcastic smile on the young man's face when he tells Jesus "All of these I have observed. What do I still lack?" (Mt:19:20) Jesus knew exactly what that young man was lacking and hit him where it hurts. Give up your riches! And he went away sad.
It's interesting that we never get a conclusion to this story. Did he do it? To answer that question a very wise priest once told my wife it's up to us to put ourselves in the place of that rich young man if we want to know the answer. Each one of us has our own thing that gets in the way of doing good for the Kingdom of God. What's yours? Money. Pride. Selfishness. Are you brave enough to ask the question "Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?"
