28th Sunday Year B

28th Sunday Year B – What must I do to inherit eternal life?

What must I do to inherit eternal life? What a question to put to Jesus! But one I suspect that we have all thought of in some form during the course of our lives. How should I live my life so as to ensure a place in heaven beside my Lord?

And it is worth noting that Jesus tells the young man that he should follow all of the rules and laws laid down by the leaders and follow all of the commandments as a minimum – as a minimum. And that on top of this, if he really wanted to be certain of his place in heaven, he should sell everything he owns and give the money to the poor. Wow!

And this would be a WOW even without him being a wealthy man. So what is it we need to take from this? Is it that we cannot be saved unless we get rid of everything that we own? I don’t think so. I think that Jesus is telling us that we have to look to do more than keep to the rules. We have to be more than good people who do, or try to do nothing wrong.

We have to give ourselves and our lives to God in such a way that everything that we do, or say, or think, or simply are in our everyday lives is in honour of God. We have to be aware that God, who is everywhere and sees everything, would be happy to accept our daily offerings as a gift worthy of Him and worthy of our love of and for Him.

I was fortunate to be invited to Birch Tree Manor Care Home in Port Sunlight this past week to celebrate a Harvest Festival service for them. In this service we spoke of reaping what we sowed and celebrating this reaping, this harvest. We initially spoke of farmers sowing wheat and maize and the like and then being able to reap the harvest of those same products.

We then went on top speak about the wider aspects of life where we reap what we sow in our daily contacts with people. Where how we behave with and toward others then creates and produces a knock-on effect, a result, or if you like, a crop that we then collect. Where when we smile at others we reap the echoed smile from them. Where when we are happy, jolly or joyful with others we will collect the same sort of attitude from them. We reap what we have sown.

We spoke about how easy it was to sow negativity, sadness, suspicion, doubt, depression and anxiety in and around others by adopting consciously to be in that place, in that mood. And that how these negative or down moods produced similar crops from people we meet and encounter. Positive vibes, feelings, attitudes and behaviours reflect our love of God and His love for us and produce a harvest that is bountiful in its return to us in how people react to us and take their upbeat lead from us. This is a harvest festival in which we could and should rejoice.

When Jesus speaks of the great wealth of the young man, he is referencing his worldly wealth, his worldly riches, that he is probably going to struggle to lose or use to become closer to God. People, especially rich people, invest their riches to create greater riches. They sow their funds to create a harvest of greater funds. This is their harvest experience. One that is focused in and on the creation and re-creation of wealth. It is hard to come away from that; to break the mould and to create a different sequence, one where the resulting harvest is not focused on or toward us and our betterment.

And that is what we have to do. We have to become more centred on our outward impact. On what good we can do to and for others. On how we can make them feel better simply for having met us, for having been in our company. We want and aim for them to reap a harvest that is that much richer for having had our influence on its seeding and its growth.

What must I do to inherit eternal life? I must live a life that is God-centred; God-focused; God-led and God-driven, where everything that I do or say or am is directed toward showing God’s love for me, alive and active in me and in my love for His world, His creatures and His people – my brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, our Lord.