We have just read the passage of Jesus’ encounter with a rich man seeking to attain eternal life. Depending on who reads it and in what context, the man’s question may not be fully understood. And this happens because, for some, the expression “eternal life” is an empty concept. To speak of eternal life, from a Christian perspective, implies accepting that reality has two dimensions: one is that of this world, where distances are measured in meters and kilometers, weights in pounds or kilograms, and time in clocks and calendars. For many people, even some who declare themselves Catholics, that is the only reality that counts, the one that has value and consistency.
“For some, the expression “eternal life” is an empty concept.”
This is reflected in what they usually think of funerals. All the deceased, regardless of how they have lived, seem to go to a state of peace, in some undefined place, and funerals become simple tributes in their honor. Asking for forgiveness for their sins almost seems an insult to their memory, when in fact the main meaning of the funeral is to pray for their release from purgatory. The idea that this other dimension, eternal life, has an impact on our lives or that we are accountable to God for our actions, is alien to many, even some Christians. In this context, the eternal life sought by the man of the Gospel is perceived as a concept without real content.
According to the Catholic faith, this world is God’s creation, but it is fleeting and outdated. The other dimension is the ultimate reality, truly real, even if it is now invisible to our eyes. However, it is already present through divine providence and grace. The eternal life that the man of the Gospel desires is, in essence, life with God, a much more solid reality than this tangible world in which we temporarily live. Whoever calls himself a Christian but does not allow this invisible reality to illuminate the meaning of this visible world has a distorted understanding of reality according to the Gospel. We reach this fullness after death.
“The drama is that we get so absorbed in this temporal dimension that we forget the truly real one.”
This is the drama we face as Christians: we live in a culture that understands reality differently from how the Gospel understands it. This cultural conception also permeates the minds of those of us who call ourselves Christians. When we cease to understand and live reality according to the Gospel, we cease to be truly Christian. Then we no longer understand either what eternal life is or why the man of the Gospel was so interested in it. We think that this world has enough economic, social, political and humanitarian challenges to keep us busy, and we believe that Christians should contribute to solving them. And it is true that we must occupy ourselves with these temporal challenges, as do many lay people and also not a few bishops and priests. But the drama is that we become so absorbed in this temporal dimension that we forget the truly real one. It is even said that thinking about eternal life is a form of evasion of tangible reality, which we can touch, weigh and measure, and which therefore seems more real than what the Gospel calls truly real: eternal life, invisible and weightless.
“According to the Gospel, the invisible gives consistency to the visible and the eternal to the temporal.”
Knowing this difference is the wisdom of which today’s first reading speaks: “I had it more than the health and beauty of this world; I preferred it to the light, because its radiance is never extinguished”. This is the Word of God, penetrating as a double-edged sword, which leads us to discern between the temporal and the eternal, the visible and the invisible, the material and the spiritual, and to recognize that, according to the Gospel, the invisible gives consistency to the visible and the eternal to the temporal.
Jesus orients the man who seeks eternal life in the first place towards a moral reform, reminding him of the commandments that should govern his life in this world. They are practically the commandments of the Decalogue. The man claims to have kept them since he was young, and Jesus assures him that he is on the right track. To attain eternal life, it is necessary to walk correctly in the temporal life; to enter heaven, it is necessary to walk well on earth. To enjoy eternity, which lasts forever, it is necessary to perfect oneself during the limited temporality. This man lacks only one thing: to follow Jesus. And to follow him, he must sell everything he has. To “sell”, in Jesus’ words, means to stop trusting in the goods of this world. Man must stop thinking that what is truly real is material things and begin to live with the awareness that what is real is God and that salvation comes to us through Jesus. He must learn to look at the invisible through Jesus, who is very visible. But when the man heard these words, he was saddened and went away grieved because he had many possessions.
“Not those who put their security in the goods of this world will be saved, nor those who live as if this were the only reality, but those who open themselves to God.”
Did he really understand what he was asking for? Perhaps he was a good Jew who kept the law, but he did not yet understand that eternal life comes through faith in Jesus Christ. He did not understand that to fully trust in Jesus Christ it is necessary to stop putting our security in the things of this world. Material goods are useful, but they often absorb our attention so much that they make us lose sight of eternity. Man could not let go of his goods, that is, he could not rethink his relationship with this world and recognize its expiration and insufficiency, in order to put all his trust in Jesus as the mediator of eternal life.
To the astonishment of the disciples, Jesus declares that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. And lest we think that, because we are not rich, this sentence does not affect us, we must understand that “rich” are all those who believe that the only real thing is this world. They cannot enter a kingdom that, for them, does not exist. And this is even thought by some who do not have a penny in the bank. Who, then, can be saved, the disciples ask. Those who put their security in the goods of this world will not be saved, nor those who live as if this were the only reality, but those who open themselves to God. It is impossible for men, but not for God. For God, everything is possible. And that is what our life of faith is all about.