Read the story and answer the following question. What are some of…

Question Answered step-by-step Read the story and answer the following question. What are some of… Read the story and answer the following question. What are some of the obstacles to your freedom that this story reveals?     The gospels tell a powerful story about a rich person who encounters the goodness of Jesus and wants to enter the depths of this goodness, until he runs into an obstacle. He comes to Jesus looking for an answer to a moral question, but receives much more .As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.'” He said to him,” Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.” Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come fol-low me.” When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions. Following this story, Jesus looks around and in sadness says to his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” (v.23) Why is it so hard? Why is it so bad to have the security of wealth so that you don’t have to worry about money? In the story of the rich man it becomes clear. It is above all a story about goodness. That’s how it starts off. The man calls Jesus “good Teacher.” Jesus asks him why he calls him. good. Goodness is the trademark of God. If you seek to find the good, search for it in God. God alone is good in the full sense of the term. Then Jesus recounts all the ways that we share in this goodness. Be good to your neighbor in the way the commandments point out to us. When the man says that he has kept these all his life, the account says, “Jesus, looking at him, loved him.” But the goodness of God has more ways of showing itself than in the keeping of the commandments. Jesus does not say to him, “Congratulations. You already have the fullness of life. Go home and keep it up.” Goodness — God’s goodness — does not end at some “enough” point. Goodness never ends. And so Jesus turns to the young man and says, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” Jesus challenged the rich young man’s ego about being a good person. He also challenged his attachment to material possessions. The man ‘Went away grieving.” His search for the good had found a stumbling block, and the stumbling block was himself! His attachment to wealth got in the way of living a fuller life. Jesus did not condemn him. He felt sad for him. In the final analysis, the man was unable to imagine that there could be some-thing more valuable than his wealth. His wealth kept him captive. It kept him from following Jesus.                                                                                                                                                                               Arts & Humanities Religious Studies REL MISC Share QuestionEmailCopy link Comments (0)