All In

A Reflection on the Gospel for October 10th, 2021:
Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Mark
10.17-27 (shorter)
(For the longer version, see the print edition of Living with Christ.)

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; Honour your father and mother.’”

He said to Jesus, “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, follow me.”

When the man heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

They were greatly astounded and said to one another, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “For humans it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.”
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All in. God wants us to be ALL in. Everything we have, everything we are, that is what God wants from us.


And because of that, this reading challenges me on a couple of levels.


First, I have a lot of possessions. I indulge in retail therapy too often. I’m not wealthy by any means but I have more than enough to cover my basic needs and then some. And honestly, I like my stuff. So I totally empathize with the young man in our Gospel.


Second, what did the young man decide? I often assumed that the young man didn’t give up what he had and decided not to follow Jesus. But in recent years I started questioning it. The  scriptures don’t give us a definitive answer. It’s like the season finale of your favourite show — there’s a cliffhanger. You can make assumptions about how it ends but we really don’t know.


Going all in means taking a risk without knowing what happens next.


But God is all in too. 


“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” (John 3:16)


That sounds pretty all in to me. God asks a lot of us, and I can forget that He also gives much in return. I can’t always see it. I can’t always feel it. But He gives: Abundantly and freely. I don’t have to earn it, I simply have to give my all to Him. And when I don’t? God still gives. Which is even harder to comprehend! God doesn’t keep track. God doesn’t say to me, “Well, Aurea, you gave me 42% today, so here’s 42% of my love.” Some days I give very little to our God. Some days I feel like I have nothing to give. Even on those days, when I give God nada, He gives even more to me. How could I not respond in gratitude for that? How could I not want to witness this immense generosity? How could I not want to give up all that I have for all that God gives me? Do I truly believe that God is all in?


Enter faith: I can have the smallest inkling of faith or I can have none, but God always has faith in me. We do not know what the young man eventually chose, but this “cliffhanger” leaves room for hope which increases faith. And if there’s anything I need daily, it’s a means to increase my faith, making space for more hope, and in turn, knowledge of God’s generous love. I can hope that the young man made the difficult decision to follow Jesus. It is the same hope that I live in on the days when I don’t want to give God a thing. God has enough faith, hope, and love to fill me to overflowing until I am able to once again be all in.




Aurea Sadi

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