When a rich young man asked Christ, “What good thing must I do to inherit eternal life,” Christ called him to a higher expectation. Life is more than just following the rules and commandments. If we really want to accept God’s high calling, we must be willing to love Him more than anything else in the world. That includes our giving. If want to be perfect our giving must first recognize that everything belongs to God. Stop thinking of giving to the Church as a rule. Think of giving to the Church as loving God more than anything so we can be perfect.
At that time, a young man came up to Jesus, kneeling and saying, “Good Teacher, what good deed must I do, to have eternal life?” And he said to him, “Why do you call me good? One there is who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” He said to him, “Which?” And Jesus said, “You shall not kill, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother, and You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The young man said to him, “All these I have observed; what do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful; for he had great possessions. And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, it will be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, 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.” When the disciples heard this they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Matthew 19.16-26
This morning’s gospel, my brothers and sisters brings us yet to another high expectation from God. Just in the past several weeks of our time together, we’ve learned to put our faith in God during the storms of life. We’ve learned how to pray. We’ve learned how to fast. Today, we’re learning how to give.
There was this young man, he comes to God and says, “What good thing must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Christ challenges him in that very moment, even before he answers the questions. “Why do you call me good? Only God is good.” By the way, that’s another gap in our translation in English. We heard that in Greek, but we did not hear it in English. In Greek, Christ says only God is good. We didn’t hear that part in the English, but it’s there.
So Christ immediately is calling this young man to a higher expectation, and he’s calling you and me, my brothers and sisters, to a higher expectation. He says, “You know the commandments, do them.” “Which ones?” And he begins to list the commandments. Well, this guy thinks he’s smart. He says, “I’ve done all those things since my youth.” “Really,” Christ says, “You’ve kept all the commandments.”
Now, remember, it wasn’t just these three or four things. Christ said, “Keep the commandments and you will be perfect like your Father is in heaven.” And this man thinks he’s keeping all the commandments, but he’s lacking something in his heart. Christ says, “Okay, if you want to be perfect, sell everything you’ve got. Give it to the poor and come follow me, and then you’ll have treasure in heaven.” And we know what this young man did. He turned his back on God and walked away.
My brothers and sisters, loving God is more than just following the rules. As Orthodox Christians, we have many rules. “How many times do we do our cross? What prayers do we say in the morning? How many days a week do we have to fast? How many this? How many that? How many metanias? How many prostrations am I supposed to do? If I have a prayer rope, how many repetitions of the Jesus prayer am I …” Rule after rule after rule after rule, and our head begins to spin.
And we, my brothers and sisters, we are tempted to say to God, “I have followed all those rules. What’s left?” Because we think we’re perfect. But if we look into our hearts, we know we’re not perfect. If we’re honest with ourselves, we know that we’re not following all the commandments of God. We are not loving as God wants us to love. We are not putting God first in our life. We’re lucky if we put him first on a Sunday. We do not put him first in our life. We do not wake up from the moment our eyes are awake and put God first. If we did, our world would be a different place.
So in this morning’s gospel, my brothers and sisters, we are being called to a higher expectation by God. We are called to be perfect. Don’t give up trying to be perfect. Start with the rules, but don’t end with the rules. The rules are just a way to help us learn how to live. Remember, one of the original rules was to give 10% of all of our money to the church. As Christians, we call that the tithe, 10%.
In the Old Testament time, all the believers were required to bring 10% of everything that they had every year to the temple. And the church continued this practice. Even St. John Chrysostom in the 400s said to his people, “Bring 10% of everything you make to the church, because the church has work to do.” That was just following the law, but we don’t tithe. We don’t give 10% of everything that we have to the church. So we’re very far from perfect, but it’s okay, because God knows that we’re not perfect.
Remember in this morning’s gospel, he gave the young man the chance. He said, “Okay, follow the commandments and you’re good to go.” It was his ego that got involved. If he had just said, “Okay, God, thank you,” and gone to struggle to maintain the commandments of God, he would’ve been just fine. But his ego got involved, pretending to be perfect, and God called him to a higher level.
So how do we give? I’m here to tell you, my brothers and sisters, the only way for us as Christians to give is to first to understand that everything we have is from God. There’s absolutely nothing that we have that God did not give to us. Even if we think we earned the paycheck, it is a gift from God. And so for us as Christians, our minimum goal in giving should be to be at the 10% level for the work of the church. This is merely following the commandments. We’re merely listening to Christ’s advice in the gospel.
He says, “Follow the commandments, and love, and give, and honor.” So this is our challenge, my brothers and sisters. It’s not about following the rules, it’s about loving God more than anything else in the world. More than money, even more than we love ourselves, and our reputation, and our houses, and our boats, and all of these things that we collect. As I wrote in the bulletin, you can’t take it with you. So we may as well do something with what God has given us and do something good with it. Something that’s going to bring our hearts closer to Christ.
It begins with tithing to the church. It continues with loving God enough to recognize that everything belongs to God, including this church. It’s not ours, it’s God’s. And if we can change that mentality in our minds, we, my brothers and sisters, will be one step closer to heaven, merely by acknowledging that God has called us to a higher place. Merely by willing to struggle through all of the things that we’ve been talking about. Storms of life, our fasting, our prayers, and now our giving.
Let’s give it all to God, our entire life. As we’re going to say in a few moments, let us lay aside all of the cares of life. Let us give it all over to God so that we may receive the king of all. This is our high quality. This will make us perfect. Glory to God for all things.
