Rich Young Man Matthew 19

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and

of the Holy Spirit, glory to Jesus Christ. Just

as we turn. Our pockets inside out from time

to time to find what remains hidden and forgotten.

Peanuts, fishy crackers, old Prospero. So God

sometimes turns our hearts inside out in order

to reveal that ugliness within our soul. So much

of what we cannot see in ourself contradicts

the Lord's original intention. in creating us,

and has no place in our ultimate purpose, which

is to love God and to be like him in all things.

Those are words from Archimandrite Zacharias

in this wonderful book, Remember Thy First Love.

It's apropos to the lesson we heard because Jesus

does reveal exactly what this man has hidden

in his heart. Last week, we heard wonderful gospel.

It was given to us so we could examine how and

if and when we forgive and when we decide not

to forgive. How we grant mercy to those that

may have deeply hurt us, offended us, used us,

and sinned against us. I'm not talking about

politicians on television. I'm talking about

people that you know, that you encounter. You

recall the parable about the unmerciful debtor

and our Bishop Vasili's profound words. He said

that we cannot repay God for everything that

he has done for us. What he requires of us is

our heart, our spirit, our broken spirit, the

sacrifice of thanksgiving. sacrifice of praise,

glorification, and repentance. He showed his

love for us by dying for our sinners to grant

us reconciliation, freedom, salvation, forgiveness.

If we are truly disciples of Christ, said the

bishop, we are called to forgive one another.

We need his divine grace to give us the ability

to forgive, to enable us to forgive, for we cannot

do this with our own strength. That was last

week's examination that the gospel, like a light

shining in our soul. And this week, we're asked

to consider, to examine our relationship with

possessions, not just rich people. Not just rich

people. This is actually to consider the first

commandment. The Lord listed those commandments

dealing with relations with other people. You

heard that in the gospel. What he was leading

this man to was the first commandment. I hope

you know where the Ten Commandments come from.

Old Testament. In one place, Exodus 20. You shall

have no other gods before me. You shall have

no other gods before me. Before I get to that

and to say something about this encounter, I

want to say a word about the commemoration today

that we have in the church. Not of the saints,

but that of the sash, the belt of the Theotokos.

We sang two hymns about that. Now you may say,

that's odd. That's weird. We have this, like,

item, this belt of the Theotokos, and we're singing

hymns about it. We have a commemoration about

it. This belt, this sash, was saved, it's an

interesting story, which I won't go into now,

by pious people after the death of the Virgin

Mary, and it was passed down generation by generation,

eventually ended up in Constantinople, and then

now is in at least two places, the monastery

of Vatapedi, and in... Georgia, I believe, and

maybe there's in Trier in Germany. It was split

up. Is it really so odd and weird to have this

in our calendar? There's a room at the Smithsonian

Museum with Dorothy's shoes in it. And people

would spend huge amounts of money to have that.

You've seen sports shows at the championship.

What do the players that win do? They pick up

that trophy and they kiss it. They embrace it

as if it was real and living. Of course, it represents

all they've gone through. I know widows and widowers

who keep some of the clothing of their late wife

or husband. It's not so weird. Anyway, how much

more should we treasure that which has come down

to us in the church? Something that was worn

by the Theotokos herself, sanctified by her.

Remember the handkerchiefs in the Book of Acts

that were healing? the sick people, handkerchiefs

that belonged to the apostles. I was honored,

more like astonished and awestruck to be given

to hold as I was serving at the monastery of

Vatopedi, to hold during the great entrance at

the liturgy a box. A monk came up to me. During

the singing of the cherubic hymn, let us lay

aside all earthly cares. And instead of carrying

the spears or the cross, a monk came up and was

passing out relics. And he gave me a box. And

he opened the lid. And it was the belt of the

Theotokos, which caused me great consternation

and fear. That belt has healed countless people.

by the prayers of the Theotokos. In any case,

about today's gospel, very briefly. The man,

the rich young man, an important man, no doubt,

knew he lacked something. He said that. That

something was not right in his heart. That there

was a burden, a spiritual obstacle, a problem

he could not see. Christ offered the man, A remarkable

thing. A way to mature, to be truly rich. It's

not everyone that Jesus encounters in the scriptures

that Jesus invites and says, follow me. In fact,

he says some people, stay here and tell what

wonderful things God has done for you. Very rarely,

only the apostles. So this man. Must have had

some incredible qualities and abilities. And

the discussion continues. The man asks what good

thing he must do to have eternal life. And the

Lord answers, if you will be perfect. He knows

the heart. He knows the intention. He knows the

thoughts of a person. Out of his love, he knows

what this man really needs. Because he has created

him. And it's like I read there. The pocket was

empty. Jesus offers the remedy. St. Basil says,

if a physician had said to you that he could

fully cure you of some physical disfigurement

you had by nature or disease, wouldn't you have

listened to him gladly? But when the great physician

of souls desires to make you whole of your deficiencies

and things that matter most, the soul, the heart,

your faith. You don't accept the favor, but mourn

and put on a gloomy face and walk away sad. I've

done it many times. Although probably not sad.

This man was pious. I can't say and claim that

for myself. I would walk away from doing what

I need to do, whether it's just the simple things,

praying, or extending myself, or doing whatever

commandment the Lord is asking, and that's clear

to me right then and there. But without any sorrow,

but instead with justification. Isn't that what

we do? We justify how we will not follow Christ

because there's some obstacle and we just can't,

we don't want to. We want to keep it. We don't

want to get rid of it. The young man, and like

us, the cost was too high for him because he

had security in what he possessed. For us, it's

security in who knows what. And the young man's

priorities were set, and they were not going

to be changed. He may have looked, and he was

pious, just like we might look faithful and religious.

Some of you might remember Ray Kroc, the man

who built up McDonald's to this mega corporation.

He was asked once by somebody what he believed

in. He said, I believe in God, I believe in my

family, and I believe in McDonald's. And then

he added, when I get to the office, I reverse

the order. That's what we do. We put what we

think is first before God. Christ invited the

man to be perfect and how to achieve not some

assurance of salvation in eternity by keeping

some rules and some moral things, but he invited

him to join him to be in paradise, joy, the kingdom

of heaven. He offered to him. He offers to us

to be with the spirits of the righteous made

perfect as we sing at the Panaquita. That is

the saints who are with the Lord. That is why

we were given life. All the commandments exist

for us to learn a personal relationship in the

church with our brothers and sisters, with God

and man, to learn divine love. Eternal life,

to be perfect, is that life that Jesus Christ,

our God, lives. It is to love selflessly. It

is, of course, to deny ourself. What the man

could not do. I imagine that man heard Jesus

speaking and ministering. and embracing the children.

Just a few verses before Matthew 19, this is

where we find Jesus and the apostles. Jesus is

speaking with the children, and the apostles

are like, get away, kids, get away. And Jesus

says, let the children come to me, for such is

the kingdom of God. I imagine this man was standing

there, and he heard that, and he saw Jesus ministering,

but he could not be like a child. He had to make

sure he had his security. And Jesus says, it's

easier for a camel to go through the eye of a

needle than for a rich man to be saved. The apostles

are astonished. Why? Because they figure a rich

man, he's blessed. He's got everything, and God

has blessed him. So let's recognize that the

words of the Lord address not merely, not just

that which stands between us and entering fully

and completely into discipleship, into carrying

our cross with Christ. Let's recognize this is

about how money, how money and possessions, not

bad in themselves, mind you, no, but how they

offer. False security. False happiness. How many

of us think today, if I were rich, that would

be great. I could give away so much to the church

and to the poor. Well, why don't we do that now

with what we have? That's enough. God will multiply

that. And if we were rich and not working, we

would find ourselves... In all kinds of sinfulness,

getting into all kinds of trouble. Tomorrow's

Labor Day. Let's think how we labor for the Lord.

If we were rich, we would not do that. Let's

not imagine, brothers and sisters, that we are

immune to all this. Don't be like the rich young

man. Maybe I can summarize this whole thing.

Maybe that's just what I should have done at

the beginning instead of speaking so long. with

two brief sayings, one frequently repeated by

Father Michael of blessed memory, which he would

say to people, it's been reported to me, in confession,

with tears. Don't let anything come between you

and God. And the second, the words of the Savior,

where your treasure is, that's where your heart

is also. To our Savior. Be glory and honor. Now

endeavor to ages of ages.