Professor Alicia Myers observes that Jesus "showed his love by speaking truthfully to the man: 'You lack one thing.'" She then notes that Jesus' challenge to sell all and give the money to the poor "shocked and grieved the man.... He had too many things to give up... The comfort and status that his money afforded him was impossible for him to surrender... Even though the rich man is earnest and knows his commandments, his focus is on the wrong thing, *his* life." (p.386)
In another compassionate interpretation, The Rev. Nontombi Naomi Tutu proposes that "Jesus was asking more of (this man) than just to give up his money. Jesus was inviting him to give up what held him back from loving God completely. It was not wealth per se that was the young man's problem; it was his attachment to his possessions. He could not imagine a life without his possessions. He could not also imagine his worth without them." (p. 388)
As for me, I hear this gospel text encouraging us to keep a close and gentle eye on our attachments, and to honestly ask ourselves how free we are. Wherever we find ourselves in our lives, can we be free enough to keep growing in our love for God, ourselves, the earth, and our neighbors, near and far?
One of my very first favorite hymns has this verse, and I sing it often:
Riches I heed not, nor vain empty praise,
Thou my inheritance now and always,
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart.
High God of Heaven, my treasure Thou art.
Dr. Alicia Myers is associate professor of New Testament and Greek for Campbell University’s Divinity School and president of the National Association of Baptist Professors of Religion (NABPR) for 2023-24.
The Rev. Nontombi Naomi Tutu is an Episcopal priest, and a liberatory scholar, theologian, and speaker.
Their reflections on this text can be found in Connections: A Lectionary Commentary, Year B, Volume 3, c. 2021.