One More Thing

Author: Brian Flanagan
October 12, 2018
28th Sunday of Ordinary Time

“This sounds too good to be true, what’s the catch?”  I often find myself thinking that way when I hear an ad for some product or another.  I know that either the quality isn’t that great, or that there are some hidden costs or cancellation fees somewhere.  It’s like I’ve been conditioned to be cynical.

But sometimes the product looks so amazing, or the ads are so attention-grabbing, that I hang onto hope and pull out my credit card.  Then when the cashier tells me about the 2 year contract I need to sign up for or the insurance she highly recommends I get, I feel a little misled.  Sure I should have seen those things coming, but the sign said one price, and another amount is now coming out of my bank account.  Turns out Best Buy wanted more from me than I originally thought.

I can relate to the rich young man in the Gospel this week.  He was well-intentioned and very much trying to live out his faith.  He runs up to Jesus to ask what he must do to inherit eternal life.  Jesus starts listing the commandments, and the rich young man’s ego puffs up a bit, and he’s proud to tell Jesus that he’s been observing all of those commandments from his youth.
The man is thrilled now.  He wants eternal life so much, and based on Jesus’ words, he’s got it in the bag!  Time seems to freeze and he starts thinking about all the big plans he’s got for his waterfront property on Cloud 9 with a view of the Pearly Gates.  Then Jesus continues…

“You are lacking in one thing.  Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”  At that statement his face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.  Turns out Jesus wanted more from him that he originally thought.

Turns out Jesus wanted…everything.  And that’s what he wants from us too,  EVERYTHING!  He wants our time.  He wants our talent.  He wants our treasure.  But he doesn’t want those things in themselves; he doesn’t “need” those things.  He asks us to give him EVERYTHING because that’s the only way that we’ll be able to give him our hearts, which is really what he wants from us.  When we’re living out our faith pretty well but also clinging to our possessions or our reputation or our relationships apart from God, that’s a half-hearted spiritual life.  Jesus asks us for everything, but at the same time he only asks us for one thing.  Our hearts.
Best Buy doesn’t want my heart (maybe some brand-loyalty), but what it really wants is my money.  I don’t think the rich young man went away sad simply because of the prospect of having to sell all that he had in order to follow Jesus.  I think he was sad because he realized how he wasn’t yet willing to give God his whole heart.  I like to think that even though the end of the story isn’t recorded in the Gospel, the rich young man went home and reflected for a bit, and determined that that he was going to go all-in for God after all.

So where in your life (and in mine) do we need to give God the rest of our hearts?  If Jesus was standing in front of us and said, “Brian, there’s just one more thing.  Go, _______, and come follow me.”, what would that one thing be?  You probably already know.  The Holy Spirit is probably poking at your heart a bit.  Take some time to think about that, and let’s go back to Jesus again tomorrow, like the rich young man hopefully did, and tell him that we’re finally ready to give him our whole hearts!
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