Here we have a well meaning young man, who has the holy desire to “possess everlasting life,” who approaches Jesus for help. Jesus suggests following God’s commandments, and learns the young man already does so. Jesus, perhaps sensing that the young man might be excessively attached to his possessions, advises him to sell his possessions, give the proceeds to the poor, and the come and follow Jesus. In doing this, Jesus is setting up a clear choice for the man; he can choose God by following Jesus, or he can choose earthly treasure by clinging to his possessions. At this moment (I hope he changed his mind later), he chooses his possessions over Jesus, and the result is sadness. The young man is caught in the weed, with an excessive desire for his possessions which blocks him from being able to choose everlasting life and a truly happy and meaningful earthly life with Jesus.

To fully understand this encounter, we must realize that this young man could not possibly know Who Jesus is, the way that we know he is the son of God, the Messiah, God in human form. The young man probably thought Jesus was a holy man, a spiritual teacher, or a prophet at most. We should also understand that Jesus” advice to the man, if he is seeking perfection, is specifically tailored to this particular young man. He is probably a young single man with no family responsibilities. It is very unlikely Jesus would ask this of a married man who is the sole support of a wife and children.

Getting back to the story, it appears Jesus realizes that his young man is ready to take the next spiritual step in his life, so he challenges him to sell his possessions, give all to poor, and follow Jesus. This challenge reveals to the young man just how deeply he is attached to his possessions.

This was probably quite a surprise to the young man, who was obviously very holy in many ways. He doesn’t tell us his thinking that gave rise to such a strong desire to keep his wealth, but it may have been as simple as “ I can not possibly be happy without all my possessions, which I have become very used to.” Whatever his falacious thinking was, it had the effect of producing such a strong desire for wealth that it completely blocked his competing holy desire to follow Jesus. The result is that his possessions do not make him happy, but rather the very desire for the possessions made him sad (he “went away sad”). He was sad that he was unable to follow Jesus, because of his inordinate attachment to wealth.

Attachments to things of this world are a serious problem to all of us who are on the spiritual journey. It will be worthwhile to take a look at how to move from attachment to detachment.

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