Unsuccessful encounter

[AI translation] Ever since I was a child, I was always a little sad when I came to this part of the Bible. It is indeed one of the saddest stories in the whole Bible. It is perhaps the only time that one does not yield to the explicit, personal call of Jesus, that one is turned away by the attraction of Jesus, that one turns his back on the Lord and walks away from him after such an intimate encounter and serious conversation. I could summarize the story of this young man most succinctly, that here was an unsuccessful encounter, and obviously God's Holy Spirit has written it for us to encourage us to have a fruitful encounter through him. So let us look at some of the details of the story.As it begins, it just encourages us with a very good result. It begins in a very hopeful way. A young man, who is also rich, runs up to Jesus, kneels before him and asks him the most serious question of all: the question of gaining eternal life. The behaviour of this young man is very surprising, because it shows that he is not satisfied, not happy, that despite all that he has - and he has it in abundance - he is missing something. He has a sense of lack that drives him to Jesus, that brings him to his knees at Jesus' feet. Yet he had values that many other people enviously long for. Many old people want to be young. Well, this man was young: an untold richness of life! And many young people want to be rich. Well, this young man was rich too. If he had lived today, he would certainly have had a television, a modern car, everything that could make life on earth comfortable and beautiful. He was a man of whom you could say: good for him! With wealth comes prestige, respect from the people, the company of the top ten thousand. With money you can get people's favour. That is also a great wealth in life. And it is also clear from the description that he was a man of high moral standing, a noble-minded, respectful of his parents, religiously-minded, serious young man. He was a man of many fortunate gifts. Truly, in every respect: a rich life! Rich in earthly goods, rich in the esteem of others, rich in moral values. And yet all this wealth does not give him satisfaction. He has not stolen his fortune like many others, he has not led a sordid life, his family relations are clean and orderly, yet he longs for something else: yet he does not feel himself to be a man who has achieved the greatest, the highest, the best. He feels that this is not everything, this is not the real life, the fullness of life. There must be something more than riches, the respect of people and human decency. It is not enough to be rich, to be young; what is lacking is something that can give meaning to one's life, something that gives life meaning. He has many things that others do not have, but something else is missing. And he feels instinctively that only Jesus can give him that something.
When you get that far, especially at a young age, that is a great achievement in itself. We are such fools that we can believe that everything is everything, that it is the greatest good to have wealth. I can imagine that there are young people among you who are thinking to themselves: fine, fine, but if I were that rich, I would be content, I would not bother myself with further questions, eternal life and what! I would live my life happily, I would look forward to the future calmly, I would have no headaches. I'd be an even better person if I didn't have to worry about money and money problems. Maybe you think so too. Or maybe: I wish I had the respect and appreciation of people like this young man, but no one notices me, I feel inferior in society, but I'm meant for more, I'm just not allowed to assert myself, I'm oppressed... If I had such authority as this young man, I would have nothing to fear. - Or perhaps one is thinking to oneself: oh, how happy and contented I would be if I could say of myself, as this young man did, that I have kept the commandments. But I dare not even think of the stains with which I have defiled myself from my youth. I am not the honest man they think me to be. If I could stand on the moral high ground that this young man stands on, I should need no other! Enough!
Well, well, this young man has achieved everything that many others only aspire to, and yet his life is not complete, yet he has some great, nagging sense of lack. I would like to lay this on the hearts of my young brothers and sisters in particular. Believe me that even if you have achieved all that you can only dream of today, for example, that you can drive your own car, that you have become a world-famous great man, a master, a scientist, an artist or a beauty queen, that you are surrounded by the adoration of men, but you have not received what Jesus alone can give man: your life remains unsatisfying, empty, unbalanced, without content. You feel what this young man feels: you have not achieved what you wanted, the true good and beauty of life. Man can never be completely satisfied by what money can give, or what other people can give, or what man himself can give to himself, because man is made to be complete only by what Christ can give, because in man - in you too - there is a mysterious desire that nothing in the world can satisfy, except Jesus Christ! There is something in you that, like a piece of iron magnet, is constantly drawn to Jesus, and as long as you resist this attraction you will always remain restless and unsatisfied, and basically sad, like this young man when he "saddened at the word of Christ, he went away sorrowing" - as it is written in the story.
But if he longed for Christ and was there before Christ, why did he grieve and go away sorrowful from him? It was because what Jesus said to him made him very sensitive: "...go, sell all your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me, taking up your cross." (Mark 10:21) The young man felt that Jesus was asking too great a price of him. To give up everything, to sell everything, to distribute the price among the poor: that's a lot! At that price, he would rather not have what Jesus is giving. This young man was repulsed by the idea that he had to give up everything if he wanted to follow Christ. Even today, many young people think that following Christ is all about renunciation. You have to give up everything that is so beautiful in this life. Young people want to enjoy life, and religious life, they think, is all about prohibition, commandments and rules. They always run up against what is not allowed, what is forbidden. Barriers block the paths they so much desire: young believers are not allowed to court, dancing is forbidden - so what is allowed?! Always praying, always looking gloomy, always renouncing all joy, getting old before one's time?
So many people think that Jesus deprives, impoverishes, makes life joyless. No wonder young people do not like this type of piety. Let me tell you: you are right not to like it. I don't like it either. In fact, Jesus doesn't like it either! The renunciation of all pleasure, the piety confined within a multitude of rules and forbidding trees, is a complete misunderstanding of Christianity. That is not what Jesus wants, let no one fear his youth! He does not want to make you poor, but to enrich you; not to bind you with new rules, but to free you completely, to release you from all bondage. When he says: sell all your possessions and come, follow me, it is as if he were saying: turn away from that petty, bourgeois way of life, bound by convention, by rules of decency, by religious precepts, by the love of money, by the fear of dependence on men, and take the adventure of making your life entirely and solely dependent on me, of always doing everything I tell you! You go where I lead you, you do what I want you to do. Give yourself to me, so that I may be your greatest possession, your deepest feeling, your most passionate love. Be thou mine so that nothing shall separate thee from me, neither wealth, nor glory, nor family, nor idol.
To believe in Jesus, to follow him, is almost daring, because it means letting go of everything in order to throw myself completely into the arms of Christ. I expect everything from Him, I base my whole life: my economic, physical and spiritual existence on Him. On Him, the invisible power, the intangible reality! Following Christ is not the meek, boring, fanciful way of life that many people think it is, but a heroic way of life. Someone once said: 'Oh, it's hard to be a Christian! Well, I say: it is impossible, at least humanly impossible, to be a Christian. But then again: if it were not impossible, if it were humanly possible, then it would not be worth being a Christian, it would not be necessary! It is precisely for this reason that we need in this world - oh, but we really need - a Christian way of life and a man who lives a Christian life (a Christian life), because we see what man is capable of by himself: destroying himself and the world! Now it is worthwhile to be truly Christian, to follow Jesus, to bring something into this world other than what the world can offer. To put myself in the hands of Jesus and say to him: take me, Lord, as I am and make me what you want me to be! Life is always new, always interesting, always varied, always adventurous. Become fully Christ's, so that you may be free to do all your work on earth according to your being. Like a compass, one end of which, the tip, must be firmly inserted into a centre, so that with the other tip you can freely and safely draw the necessary lines, measure the necessary distances. So that you can work with the other half. Our life is something like this: we need to be fully, firmly in Christ with our hearts, with our faith, so that we can serve and work with our hands, our brains, our money, our talents.
But there is still a sacrifice to be made for this life. For Jesus says here, sell all your possessions and divide the cost. Jesus first wants to set this young man's hands free so that he can cling to God. And even if it were a matter of actually giving up, fear not, it will be amply repaid. Here again Jesus said, "you will have treasure in heaven"! Here too, he gives more than he asks. The reward is always greater than the sacrifice. So it is always with Jesus. For example, sacrifice a few quiet minutes in the morning to talk to him and your whole day will be calm and balanced. You give Him a tenth of your income, and He miraculously arranges it so that your whole monthly bill doesn't get messed up. You comfort someone and you yourself are filled with unspeakable joy. You give up a sinful love affair and get a happy family life instead. You give something to Jesus, and you receive so much more. You lay down before him in sincere, bitter confession of all your wickedness, and you receive a cleansed, renewed in the power of forgiveness, happy life. You give up your whole hesitant, empty, bound, spoiled self and find in Jesus your true, liberated self. Behold, you will be a treasure on earth, and in heaven! You will find your true treasure only afterwards!
All I can say, brothers and sisters, young and old, is that it is worth sacrificing everything to follow Jesus, so it is worth belonging to Christ with all your heart, to follow Jesus with all your life! It is worth it! In fact, it is the only way to live truly worthwhile! That is what that rich young man was missing. This is eternal life: to be with Jesus here and now, to live and work with him for the renewal of the world!
And yet that rich young man was reluctant, saddened and saddened. How sad Jesus must have looked after him! But many a time have I seen such a departed one, sadly departing from Jesus! Especially after a confirmation ceremony, almost all young people leave like that. The meeting was fruitless! Did this young man ever find his way back to Jesus? We do not know! It is not recorded in the chronicles. But you are here now, you have heard the call of Jesus: woe, do not turn your back on him, do not go away from him now! Begin to live a new life with him, through him, accept what only he can give you: Himself, your Savior, your Lord, your divine Friend, Jesus Christ!
Amen
Date: 10 November 1957.