This Sunday's Gospel reading:
"Good teacher, what must I do to enter the kingdom of heaven?"
His society had told the rich young man, his whole life, that he'd already found favor with God. His riches were the evidence of God's favor. Yet, he recognizes in Jesus an authority that can answer the uncertainty that remains within him. He doesn't recognize his fundamental assumption that assurance is found in meeting some minimum set of requirements; he has learned from scribes and Pharisees that it must surely be so, and that the trick is to figure out what those requirements are and then make sure he fulfills them.
Jesus changes the framework of the discussion. It isn't a matter of what we must do to enter the kingdom of heaven. It is a matter of how we will respond to the kingdom of heaven being given to us, through grace and mercy. As long as we view heaven as our reward for the kind of person we are, we will never respond wholeheartedly to the gift that is freely given. As soon as we truly see the sin in our lives as God sees it, then we know the depth of grace. As we live therein, our longing becomes to share it, without limit.
