"All of these I have observed. What do I still lack?"
The young man already knows that something is still missing. It isn't enough to simply follow the rules and be good. He's got that covered already and still there is this emptiness, this longing for the eternal in his heart. It draws him from those good behaviors to the source of goodness. But he only reaches the threshold. The invitation he receives at that threshold causes him to go away sad. He is called to move from various goods to the One who is good. To do so requires something more than mere keeping of rules. It means laying down his own life in surrender. It means no longer to be in the center of his own life. It requires a divesting of all ownership he has in his own life so that he can follow Jesus unreservedly.
Following the LORD means casting down our idols.
Because they had thus abandoned him and served Baal and the Ashtaroth,
the anger of the LORD flared up against Israel,
and he delivered them over to plunderers who despoiled them.
Even the best things can be idols. It means that, if we are being contaminated by them, prevented from following God as we should we may have to forego even legitimate goods.
They did not exterminate the peoples,
as the LORD had commanded them,
But mingled with the nations
and learned their works.
To engage the culture with a goal of transforming and renewing it is admirable. But if we are being corrupted instead we need to cut ourselves off from its influence. That would mean we are serving it rather than putting it at the service of the gospel. There may be times, as with the rich man, that we can't actually hold onto our possessions without them preventing us from following Jesus. If possessions have this effect we need to get rid of them. We need to surrender everything to follow Jesus. It can be just a relationship between us and lesser things that needs to change. But if we find ourselves still ruled by lesser things in spite of our efforts at thinking more correctly about them it might be time to let them go. The invitation to follow Jesus always remains when we do. Freedom in pursuing that call is worth more than any treasure.
Jesus said to him, "If you wish to be perfect, go,
sell what you have and give to the poor,
and you will have treasure in heaven.
Then come, follow me."
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