I want to trust you.

Let’s step away from our weekly videos and return to the written word for a moment.

As I was reflecting on the Gospel from this past Sunday, I was once again reminded of one of the most basic beliefs of Christianity: the personal God.  As Christians, we do not believe that God created the universe and took a step back to see how everything would unfold. We also do not believe that our God is indifferent to our needs or is unable to communicate with us in a meaningful way.  The Judeo-Christian tradition has shown over and over again (beginning with Genesis) that our God is personal.  We can actually enter into a relationship with God through which we know that we can speak to Him, know that we will be heard by Him, and that He desires to speak with us in a way that is deeply transformative to our lives.  

In Mark’s Gospel we hear of a young man with many possessions who seems to be doing all of the right things.  He runs up to Jesus and kneels before him.  This isn’t a timid encounter with the Lord - the young man has some kind of insight that Christ will be able to answer a question deep within his heart, that is, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

Jesus speaks to the baseline of living a good moral life:

“You know the commandments: You shall not kill;

you shall not commit adultery;

you shall not steal;

you shall not bear false witness;

you shall not defraud;

honor your father and your mother." 

The young man, perhaps still recognizing that, even when doing all of these things, something still doesn’t quite sit right, persists:

"Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth."

As Christ looks at the man, he truly loves him.  Because of this love, Christ is able to see the obstacle in the man’s life that is keeping him from truly being able to orient his life towards inheritance of eternal life.  

This desire for eternal life is good.  Honestly, we should all follow this man’s example in daily running to Christ, kneeling before him, and asking him, “what must we do to inherit eternal life?”

This eternal life isn’t meant to be viewed as a cartoonish depiction of heaven where we stuff ourselves with chocolate cake, but instead a deeper immersion and integration into the eternal union with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Our hearts were made for union with our God and the eternal life that we are drawn to - whether we want to admit it or not - will only find satisfaction by being in union with the heart of our Triune God.  

Like the young man, we can have that spark within us that drives us to Christ, recognizing that  no matter how closely we try to follow the Law, something seems to be missing… or as Jesus shows him, many times it can look like something is standing in the way of that fulfillment.  

For the young man, his wealth became an obstacle that was truly keeping him from fully immersing himself into a life of discipleship with Christ.  

Does this mean wealth is intrinsically evil? No, but as Christ tells his disciples, "How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!" 

What is it about wealth that makes it hard to enter the kingdom of God? Again, let’s return to the purpose of our project - to recognize, encounter and experience the personal love of God in a way that is deeply transformative.  As we believe in a personal God, meaning, we can have a relationship with him, it is essential that we treat this relationship within a similar framework as one that we would have with those we love here on this earth.  One essential quality of healthy relationships with those in our family or friend groups, perhaps the most fundamental quality, is trust.  

What would our relationships look like if we didn’t trust those closest to us? If spouses, boyfriends, girlfriends, parents, children all didn’t trust one another, the relationships not only wouldn’t be healthy, they practically would be non-existent.  Sure, people may live in the same house or spend time with one another, but if trust isn’t present in the relationship, it will only remain a shallow and draining experience rather than a life-giving one.  

The rich young man simply didn’t trust God.  His wealth became an obstacle to this trust.  But notice how Christ speaks to the man as well as how he addresses his astonished disciples, almost despairing at how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God.  When Jesus identifies this obstacle for the young man, we hear that he “loved” and “looked” at him.  When he speaks to his disciples he says, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!” Christ isn’t giving off an air of superiority, ridiculing the man or his disciples as he explains the cost of discipleship - far from it! Instead, we see language that shows Christ seeing the man in his totality and loving him in order to help the man recognize the areas in his heart that are too attached to this world and may be hesitant to trust God.  We also see Christ using familial, loving language in addressing his disciples, language that shows how Jesus’ own Father sees them - His beloved children. 

We see this over and over again in the Gospels - Christ using parables or situations to help those he is close to have a better understanding of his Father.  

Far too often, the painful experiences from our past or even a tendency to get wrapped too closely into the cares of this world lead us to have a distorted image of God.  We may believe that He is a bully who wants to rip away all of the good things in our life or that He has time for everyone else, but not for us.  

Jesus wants to speak into those wounds into those places of distrust, because, without recognizing the obstacles in our way, our capacity to truly surrender everything to the Lord will always be stunted.  

What in our lives is the Lord calling us to surrender right now?

Sometimes we can come to believe that we just need to turn over everything that is negative or difficult in our lives.  

A difficult job?

Someone we love is sick?

A relationship just ended?

Take all of it God! I want to surrender all of those things to you!

Yet, when we start to think of the truly meaningful and beautiful things in our lives - the things we hope for, the people we care most about - we can quickly become fearful and try to do anything we can to keep God from meddling in what we find most important.

God wants all of it.  He wants all of the pain and the problems, but He also wants everything you care most about.  

We may feel some points of resistance when we think of surrendering all of the good things in our life.  Images of God as a bully may come to mind, thinking that He is just waiting to stomp us out of existence as soon as we lift up our hands in surrender.  These resistance points show us the areas of our hearts that struggle with trust.  

Christ - the fullness of revelation - shows us the face of the Father.  He shows us that he does not have any bad intentions, he isn’t trying to trick us, he isn’t waiting for an opportunity to strike when we are weak.  Jesus shows us that the Father wants nothing more than to love us.  To make himself vulnerable to us by offering His only Son to us so that we may live.  

Every time we come to Mass, we experience such a tangible display of this surrender and vulnerability from our God.  When we receive the Eucharist, we literally receive the vulnerable God into our hands or on our tongues.  God places Himself in a place of weakness where He could be dropped - He places Himself at risk - so that we can consume Him, be fed by Him, and live by Him.  

Each day we have an opportunity to enter into a new level of trust with the Lord.  This isn’t a one time thing.  He will not leave us in a place of mediocrity and constantly beckons us to step into deeper waters.  This isn’t for the sake of watching us struggle, but rather for the opportunity to find new ways to surrender - every day.  

If this seems too hard, you aren’t alone.  

They were exceedingly astonished and said among themselves,

"Then who can be saved?"

Jesus looked at them and said,

"For human beings it is impossible, but not for God. 

All things are possible for God." 

He will give you the grace to surrender everything.  To approach Him with open arms - not holding back the good or the bad, but truly placing everything before Him so that no obstacles keep you from being embraced by the Father who loves you personally, deeply, and in a way that will truly transform your life for the better.  

Jesus, I want to trust you.