The Inheritance

“Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Mark 10:17b
We all ask that question one way or another. Is there life after death---whatever that death may be. Is there life after a divorce? After a loss of job or physical ability? What is life without one’s mental faculties? Is there life after one moves out of one’s home? Is there life after high School or college or retirement? What rich, deep meaning does my life have in the cosmos? And how do I get it? How do I come to understand the legacy of meaning for which I was born and lived? Try to avoid these questions. Eventually, some event in life will strike you like a cold gust of wind in February and you will hear this question or something like it burning in your heart and mind, longing for resolution. Ultimately, the question means, how do I come to grips with the ultimate losses in life when I cannot control them or hinder them from coming? Isn’t there some way that I can control my own fate, resolve to make a life for myself after death? What is my life’s meaning?
The answer is not easy. Jesus says its hard. For us, who control as much as we can, holding on to every vestige of dignified self-power we believe we have, this is NOT EASY.
What does Jesus say? Childhood obedience is not enough because it doesn’t get to the heart of the matter. What does is to give up. To surrender what you are clinging to. Give it to someone else. If its money, give it to the poor. If it’s work, retire or seek another vocation. If it’s travel, stay still. If it’s your family, spend some time alone. What we think is fulfilling us is usually emptying us of what we truly need. You get what you need when you leave it all behind. This kind of reverse logic is counterintuitive, seemingly counterproductive, certainly countercultural. Leave it all behind? But I’ve worked so hard for…
Nevertheless, doing so is the key to the inheritance. The question is, do you want to inherit what you do not deserve, what you cannot earn, and what, in spite of that, has been promised to you? Or are you satisfied with life as it is? I doubt you can truthfully affirm the latter question. More likely, you know that this is not all there is because you live with hope. I am unsatisfied, too. And I know that my feeble attempts to placate my hunger for more will simply create more emptiness. What I need is Jesus’ loving encouragement. Give it up. Don’t try so hard to make your own life meaning. With God, life is endless possibility waiting to be discovered yb those willing to watch and wait and listen for God. With love, PM