The Key to Heaven

“Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”A man in today’s gospel (Mk 10:17-30) asks Jesus this question.  He wants to know the key to heaven.  And right there and then, Jesus shows him the key.  Jesus inquires whether he has been observing the commandments: God’s Ten Commandments.  After the man assures Jesus that he has been observing all these commandments from his youth, Jesus points out what is lacking: That the man has to go and sell all his belongings and the money he will give to the poor to earn a treasure in heaven; and only then he can come back to follow Jesus.With that, the man walks away sad, for he is very rich.We don’t know what happens after he walks away.  For henceforth, there is no more mention of this man in the gospel.  Did he follow what Jesus commanded?  We can never know.  But I guess that man can be anybody else.  He can be you or me.  In a word this gospel reading is addressed to all of us.  It seems that the Lord has been very demanding to the man.  How could he just sell all his belongings and give to the poor?  It was really a tall order.  Very difficult to do what Christ has commanded.  But there is one thing in this gospel text that strikes me.  While saying this tall order, Jesus looks at the man with love.  It is a look of love.  Wow!What is the feeling when somebody looks at us with love?  It does feel great, doesn’t it?  We probably are in cloud nine.  And if we are loved, we cannot help but love the other in return.  Love is reciprocated.  How attractive the love of Christ?  It impels us.  How lovable he is?  And loving him brings us to the heart of his commandment: to love God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our strength; and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.With love everything is possible.  Virgil puts it: “Omnia vincit amor” (Love conquers all).  So that if you are in love everything is easy.  What seems to be a tall order in the Lord’s command to the man in the gospel can be done.If we love God, we love our neighbors as well.  And in loving we do everything.  If the man in the gospel reading felt this love of Christ and how it was very compelling, he could have gone home and do what Christ wanted him to do.  Then heaven was for him.Only in loving Christ that we can give up everything and start following him.  Only in loving Christ that one can sell all his belongings and give to the poor.  Only in loving Christ that one can truly give.  This is what we lack in our country.  We don’t really love our fellow Filipinos.  Corruption happens because there is no love.  I remember this story told by a doctor that one time the Japanese government donated to a group of doctors a 4D ultrasound machine.  And when it was operational, the doctors charged the patients for only P1,000.00.  It was cheap considering that it was already an advanced type of technology.  Realizing that many patients were coming for check up, the doctors raised the fee to P2, 000.00.  When the Japanese donors knew about this they commented that we Filipinos had no love for our fellow Filipinos.  The ultrasound machine was given for free and these doctors charged a big amount for their patients.  Because we don’t really love our neighbors; and yet we call ourselves Christians.  St. John says that if we claim that we love God but not our neighbors then we are liars.  We often forget that it is better to give than to receive.  And the more we give the more we receive.  That is why it is not surprising that at the end of today’s gospel text we read: “Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the gospel who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age: houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come.”Love indeed is the key to heaven.