Can you imagine Jesus looking you straight in the eye and saying, “You lack one thing,” just one thing standing in the way of life in union with the Divine? What a blessing it would be to hear him identify what it is that is hampering our journey home! For many, if not for most, of us, I suspect that, like for the man in today’s gospel, it would be something we need to let go, to surrender, trusting God for the outcome. Surrender was certainly the first step for me on my spiritual journey, and I’m sorry to say, surrender is never once and done. It keeps coming up again and again as we neglect to hold loosely the things that come our way. Our possessions, our relationships, our prestige, our power, our physical well-being, all loom large as the kind of attachments that we find difficult to release into God’s hands. It most often comes down to a matter of trust—for me, the scriptural promise: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things will be added unto you,” (Mt.6:33, KJV) makes clear that nothing but blessing awaits our surrender. There is nothing to fear.

When the rich man in the gospel heard Jesus’ words, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.,” scripture tells us, “he went away grieving, for he had many possessions.” We don’t know what happened to that man after he went away. Did he merely ignore the encounter all together? Or perhaps his heart was so hardened by that exchange that he joined with Jesus’ enemies to eliminate him. Scripture doesn’t say. Maybe, on the other hand, as he reflected on Jesus’ words, he realized how his wealth was standing in the way of his relationship with God and set about changing his life. I think it’s possible that, in retrospect, the man could have recognized the blessing and been grateful for Jesus’ setting him straight, pointing out the one area of his life that needed attention, thereby enabling him to begin to use his wealth for the good of the world.

What is the one thing you lack? Think about it. Consider how you are called to respond.