What he must do to inherit the kingdom of God?

I recently got up in the middle of the night, as is my usual practice, to make a trip to the bathroom. I know there is a chair at the corner where I turn to go into the vanity, but I stubbed my toe on it just the same.

“Darn, I need to put a brighter bulb in that nightlight.”  That dark corner is a menace to my feet.

Have you ever tried to make something ‘less dark’ without adding light?  It doesn’t work that way.  You cannot remove darkness.  You can only add light.

Just as you cannot remove darkness without adding light, and you can’t remove coldness without adding heat, so you can’t remove evil without doing good things.  In this universe there is only good.  Evil does not really exist just as there is no such thing as darkness—only the absence of light makes something dark—there is no evil, only the absence of goodness.

When a rich young man asked Jesus what he must do to inherit the kingdom of God, Jesus replied he must obey the commandments.  The young man replied that he had kept them since his youth.  Then Jesus said to sell everything and give it to the poor, and he went away sad because he had many possessions.

The rich young man had kept God’s commandments by following the law, but Jesus knows that following the law alone, does not make one good.  Living by the law only, and not doing good with our lives, our talents, and our possessions does not drive out evil.  In order to do that we must determine to do good while obeying God’s commandments.

Peace,

Father Mark +