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Jesus said to him, ‘If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ When the young man heard this word, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions. (Matthew 19:21-22)
Freedom road
Start talking about
demon possession and your friends will quickly remember an errand they need to run.
Truth is, human beings are regularly possessed by all kinds of spirits: Greed,
sloth, lust, anger, regret, vanity, gluttony, pride … not to mention spirits
available in various bottles at your local grocery.
Large parts of modern
economies are dependent on keeping us addicted, which is to say possessed by
all kinds of things that distract us from the deep crying need at the center of
our being.
Our hearts ache for
something more, something we cannot name, and in rushes a host of products, activities,
distractions and relationships of all kinds that that promise to still the
ache, fill the emptiness and satisfy the heart.
And when one thing
doesn’t work we may try another, avoiding the nagging truth engraved in our
being that tells us we are made for something more.
This explains the
downcast face of the rich young man who comes to Jesus … and it explains a great
deal of our sadness, too. We give our hearts to that which does not satisfy the
heart.
The rich man owned
nothing because he was possessed by everything he imagined belonged to him. Unable
to open his hands and heart, he could not receive the one thing for which his heart
cried, the Love that satisfies.
He went away sad, but
equally sad was Jesus who wills our freedom, freedom that comes only when we quit
chasing and grasping our own private cures for what ails us, and let his Love
fill us. It’s the road to freedom.
Pr. David L. Miller
