Go and do more.

You’re edging your way out of the door, thinking you’ll be in good time. Against all the odds, you’re ready to be on your way . . . then you’re stopped in your tracks. And it’s never something simple that stops you. Never something that can be kept until you return. In Mark’s gospel, Jesus makes one journey— the journey to the cross. But all along the way, he stops to teach and to heal. His journey is full of interruptions.

And today’s reading is yet another of those interruptions on the way to the cross. From the subsequent conversation, this man who stops him is familiar with the laws of life— it seems likely he practices them all diligently. But there is clearly something missing from his life. He isn’t fulfilled. He knows how to live— but that doesn’t cut it. He wants more.

Jesus does not condemn the young man who questions him. Jesus looked on him with love. Just as he looks on us with love, today, and says: “You are lacking one thing. Go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor” (v. 21). How hard it is for us to follow when faced with such a demand. Peter, the disciple, makes a good try at squirming out of it by citing all the good that he has done. And Jesus’ message to him is, “Well done; now go and do more.”

In the work of the kingdom, we can never feel that we’ve done our bit. Not while there are poor and homeless and hungry folk in the world. The work is never done. And we have much to share. Jesus looks on us with love, not condemnation. But his message takes no prisoners. Go and do more.

An interesting question occurs to me when reflecting on this passage, “What if the religious life isn’t about being good?” That may not at first sound like a particularly revolutionary statement, but I bet if you suggested this to the Christian brothers and sisters you live, work and worship with— let alone to the typical man or woman on the street— they would be shocked. For most people, religion is all about being good.

Certainly there are plenty of passages in the Bible that stress the importance of leading a moral life. Hence, Amos chastises Israel for its mistreatment of the poor. But while morality is important, I’d suggest that it is not, finally, what religious life is about. Perhaps that explains Jesus’ curious reaction to the man’s greeting. “Good teacher,” he says, to which Jesus’ replies, “No one is good except the one God” (vv. 17-18).

Why would Jesus say that? Perhaps it’s because he wants to stress from the beginning that the kingdom he proclaims isn’t about being good. Soon enough the man will demonstrate that by all earthly stands he really is good, for he has kept the commandments since his youth. Yet he is still unhappy, still driven by some sense of lack and so seeks out Jesus with questions about eternal life.

And how does Jesus respond? By telling him to go and care for his neighbour. Notice: Jesus doesn’t just tell him to give his money away, but rather to sell it and give that money to the poor. Why? Because the religious life, and, for that matter, all of life, is about relationship. Relationship with God that comes as sheer gift— hence, no keeping of the law is sufficient to grant eternal life— and relationship with one another, which is why both Amos and Jesus direct their audiences to care for those in need. Life, now and into eternity, is something we discover and receive only together.