The Gospel for today from the 19th chapter of the Gospel of St Matthew is about a rich young man who did not wish to give away his wealth to the poor and to then follow Jesus. We tend to have a rather low opinion of this young person. Over the centuries, he has certainly had “a bad press”—a lot of criticism because of his rejection of the advice of Jesus Christ. However, let’s pause and consider this story carefully from the beginning.

This young man is a searcher. He is not trying to test or deceive Jesus; and Jesus treats him kindly. The Orthodox Christian theologian, Jaroslav Pelikan has written a lovely chapter in the book by William Zinsser, Going on Faith: Writing as a Spiritual Quest. Dr Pelikan writes; and I quote: Any spiritual search begins “where we are with what we have and with what we have found;” and then we continue to search. “In [The Confessions, St] Augustine [uses the] beautiful term … faith in search of understanding—so that, having found understanding, faith can search yet again,” concludes Dr Pelikan. That is precisely the situation of this young man: he has faith and is in search of understanding. Jesus joins him in beginning where he is and with what he has already found. We too begin our journeys as Orthodox Christians in that way—with where we are and with what we have already found. Then, we seek in faith deeper understanding of life—deeper understanding of the purposes of our own lives and the purposes of God Himself. It’s what you might call “a double search”—for who we are and who God is.

The first question that the young man asks of Jesus is “What good thing should I do that I will have eternal life?” Jesus replies, “Why are you asking me about what is good. There is only One who is good.” In the Gospel of St Mark, chapter 10, the conversation shows the respect that the young man and Jesus have for each other. The young man “ran up to Jesus and knelt before Him, and asked Him, ‘Good teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.’” Both Jesus and the young man are using the word “good” as in Psalm 72 (73), verse 28, where the psalmist writes, “As for me, the nearness of God is my good.” This young man is certainly searching for God; and Jesus wants to help him draw nearer to God.

Then Jesus tells him “’but if you wish to enter into [eternal] life, keep the commandments’” [that is, the Ten Commandments].  The young man replies that he has done this “from his youth” and asks Jesus, “what do I still lack?” As St Mark writes, “Looking at [the young man], Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, “’One thing you lack; go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.’” A fourth century bishop of Laodicea, Apollinaris, has reflected that: “The teaching of the law is good, and Christ does not criticize it, but he says, ‘If you would enter [eternal] life, keep the commandments,’ indicating the beginning of this route but not its completion. Through this,” wrote Apollinaris, Christ “shows that law is not alien to Himself, but perfection comes from [Christ] Himself.”

This rich young man is at a place where perhaps many of us are today—at the beginning of the route seeking to experience within our own lives on earth “the nearness of God [which] is [our] good.” But perhaps we are not yet at the completion of the route. In the fifth century, St Cyril, Patriarch of Alexandria wrote of this relationship between the law and Christ: “The law is the starting point for social justice; Christ is the perfection. For the beginning of the good,” preached St Cyril, “is to act justly. Just action then is shown by the law, but goodness is shown by Christ,” concluded St Cyril.

All of us here today at this Divine Liturgy here at St Aidan’s and in many, many Orthodox churches throughout the world have begun the journey toward the goodness that is shown by Christ. The question that confronts us now is: How are we going to complete that journey? How can we each be drawn nearer and nearer to God?

A week ago the British sprinter Dina Asher-Smith won the 100 meter race at the European Athletic Championships. In a BBC TV interview after the race, she explained that just before the race began, she said to herself, “Dina, what are you doing? You’re here to run. Don’t stay in the blocks.” The “blocks” to which Dina was referring are the starting-blocks—the two shaped blocks against which athletes rest their feet before they use those blocks to push off as the race begins. For each of us, as we live our lives as Christians we can say to ourselves, “What are we doing? We’re here to pray and serve others and draw closer to the Lord. Don’t stay in the blocks.”

To get out of the starting-blocks fast, a meditation by a twentieth-century Serbian saint, Bishop Nikolai Velimirovich, is helpful. He wrote in The Prologue from Ochrid: “Both in heaven and on earth, there is one highest good for the soul of an awakened [person], and that is God [Himself]. There are good things without number in heaven, but the King in heaven is the greatest. There are good things without number on earth, but the Creator of them all [the Lord] is without compare. Therefore, the soul of the awakened [person] asks: ‘What I have, or what could I desire, in heaven or on earth, besides Thee?’… The Lord of all good things is in Himself the greatest good; … the Bearer of all wisdom is Himself the greatest wisdom; the Source of all power and mercy is Himself the greatest power and mercy; the Giver of every sort of beauty in heaven and earth is Himself the greatest beauty. No sort of good thing can enter into the heart of [a person] or be dreamed of by [them], that is not present in greatest measure in God. Therefore, my brethren, let us ask God, and we shall receive all; let us be enriched with God, and all riches [and goodness] shall be ours.”

I think and feel that Bishop Nikolai has set out “the riches” and “the goodness” that we seek: “Let us ask God [in our prayers that we may each]… be enriched with God [Himself], and all riches [and goodness] shall be ours.”

So be it, as we ascribe as is justly due, all might, majesty, dominion, power and praise to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, always now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.