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Illustration: “Christ and the Rich Young Ruler” by Heinrich Hofmann
Pope Francis’ Catechesis the General Audience of April, 9 2025
Wednesday, 9 April 2025
Cycle of Catechesis – Jubilee 2025. Jesus Christ our Hope. II.
The life of Jesus. The encounters 4. The rich man. Jesus looked at him (Mk 10:21)
As Jesus was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments:
‘Do not kill, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.’”And he said to him, “Teacher, all these things I have observed from my youth.”And Jesus looked at him and loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you have, and give to the poor,
and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” (Mark 10:16-21)
“This man has built himself a luxurious ship, but he has stayed in the harbor!” (Pope Francis)
Dear brothers and sisters,
Today we will look at another of Jesus’ encounters, as told in the Gospels.
This time, however, the person encountered has no name.
The evangelist Mark presents him simply as “a man” (10:17).
He is a man who has kept the commandments ever since his youth but who has not yet found the meaning of his life. He is searching for it.
Perhaps he is a person who, despite appearing to be a committed person, has not really made up his mind.
In fact, beyond the things we do, our sacrifices and successes, what really counts in order to be happy is what we carry in our heart.
When a ship has to set sail and leave the harbor to sail on the open sea, it can be a wonderful ship, with an exceptional crew, but if it does not pull up the ballast and the anchors that hold it down, it will never be able to sail. This man has built himself a luxurious ship, but he has stayed in the harbor!
As Jesus walkie down the street, this man ran up to Him, knelt down and asked: “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Notice the verbs: “what must I do to have eternal life”.
Since observance of the law did not bring him the happiness and security of salvation, he turns to the Master, Jesus. Notice that this man does not know the vocabulary of gratuitousness! Everything seems to be owed. Everything is a duty. Eternal life is for him an inheritance, something that is obtained by right, by the scrupulous observance of obligations.
But what space can love have in a life lived in this way, albeit for good purpose!
As always, Jesus goes beyond appearances.
While on the one hand this man is presenting his fine resume to Jesus, Jesus goes beyond and looks within.
The verb that Mark uses is very significant: “looked at him” (v. 21).
Precisely because Jesus looks within each one of us, He loves us as we really are.
What will he have seen in this person?
What does Jesus see when he looks into each of us and loves us in spite of our distractions and our sins?
He sees our fragility, but also our desire to be loved for who we are.
Looking at him, the Gospel says, He “loved him” (v. 21).
Jesus loves this man even before he invites him to follow him.
He loves him just as he is.
Jesus’ love is gratuitous: exactly the opposite of the logic of merit that had afflicted this man.
We are truly happy when we realize that we are loved in this way, freely, by grace.
And this also applies to the relationships between us.
As long as we try to buy love or beg for affection, those relationships will never make us feel happy.
The proposal that Jesus makes to this man is to change his way of life and relationship with God.
In fact, Jesus recognizes that in him, as in all of us, something is missing.
It is the desire that we carry in our heart to be loved.
There is a wound that belongs to us as human beings, the wound through which love passes.
To overcome this lack we do not need to “buy” recognition, affection, consideration:
instead, we need to “sell” everything that weighs us down, in order to make our hearts freer.
It is not necessary to continue to take for ourselves, but to give to the poor, to offer, to share.
Finally, Jesus invites this man not to be alone.
He invites him to follow him, to be in a relationship, to live a relationship.
Only in this way will it be possible to come out of his anonymity.
We can only hear our name a relationship in which someone calls us.
If we remain alone, we will never hear our name spoken, and we will continue to be that “man”, anonymous.
Perhaps today, precisely because we live in a culture of self-sufficiency and individualism,
we are more unhappy because we no longer hear our name spoken by someone who loves us freely.
This man does not accept Jesus’ invitation and remains alone, because the ballast of his life keeps him in the harbor. His sadness is the sign that he has not managed to leave.
Sometimes, what we think of as riches are only burdens that hold us back.
The hope is that this person, like each one of us, will sooner or later change and decide to set sail.
Sisters and brothers, let us entrust to the Heart of Jesus all those who are sad and undecided,
so that they may feel the loving gaze of the Lord, who is moved when he looks tenderly into us.
