Evensong homily, 21st September 2025
Texts: Matthew 19:16-30
Ecclesiastes 5:4-12
Psalm 119:33-40, 89-96
Did you know there are only ninety-five days until Christmas? Perhaps it’s time to start Christmas thoughts… what presents will we buy; what Christmas Dinner arrangements need to be made, and who will sit where; how are we going to un-tangle the Christmas Tree lights…
And, of course, what we might need to do to ensure that we’re on the right side of Santa’s “naughty or nice list”, come the day.
And that’s where our reading from Matthew comes in. Because there’s an almost touching naivety about the chap – initially just “someone” but later clarified as a “young man” who comes to question Jesus. He seems to be entirely sincere; but his question is immature.
“Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” Rather like children wanting to know exactly how good they need to be, to get on Santa’s “nice” list; only with eternal life, rather than Christmas presents, at stake.
I think there’s a very human temptation to see goodness as a tick-box exercise. Our young man, he assures us, has been good. He hasn’t murdered, or lied, he has done right by his parents and has been good to his neighbours. Whether he is, in fact, quite so good as he thinks he is or not, he’s aware there is something lacking – perhaps this is the beginning of a new maturity. He can tick (or he thinks he can tick) all those important boxes; but he’s aware that there is something more he needs.
So, like any sensible person, he asks the question. What do I still lack?
And Jesus moves the conversation onto a whole new level.
Because God isn’t seeking ticked boxes – he wants relationship. And our relationship with God can never flow out of our own goodness; but only out of love – for God, and for God’s goodness.
Our Psalm this evening was full of it; the Psalmist is passionate about giving his whole heart; longing for God’s precepts, which are life and delight to him. I am yours, he cries fervently.
The psalmist knows that relationship with God is the treasure.
Jesus points out that there is only one who is good, and it isn’t the young man, whatever he thinks of himself. Whatever we think of ourselves! Jesus offers him, here, a “route to perfection” – If you want to be perfect! – he says. The word is “τέλειος” – telios – it can be translated, brought to completion, fully accomplished or fully developed.
And the young man, we’re told, went away sad “because he had many possessions”.
**
I think there are two ways we could read that suggestion by Jesus.
Is he offering us a magical formula? If I give away all my possessions, will I then stop being my flawed, sinful self and become perfect, like God?
It doesn’t take much serious thought to realise that isn’t true. Generosity is one of the great virtues, certainly, but if I give away everything I have, I will still be me, prone to the same shortcomings that I already have.
I suspect Jesus quite deliberately hit on something that the young chap wasn’t able to do. If he’d had a different person in front of him, I suspect the example would have been different. Because he isn’t simply suggesting a route to goodness, another box to tick. He is bringing our young man – and us – to the understanding that only God is good and relationship with him is the treasure.
He wants to move the young man – he wants to move us – from a little, tick-box view of goodness to a panoramic view of God’s goodness, with all its value and splendour and beauty.
Humankind didn’t invent relationship; God did. And relationship with a God of transcendent goodness is the very best thing on offer. As the first question in the Westminster Shorter Catechism tells us, Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. This relationship isn’t simply a religious “nice to have”; it’s the whole pinnacle of our existence.
Perhaps the word isn’t helpful any more. “Enjoy” is a soft kind of word, these days. You might enjoy your job (or not!), or ice cream, or a film. All nice stuff, but perhaps not earth-shattering.
Of course, the root is “joy”, which is a stronger word in our culture. Strong enough that we tend only to use it at special times – the birth of a child, including of course Christmas (in 95 days!), sometimes a marriage.
Originally, “enjoy” comes from the Latin gaudere – to rejoice – we still celebrate Gaudete Sunday each Advent. It came to English via Old French, which added an interesting twist; the word enjoier meant to rejoice and also to give joy. Entrepreneur Brad Costanzo makes a good point[1] – he says that “enjoy”, at its very best, means to make joy, not receive it, and yet you can’t make joy, without receiving it.
I think this relationship of reciprocal joy with God is exactly what Jesus was pointing our rich young man towards. That is his “chief end”; his τέλειος, his full completion.
As long as we think of goodness in terms of our own achievements, a tick-box exercise, we’re missing the point and we’re missing our best potential. When we seek after goodness, we’re really seeking after God Himself. It’s that journey that the Psalmist celebrated this evening with such fervour.
And as our relationship with God becomes closer and stronger, of course human goodness follows – it’s a by-product, more than a goal. And joy follows – giving it as we receive it.
But the treasure will always be the relationship itself – a love relationship with the God of the universe.
What a privilege!
Juli Meiklejohn
[1] https://medium.com/@bradcostanzo/enjoy-is-a-weird-word-c14b7e725e0b