28th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Jesus is the Most Jealous Lover

In today's Gospel, a young man goes to Jesus and asks him how he can achieve eternal life. Jesus inquires if he is keeping the Commandments, and the young man assures him that he is. The young man is desiring more from his relationship with God. So Jesus looks at him, loves him, and shows him what is lacking in his heart and thus an obstacle to divine life: He is attached to his possessions. If we want an intimate relationship with Jesus, we must not only keep the Commandments and follow the precepts of the Church -- which constitute the foundation of our life with God -- but there must also be nothing in our heart competing with God for first place. When Jesus identifies an attachment in our heart that inhibits our relationship with him, he will attach that attachment with the relentlessness of a jealous lover.