​In spiritual terms, 'blindness' is the inability to notice, understand and integrate sacred things with ordinary things.  If we cannot do this, we are the poorest of the poor.  Not to know that we are loved more than we could ever know creates a spiritual homelessness in our hearts.  We become beggars.  We stretch out our hands and our hearts as we long to understand the meaning of the death and resurrection of Jesus.  Blind, we sit by the roadside, on the road that runs from Jericho to Jerusalem where this revelation will unfold. We need to go to Jerusalem. But only Jesus can raise us to our feet and invite us to follow Him there. 
 
Jerusalem is the place where Gods' unconditional love will be revealed.  This is the Love that will not fail. Its light will cure our darkened eyes and illuminate our darkened hearts.  In our poverty, our begging becomes bolder.  Obstacles must be overcome - especially those that come from other people.  They are troubled by our naked desire.  Our heartfelt plea for mercy offends their more moderate ways.  If we persist, the One who hears all cries for mercy will come and stand before us.  Anyone who begs from the heart for sight will always be heard by the clear sighted one.  His call lifts us up from the ground.  But still - He will test the strength of our desire. 
 
The Beloved Son is not a magician. He is the Teacher, who wants to reveal to us the ways of God.  We have always longed for this but Jesus calls for a new way of seeing.  His death and resurrection are a new revelation; old eyes are blind to it.  Now that He has opened our eyes, we know where we must go.  There is no turning back.  With new eyes we must follow Him into a new understanding.  We join the others who are following Him. "They were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them; they were amazed and those who followed were afraid." (Mark 10:32) 
 
The need to understand the longing for the Truth which will set  us free  is  in  all  of  us.  Those  who follow  their hearts desire  touch  the  door  to  a  mystery  -  a  mystery  to  which someone else has the key.  Usually, by the time we arrive at  the  door,  our  desire  will  have  transformed  us  into beggars.   The  Son  of  Timeaus  is  driven  to  see  and understand the revelation of the Son of David.  When the Son  of  David  hears  his  cry,  he  perceives  the  fury  of  his desire.   The  crowd  cannot  crush  it.   Jesus  matches  his passion with a summons that's brings him to his feet.  Eye to eye - what a meeting!  But the one with the revelation has met many who are not able to understand it.  Only faith will empower this person to take the first step.  Only faith will fuel his desire to go deeper. 
 
Any great desire will transform us into beggars.  In 'Zorba the Greek', Zorba tells his boss that the first time he heard the 'Sunatri'- a musical instrument - it took his breath away and he could not eat for three days.  He knew he had to learn how to play it.  His father berated Him.  But Zorba gathered his life savings and bought a Sunatri.  He then travelled to Salonica and threw himself at the feet of the Turk, Retsep Effendi.  He begged him to teach him, even though he had no money. "Are you really crazy about the Sunatri?"  The twenty-one year old Zorba answered, "Yes!"  "Well you can stay", answered Retsep. 
 
No amount of money can purchase our deepest desire.  We must beg the Teacher to teach us.  For us, as Christians, our deepest desire must be the longing to understand the meaning of the death and resurrection of Jesus.  Every day we must begin by asking God to heal our blindness. The Father will ask, "Are you really crazy about Jesus?"

James and John approach the Teacher.  And the Teacher knows the best way to give the disciple a better understanding of their own heart is to ask them to reveal their desire(s).
 
As soon as Jesus hears their 'desire', He knows they don't quite understand Him yet. They want  it  all  and  all Jesus has to offer  is a  cup  of sorrow  that becomes a saving  cup. His invitation to a life lived in genuine loving service to others, of suffering for the sake of justice, and of losing in order to find make it clear that death and resurrection are a package deal.
 
Spiritual and Social climbers tend to upset other spiritual and social climbers!  The fantasy of being first has a tendency to make someone else feel they are the last.  When life becomes a  competition,  someone  looks  higher  than  someone else.  Those on top push around those beneath them. This is not the way of the new humanity which Jesus is bringing to birth.
 
Disciples  touch  their  true  greatness  when  their  presence  is gentle,  healing,  liberating,  compassionate,  loving  and  life giving - and through these activities others are set free from what hurts, debases,  imprisons and kills them.
 
The Buddha taught that for those who are overcome by ego, suffering spreads like wild grass.  Those who overcome ego open  a  doorway  to  a  larger,  eternal  world.   As  they  go, their steps leave no trace.
 
The Golden rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"' holds good but looks easier than it is.  The invitation of the prophets - This is what God asks if you, that you act justly, that you love tenderly that you walk humbly  -  is even more of a challenge.  But there is only one way to find out if what Jesus is saying is true and that's to dive in and try the water.   This  week,  when  as  a  parish  community, we  try  to  embrace a  more vibrant commitment to justice, peace and social responsibility, this Teaching supports us to take the next step together and not leave it for others

The running man is eager and respectful.  He is a true seeker.  He calls Jesus 'Good Teacher' and he is right!  But Jesus needs him to shift his focus elsewhere -  to the goodness of God.  Eternal life is God's gift to us.  It flows from the heart of love.  In this Sunday's Gospel, both seeker and disciple will receive a masterclass in how to understand God and the goodness of God.
 
The seeker has a problem or two! He is focused on being good in order to get the best.  He lives in a world of action and reward. He has kept the commandments from his youth.  He has a young person’s spirituality, all
eagerness, energy and EGO!  Before Jesus takes him to the next level, He looks at him and loves him.  All he has done has brought him to Jesus.  He has completed step one and now step two beckons him.  What Jesus is about to say is not a criticism but a leg up to the answer to his question. How does someone receive the life that flows from the goodness of God?
 
Suddenly Jesus starts talking about 'treasure in heaven' v.21. The thing we must prize more than anything else is our relationship with God.  The path to this 'God centredness' is to let go of all that now possesses him and give it to  the  poor.   The  seeker  understands  but  cannot  believe  what  he  is hearing!  In shock and grief he turns away.  Jesus sweeps a penetrating gaze towards his disciples and suggests that all who are weighed down by wealth will find it difficult to enter the kingdom of God.  His disciples are first puzzled and  then  astonished  by  this.   Then  Jesus  escalates  the  situation  from 'difficult' to 'impossible'.  Now His disciples are in shock.  The Teacher waits, then  makes  His  final  thrust.   He  must  lift  them  out  of  conventional consciousness  to  illumination.   What  is  impossible  for  human  beings  is possible for God!  This is the karate chop which will dismantle the obstruction and open their hearts to another Way.
 
The good God wants to give them eternal life and they must look to Heaven as Jesus does so often.  Humans are  addicted  to  looking  everywhere  else.   No  earthly  treasure  will  be  a  ticket  to  eternal  life.   Owning  and accumulating does not work in the world of the Spirit.  If the heart longs for 'eternal life' it is wrongheaded in the
extreme if the heart thinks it can do this by accumulating good deeds.   
 
Peter jumps in. "Okay, let’s not talk about this guy or other rich people. We haven’t walked away.  What's in it for us?"  Peter is still playing 'quid pro quo' with God.  In return for his sacrifice he expects a reward.  Peter is fearful of  being  cheated.   He  may  have  left  everything  but  his  mind  has  not.   Jesus  addresses  his  fear  with  comic exaggeration.  All you have given will be returned with interest - the good God is not stingy.  But the spiritual law still applies - If you want to be first, you will be last.  But if you are last, thereby opening yourself to the goodness of God, you will be first.  Every blessing has to be received as a free gift.
 
The drive to assuage insecurity can be ruthless.  It can make us extremely self-absorbed and, worse still, it leads to terrible injustices.  Even worse, we may tolerate injustice and cruelty as long as we benefit from them!  Couple the moral defects which come with the drive to accumulate, with spiritual ignorance, and the whole project is doomed to failure.  Accumulation is futile in the face of death.  Temporal life is insecure by its very nature.  No strategy within time will ever change that.
 
In Anthony de Mellos' 'The Song of the Bird', there is a great little Parable about holding onto life with an open hand.
 
In the 19th century an American tourist visited the famous Polish Rabbi Hafez Hayyim.  He was astonished to see that the Rabbis' home was only a simple room filled with books.  The only furniture, a table and a bench. 'Rabbi, where is your furniture?' asked the tourist. 'Where is yours?' Replied Hafez. 'Mine? But I'm only a visitor here'.
'So am I," said the Rabbi.
 
As someone who dances to the rhythms of time and eternity, we must live in time but have our eyes fixed on heaven.  This will turn our lives around,  we will instantly cure ourselves of anxiety and the desire to have power over others.  We must not delude ourselves.  Even while we have possessions, we must disown them.  We cannot allow them to own us in such a way that they close our hearts to the suffering of others or to the astonishing generosity and goodness of God. to edit.