Sunday, Oct. 13, is the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Mass readings: Wisdom 7:7-11; Psalm 90:12-13, 14-15, 16-17; Hebrews 4:12-13; Mark 10:17-30 or 10:17-27.

Today’s Gospel invites us to wrestle with these fundamental, essential, focal questions: “What does heaven cost?” and “Am I willing to pay it?”

A man asks Jesus, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

Though his question is a good one, it is problematic because he couches it in terms of his own personal power and achievement.

None of us has the holiness, the spiritual wealth or the power to attain heaven based merely on what we do.

We tend to underestimate the seriousness of our condition and believe that a few sacraments, occasional prayers and some spiritual “push-ups” will be sufficient.

Jesus decides to follow up on the man’s premise, saying to him, “You know the commandments: You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; you shall not defraud; honor your father and your mother.”

The law gives us a necessary and clear frame of reference for what pleases God.

Then the man boldly says, “Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth.”

Notice that the man’s perfection is perceived; simply noting it in himself does not mean that he actually has it in himself. God seeks more than perfunctory observance. His grace desires to accomplish within us wholehearted observance. Jesus sets aside the rich man’s claims of righteousness and now is ready to address the question, “What does heaven cost?”

Jesus says, “You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”

To have heaven, we must set aside this world, not only its life, but its pomp, ephemeral glories and passing pleasures. Heaven costs everything.

So shocking is this teaching that even the apostles, who had in fact left everything to follow the Lord, are shocked by it. Thus, they cry out, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus responds, “For man it is impossible, but not for God. All things are possible for God.”

So, in the end, salvation must be God’s work.

He alone can take these hearts of ours, so rooted in passing things, and make them willing to forsake all things for the Kingdom.

Finally, don’t miss the look of love that Jesus gave the young man, the look that he gives you and me. In the end, only a greater love, God’s love received, can replace the disordered love we have for this world.