What Do I Still Lack? (Matthew 19:16–26)
Gerald Largent
What Do I Still Lack? — A Reflection on Matthew 19:16–26
This Sunday a man approaches Jesus with one of the most important questions anyone can ask: What must I do to inherit eternal life?
The man is serious. He is not portrayed as a mocker or an enemy trying to trap Christ. Saint John Chrysostom observes that his desire was genuine. While others came to Christ seeking healing or testing Him with questions, this man came because he desired eternal life. There is something admirable in him from the beginning.
Jesus directs him first to the commandments: do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, honor father and mother, and love your neighbor as yourself. The young man responds that he has observed these things. Then comes the question that reveals both his sincerity and his spiritual hunger: What do I still lack?
That may be the most important sentence in the passage for us. A Christian life can gradually become a checklist. We attend services. We avoid certain sins. We say our prayers. We give something to charity. We try to be respectable people. All of these things matter. The commandments are not optional. Yet the young man senses that obedience alone has not brought his heart completely to God.
Christ therefore touches the one place where the young man is not free. He tells him to sell his possessions, give to the poor, store up treasure in heaven, and then come and follow Him. The young man goes away sorrowful because he has many possessions. His tragedy is not simply that he owned things. His possessions owned a part of him.
Saint John Chrysostom describes the man’s heart as promising soil in which the thorns of wealth had become powerful. Christ’s command exposes those thorns. The Lord does not humiliate the young man; He reveals what stands between him and complete discipleship. The invitation is not merely “become poor.” Its final and greatest words are: follow Me.
This Gospel therefore requires more than condemning wealthy people. Each of us must ask, “What possesses me?” For one person it may be money. For another it may be reputation, comfort, career, control, resentment, political passions, entertainment, or the need to have things our own way. We can obey many commandments while still protecting one corner of the heart from Christ.
The Gospel becomes even more striking when the disciples ask, “Who then can be saved?” Christ answers that salvation is impossible by merely human power, but with God all things are possible.
That final word protects us from despair. Christianity is not a heroic project in which we save ourselves by successfully removing every attachment. We cannot heal our own hearts by willpower alone. Salvation is God’s work in us—but He asks for our cooperation. Grace does not force the young man to follow. Christ invites him, and the young man must decide.
The same invitation comes to us.
We begin by keeping the commandments. We repent when we fail. We learn generosity. We give alms so that money becomes a servant rather than a master. We simplify our lives. We forgive. We pray. We receive the Holy Mysteries. And through all of this we continually ask Christ to reveal whatever we are still unwilling to surrender.
The young man’s question should become our prayer: “Lord, what do I still lack?” We should not be afraid of the answer. Whatever Christ asks us to relinquish, He asks because He desires to give us something infinitely greater: freedom from slavery to passing things, treasure that cannot perish, and above all, communion with Himself.
What is impossible for us is possible with God. Our task is to stop walking away sorrowful and begin following Christ.
From the St. Panteleimon Orthodox Christian Outreach bulletin for August 23, 2026.