In the 19th chapter of St. Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus encounters a young man who professes to live out the most important commandments. This is Jesus’ first recommendation to reaching eternal life. But even after affirming that he doesn’t kill, steal, commit adultery, bear false witness, and that he honors his father and mother and loves his neighbor as himself, Jesus reveals the innermost mansions. Somehow the young man knows that he hasn’t yet done everything that he can to obtain eternal life. There is something more. Jesus at first only recounts the commandments that relate to other people, not to God.
In Matthew 19:21, “Jesus said to him, ‘If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.’” But this is a bridge too far for the rich young man, and he goes away sorrowful. With respect to men – that is, in a worldly sense – this young man can do everything prescribed of him. But what Jesus is asking requires something supernatural. Achieving eternal life is a task that we can’t accomplish on our own. And this is what Jesus tells His disciples when He turns from the departing young man.
“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God,” Jesus tells them in Matthew 19:24. Reading St. Matthew’s recounting of the scene, one can almost imagine the befuddled disciples looking at one another in amazement, perhaps throwing up their hands as if to give up. “Who then can be saved?” is their frustrated response (Matthew 19:25).
Perhaps this is the same cry that comes to our lips today. We are built, by the same God who loves us, to strive for personal glory. We are hard-wired to search for meaning in our lives. Yes, we want to succeed in a worldly way; we want to be liked and we want to be loved. We want to be understood. But ultimately none of that fulfills us. And, given that, what is the point of it all? One hears the echoes of the book of Ecclesiastes: “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What does man gain by the toil at which he toils under the sun?” (Ecclesiastes 1:2-3)
The disciples aren’t just speaking in frustration. They truly want to know. Like the rich young man, they want to attain eternal life. But they don’t know how to do it. And amazingly, Jesus admits to them that it is indeed impossible. He says it plainly, but He only increases their frustration by failing to explain exactly how it will become possible. “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible,” Jesus says in Matthew 19:26. This isn’t an explanation at all. Peter asks what they will gain, and Christ answers with a vision of the coming kingdom, and their places in it, but still the question remains unanswered – or so it seems. How will God make it possible?
The Psalmist illustrates the contradiction in this way: “Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other. Faithfulness will spring up from the ground, and righteousness will look down from the sky.” (Psalm 85:10-11) Eternal life was the most impossible achievement of all for those who lived before Jesus. Because of the original sin of our forefathers, the garden was closed. There was no way to re-enter that garden, no way for man to stand with God, in the cool of the day. How does man re-enter the closed garden without violating it? How could the righteousness of God’s just judgment meet the peace of mercy? This is the contradiction that befuddled the disciples. And Jesus doesn’t appear to answer.
But in Luke 1, we find the answer after all. The disciples, left in confusion and wonder about how God can do the impossible, find the answer in Our Lady. As the angel Gabriel concludes his astounding message to the Blessed Virgin, he says, “For with God nothing will be impossible.” (Luke 1:37) How does Mary respond to this? Not with further questions, nor with frustration or exasperation. Instead, she says, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38) And the disciples of Jesus, all the way down the years to us, right now, have the opportunity to say that same thing in the face of the impossible.
In Matthew 19, the disciples weren’t able to foresee Jesus’ crucifixion. Our Lord did, however, try to turn their eyes to a time that follows that future event. In Matthew 19:28, he says, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of man shall sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” Since turning His face to Jerusalem, He had been trying to prepare them for His crucifixion and resurrection. But while they aren’t ready for that, still they hear of the glorious effect of that sorrowful mystery. He is guiding them to the moment when He expires and the curtain is torn from the Holy of Holies.
Matthew 27:51-52 describes what happened immediately after Jesus’ death: “And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom; and the earth shook, and the rocks were split; the tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised.” The exitus and reditus of man’s journey is exemplified in the fact that the curtain has been rent. At the moment that Mary consented with her words, and she conceived of the Holy Spirit, God came to live among men. At the moment that the curtain tore and Christ descended into the dead, man came to live among God. The glorious process of being taken up had begun.
How could God occupy the body of man, who had been stained by original sin? How could man occupy the Holy of Holies, which was the realm of the invisible, almighty God? These mysteries pass each other closely as they move in opposite directions, like angels ascending and descending on the ladder of Jacob. They are related as only opposites can be. One is the exitus, God coming down to man; one is the reditus, man going up to God. They complete each other.
Matthew 1:23 quotes Isaiah: “Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel.” In the face of the impossible, the Blessed Virgin must have drawn upon these words. While she had faith that God could accomplish the impossible, she also drew upon both the authority of Scripture and her reason. Knowing that she was a virgin and that she would remain a virgin, she didn’t rely on human wisdom when Gabriel informed her that she would bear a son. Instead, she drew upon the scriptures, just as St. Matthew did, to realize that she would be that virgin. She accepted this with humility, but with full faith in the word of God.
This is why Jesus tries again and again to bring the minds and hearts of His disciples back to the prophesies. Had they believed in the words of that same prophet, they would have understood how God would make the impossible possible. In Luke 9:22, He tells them, “The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” In Mark 14:21, Jesus says, succinctly, “The Son of man goes as it is written of him.” God makes the impossible possible, but He also gives us the authority and confirmation of Holy Scripture to guide our flawed human reason. Our Lady knew this.
The Annunciation of Gabriel to Our Lady parallels the rending of the curtain. That curtain was the tangible representation of the garden door that was closed after Adam and Eve’s sin. That closed garden couldn’t be penetrated by sinful man; only someone who was preserved from sin could enter that garden, and God could only enter through that closed garden door. As the Song of Solomon relates, “A garden locked is my sister, my bride, a garden locked, a fountain sealed.” (Song 4:12) God entered into humanity through that locked garden, while man entered into divinity through the death of Jesus Christ. The curtain is torn, allowing access.
This garden is Our Lady, the pane of glass through which the will of God shone forth in its full brightness and splendor. She loved God perfectly before she was visited by Gabriel, and she loved Him perfectly after. This is why Gabriel addresses her – even before she consents to the conception of Christ – as “full of grace.” This is the true meaning of Matthew 12:48-50, in which Our Lady is held up as the standard of Christian discipleship, not only because she gave birth to Jesus in His humanity, but also because she continued to give birth to Him in her heart. As Jesus said, “Who is my mother, and who are my brethren? Here are my mother and my brethren! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, and sister and mother.”
And, again in Luke 11:27-28: “As he said this, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, ‘Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that you sucked!’ But he said, ‘Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!’” Our Lady is most blessed among women because she kept the word of God and believed it. Because she loved perfectly and kept Jesus’ commands perfectly, she is the first of those who hold Him close to their hearts each day. The impossible is accomplished through great love.
In John 14, Jesus tells us, in beautiful detail, how and why this love is the pinnacle of human existence. “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you forever.” (John 14:15-16) Because of Mary’s love and faith, the impossible occurred at the Annunciation. Jesus promises us that the impossible can continue to take place every time we allow the Holy Spirit to work in our hearts. It is the Beloved Disciple, who knelt with Mary at the foot of the cross, who rested his head upon Our Lord’s breast, who paints the unifying picture.
“If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him” (John 14:23). How is it possible that God could come to reside in a human being? This is truly the narrow way, the eye of the needle that doesn’t seem possible to pass through. But already the King and Creator of the world has resided inside a teenage girl. Already the impossible has occurred. And here we have the formula for how to make it happen, every single day. St. Augustine famously said, “Love, and do what you like.” This verse from the Gospel of John reveals how it is possible for that impossible proposition to work. If we love, we keep His word. If we keep His word, God will not only love us, but come to live inside us. With God all things are possible.
Steven Richardson is a Lay Dominican and a member of St. Ann Parish in Charlotte with his wife Mary and his three children, Maria, Rita and Joseph.