Today’s reading was about the rich young man who asked Jesus what he needed to do to go to heaven. This passage is found in three Gospels: Matthew 19:16-26; Mark 10:17-27; and Luke 18:18-27. I think that this story is particularly interesting because the rich young man claims to have kept all of the commandments, and yet is unable to walk away from his possessions. I wonder if the man was answering in the “letter of the law” way, saying he hadn’t actually murdered, so he kept that commandment, for example, or if he really believed himself to be capable of keeping the commandments on his own. If the latter is true, he had more problems than not being able to leave his things behind!

The symbol, for those who might be wondering, is the “gate to heaven.” I don’t think this one is really obvious on its own…it looks very regal, but I’m not sure my first guess would have been heaven!