Is it possible to know whether you are saved or not? Does salvation consist in a single act or profession of belief? Read the story of the rich young man and see what Jesus has to say about him, as well as others asking the same question. And finally, see what Jesus says about one tremendous sinner who shows through his generosity that he thoroughly gets it – and who knows the essential thing it takes to be saved.
And Jesus leaves the Jericho road and takes a secondary one that goes to Doco.
And He has not been long on it when from a caravan coming from I do not know where – a rich caravan that certainly-comes from afar, because the women are mounted on camels, closed in swaying palanquins fastened to the humped backs, and the men are riding fiery horses or other camels – a young man departs and, making his camel kneel down, he slides from his saddle and goes towards Jesus. A servant, who has approached him, holds the animal by the reins.
The young man prostrates himself before Jesus, and after his deep salutation, he says to Him: “ I am Philip of Canata, the son of true Israelites who have remained such. I was a disciple of Gamaliel until my father’s death put me at the head of his business. I have heard You speak more than once. I am aware of Your deeds. I aspire to a better life to have the eternal one that You assure will be possessed by those who create Your Kingdom in themselves. So tell me, good Master, what shall I have to do to have eternal life? ”
“ Why do you call Me good? God alone is good. ”
“ You are the Son of God, as good as Your Father. Oh! tell me what I must do. ”
“ To enter eternal life observe the commandments. ”
“ Which, my Lord? The ancient ones or Yours? ”
“ The ancient ones already contain Mine, Mine do not alter the ancient ones. They are always the same: worship the Only true God and respect the laws of cult, do not kill, do not steal, do not commit adultery, do not bring false witness, honour your father and mother, do not injure your neighbor but love him as you love yourself. By doing so you will have eternal life. ”
“ Master, I have observed all those commandments since my childhood ”
Jesus casts a loving glance at him and kindly asks: “ And do you think they are not yet sufficient? ”
“ No, Master. The Kingdom of God is a great thing in us and in the other life. God Who gives Himself to us is an infinite gift. I feel that what is our duty is very little compared with the All Infinite Perfect Being Who gives Himself to us, and I think that we should obtain Him by means of things that are greater than those commanded, in order not to be damned and be agreeable to Him. ”
“ You are right. To be perfect you still lack one thing. If you want to be as perfect as our Father in Heaven wants, go, sell everything you have and give it to the poor, and in Heaven you will have a treasure that will make you loved by the Father Who has given His Treasure to the poor of the Earth. Then come and follow Me. ”
The young man becomes sad and pensive. He then stands up and says: “ I will remember Your advice… ” and he goes away sadly.
Judas smiles ironically and whispers: “ I am not the only one who loves money! ”
Jesus turns round and looks at him… then He looks at the other eleven faces around Him and says with a sigh: “ How difficult it is for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, the gate of which is narrow, and the way is steep, and those who are laden with the bulky weights of riches cannot go along it and enter! To enter up there only the immaterial treasures of virtue are required and one must be able to part with everything that is attachment to the things of the world and to vanity. ” Jesus is very sad…
The apostles look stealthily at one another…
Jesus, looking at the caravan of the young rich man move away, says: “ I solemnly tell you that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God. ”
“ Who can be saved, then? Poverty often makes one sin, through envy and lack of respect for other people’s property, and through lack of confidence in Providence… Riches are an obstacle to perfection…
So? Who can be saved? ”
Jesus looks at them and says: “ What is impossible for men, is possible for God, because everything is possible for God. It is sufficient for man to help his Lord with his good will. And it is good will to take the advice given and strive to achieve freedom from riches. To achieve complete freedom, in order to follow God. Because this is the true freedom of man: to follow the voices that God whispers to his heart, and His commandments, not to be the slave of himself, or of the world, or of respect of public opinion, and consequently not to be the slave of Satan. To make use of the wonderful free will that God gave man to wish Good only and freely, and thus attain the very bright, free and blissful eternal life. Man must not be slave even of his own life, if to gratify it he must resist God. I said to you: “He who loses his life for My sake and to serve God will save it for ever”. ”
“ Well! We have left everything to follow You, even what was lawful. So what about us? Shall we enter Your Kingdom? ” asks Peter.
“ I tell you solemnly that those who have followed Me thus and those who follow Me – because there is always time to make amends for laziness and sins committed so far, there is always time while man is on the Earth and has days in front of him during which he can redress wrongs done – those will be with Me in My Kingdom. I tell you solemnly that you, who have followed Me in the regeneration, will sit on thrones to judge the tribes of the Earth with the Son of man Who will be sitting on the throne of His glory. And once again I tell you solemnly that there is no one who in My Name has left house, fields, father, mother, brothers, wife, sons and sisters to propagate the Gospel and continue My work, who will not receive one hundredfold in this present time and eternal life in the world to come. ”
“ But if we lose everything how can we centuplicate what we have? ” asks Judas of Kerioth.
“ I repeat: what is impossible for men is possible for God. And God will give one hundredfold of spiritual joy to those who from men of the world became sons of God, that is spiritual men. They will enjoy real happiness, both here and beyond the Earth. And I also say to you that not all those who seem to be the first, and ought to be the first having received more than everybody, will be such. And not all those who seem to be the last, and even less than the last, as they do not appear to be My disciples or to belong to the chosen People, will be the last. Truly, many who were first will become last, and many who were last, least, will become first…”
In this next episode, a man approaches the Apostle Thomas and asks about his salvation.
“What do you think, shall I be saved? I am not one of the disciples. But you know what I am like and that I always believed what you said. But I do not know what I should do, in addition to that. What should I do exactly to be saved, besides what I already do? ”
“ Ask Him. His judgement will be more truthful and kind than mine. ”
The man comes forward. He says: “ Master, I comply with the Law, and since Thomas repeated Your words to me, I try to comply more and more. But I am not very generous. I do what I must do. I refrain from doing what it is not right to do, because I am afraid of Hell. But I am very fond of a comfortable life and, I admit it, I endeavour to do things in such a way that while I do not commit sin, I do not trouble myself too much either. Shall I be saved by behaving so? ”
“ You will. But why be avaricious with good God Who is so generous with you? Why do you expect only to be saved, and with some difficulty, and you do not wish to attain great holiness, which gives eternal peace at once? Come on, man! Be generous with your soul! ”
The man says humbly: “ I will think about it, my Lord. I feel that you are right and that I am wronging my soul by compelling it to go through a long purification period before having peace. ”
“ Very well. Your thought is already the beginning of perfectioning. ”
Another man from Ramah asks: “ Lord, are only few people saved? ”
“ If man knew how to behave with respect towards himself and with reverential love towards God, all men would be saved, as God desires. But man does not behave thus. And like a fool, he plays with tinsel, instead of taking pure gold. Be generous in wishing Good. Does it pain you? That is where is the merit. Strive to go through the narrow door. The other one, which is wide and ornate, is an allurement of Satan to lead you astray.
The gate of Heaven is narrow, low, barren and rough. In order to enter it one must be agile, light, without pomp and without materialism. One must be spiritual to be able to do so. Otherwise when the hour of your death comes, you will not be able to pass through it. And many will be really seen trying to pass through it without being successful, as they are so laden with materialism, so decked out with worldly pomp, so stiffened by the crust of sin, unable to stoop because of their pride, which acts as a skeleton.
And the Landlord of the Kingdom will then come to close the gate, and those who are outside, those who have not been able to go in at the right time, will knock at the door shouting: “Lord, open the gate to us. We are here as well”. But He will reply: “I really do not know you, neither do I know where you come from.”
And they will say: “What? Do You not remember us? We ate and drank with You and we listened to You when You preached in our squares.” But He will reply: “I really do not know you. The more I look at you the more you seem to be sated with what I declared was impure food. The more I examine you, the more I see that you do not belong to My family.
Now, I really see whose sons and subjects you are: the Other one’s. Satan is your father, the Flesh your mother, Pride your nurse, Hatred your servant, sin is your treasure, vices your gems. On your hearts there is written: ‘Selfishness’. Your hands are dirty with the robberies committed against your brothers. Away from here! Away from Me, all of you, operators of iniquity.”
Then, while Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and all the prophets and the just of the Kingdom of God will come from the heights of Heaven shining with glory, those who did not love but were selfish, who did not sacrifice themselves but lived in the lap of luxury, will be driven away and confined to the place where there is eternal weeping and nothing but terror. And those who have risen gloriously and have come from east and west, from north and south, will gather round the nuptial table of the Lamb, the King Of the Kingdom of God.
And then one will see that many who appeared to be “the least” in the army of the earth, will be the first in the city of the Kingdom. And one will also see that not all the mighty ones in Israel are mighty in Heaven, and not all those chosen by the Christ to be His servants have deserved to be elected to the nuptial table. Instead one will see that many, who were considered to be “the first” will be not only the last, but not even the last. Because many are called, but few are those who can turn their election into true glory. ”
Commenting on the conversion of Zacchaeus, Jesus says:
“There is yeast and yeast. There is the yeast of Good and the yeast of Evil. The yeast of Evil, a Satanic poison, ferments more easily than the yeast of Good, because it finds matter more suitable for fermentation in the heart of man, in the thought of man, in the flesh of man, seduced all three by a selfish will, contrary therefore to the universal Will, which is the Will of God.
The will of God is universal because it is never confined to a personal thought, but it takes into consideration the welfare of the whole universe. Nothing can increase the perfection of God in any way, as He has always possessed everything in a perfect manner. Thus there can be no thought in Him of personal gain inciting any of His actions.
When we say: “This is done to the greater glory of God, in the interest of God”, we do not mean that divine glory is in Itself susceptible to improvement, but that everything which in Creation bears the mark of good and any person doing good, and thus deserving to possess it, is adorned with the sign of divine Glory and thus gives glory to Glory itself, Which has created all things gloriously. It is, in short, the testimony which people and things bear to God, giving evidence, with their deeds, of the perfect Origin from Which they come.
Thus, when God orders or advises you to do an action or inspires you with one, He does not aim at any selfish interest, but at your welfare, with altruistic charitable mind. That is, therefore, the reason why the Will of God is never selfish, on the contrary it is a Will which aims entirely at altruism and universality. It is the only and true Strength in the universe which considers universal welfare.
On the contrary, the yeast of Good, spiritual embryo coming from God, grows through difficulties and hardships, as it has against itself the reactions propitious to the other one: the flesh, the heart, the thought of man, pervaded with selfishness, the antithesis of Good, which by its origin can be but Love. Most men lack the will of Good and consequently Good becomes sterile and dies, or lives so poorly that it does not leaven: it remains as it was. There is no grave fault. But there is not even the effort to do the greatest good. The spirit thus lies inert: not dead, but unfruitful.
Bear in mind that not to do evil serves only to avoid Hell. To enjoy at once beautiful Paradise one must do good. It is essential. As much good as one can do, struggling against oneself and other people. Because I said that I had come not to bring peace but war, also between father and children, brothers and sisters, when such war was to defend the Will of God and His Law against the abuse of human wills aiming at what is contrary to what God wants.
In Zacchaeus the tiny quantity of yeast of good had leavened a huge mass. Only an original small particle had fallen into his heart: they had related My Sermon on the Mount to him. And they had done it so badly, mutilating it of many parts, as happens with reported speeches.
Zacchaeus was a publican and a sinner, but not through bad will. He was like one who sees things badly because the veil of cataract covers his eye-lenses. But he knows that once the veil is removed, he can see properly once again. And that sick person wants the veil to be removed. Zacchaeus was like that. He was neither convinced nor happy. He was not convinced of Pharisaic practices, which had already replaced the true Law. And he was not happy with his way of living.
He was instinctively seeking Light. The true Light. He saw a flash of it in that fragment of My speech and he hid it in his heart like a treasure. Because he loved it – bear this in mind, Mary because he loved it, the flash became more and more lively, vast and vehement, and caused him to see Good and Evil clearly and to choose rightly, generously cutting off all the tentacles which previously, from things to his heart and from his heart to things, had enveloped him in a net of malicious slavery.
“Because he loved it”. That is the secret of success or failure. One succeeds when one loves. One has little success when one loves niggardly. One has no success at all when one does not love. In anything. All the more in the things of God, where, as God is invisible to corporal senses, I dare say, one must love perfectly, as far as a creature can reach perfection, in order to succeed in an enterprise. In holiness, in this case.
Zacchaeus, disgusted with the world and the flesh, as he was disgusted with the meanness of Pharisaic practices, so captious and severe for other people, so indulgent for them, loved the little treasure of a word of Mine, which reached him by chance, speaking from a human point of view. He loved it as the most beautiful thing that his forty-year-old life had ever possessed, and from that moment he concentrated his heart and thought on that point.
It is not only in evil that man’s heart is where his treasure is. But also in good. Did saints perhaps during their lifetime not have their hearts where their treasure was: in God? Yes, they did. And that is why, looking only at God, they passed on the Earth, without contaminating their souls with the mud of the Earth.
That morning, even if I had not appeared there, I would have conquered a proselyte. Because the speech of the leper had completed Zacchaeus’ metamorphosis. At the bench of the excise-house there was no longer a cheating vicious publican, but a man repenting his past and decided to change life. If I had not gone to Jericho, he would have closed his office, he would have taken his money and come looking for Me, because he could no longer live without the water of Truth, without the bread of Love, without the kiss of Forgiveness.
The usual harsh critics who always watched Me to reproach Me, did not see that and they could understand it even less. And that is why they were amazed at My having a meal with a sinner. Oh! I wish you never judged, leaving that task to God, you poor blind people, who cannot even judge yourselves! I never went with sinners to approve of their sin. I went to remove them from sin, because they often had only the exterior aspect of sin: their contrite souls had already changed into new souls, living to expiate. So was I with a sinner? No, I was with a redeemed soul, in need only of a guide to stand up in its weakness of a soul risen from death.
How much Zacchaeus’ episode can teach you! The power of upright intention that excites desire. Upright desire that urges one to seek deeper and deeper knowledge of Good and to long for God continuously until one reaches Him, true repentance that gives the courage of abnegation. Zacchaeus had the upright intention of listening to words of true Doctrine. When he heard some, his upright desire urged him to greater desire and thus to uninterrupted research for that Doctrine; the research for God, hidden in the true Doctrine, detached him from the mean gods of richness and sensuality and made him a hero of renunciation.
“If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and follow Me” I said to the rich young man, but he did not do that. But Zacchaeus, although more hardened in avarice and sensuality, was able to do it. Because, through the few Words related to him, like the blind beggar and the leper cured by Me, he saw God. Can a soul that has seen God, find any more attraction in the little things of the Earth? Is that ever possible, My little bride?”
[From Poem of the Man-God, Maria Valtorta, Volume 5, pp. 287-289, Volume 3, pp. 512-514, Volume 4, pp. 15-17; used by permission of the publisher Centro Editoriale Valtortiano srl, Viale Piscicelli 89-91, 03036 Isola del Liri FR, Italy]