“I Surrender…”
In this week’s gospel, Jesus is approached by a man who kneels to him to ask how he can inherit eternal life. Jesus responds and tells the man that not only should he follow the commandments, but to also get rid of his belongings and to follow him. Since the man had many possessions, he could not go through with the task and he sadly walks away.
When I reflect on this gospel, it can be easy for me to immediately think of the materialistic possessions that I carry in my life that would be difficult for me to let go of. However, the deeper I thought about this, the more I remembered the song “I Surrender” by Hillsong. Its first line goes…
“Here I am, down on my knees again, surrendering all, surrendering all”
This reminds me of the man who knelt before Jesus to find that he must surrender his possessions to be able to follow him. The more I listened to the song, and reread this week’s gospel, I challenged myself to think about the times in my life that I had to give up something I thought I could not live without and let go of that possession in order to truly be invested in my faith. For the man in the gospel, it was his money. However, in the past, some of the things I’d have to surrender were things such as my overwhelming pride, my anger at someone who hurt me, or even my friendships that I thought were good but were leading me to bad decisions. All of these were difficult to let go of, however, in doing so, I feel more aligned with the full chorus of this song.
“I surrender, I surrender, I want to know you more, I want to know you more”
The lyrics of “I Surrender” and the gospel reminds me to surrender myself. It is important to our faith journey to let go of our worldly possessions in order to truly be a follower of Jesus and his teachings. And this is something that I believe has to be done not just one time, but multiple times in our lives. I hope to continue to look within myself to find what more I should let go of to make more room for Jesus in my life, and I hope others will join me to do the same.
Readings at USCCB.org
Living the Word resource
First Reading: Wisdom 7:7-11
Psalm: 90:12-13, 14-15, 16-17
Second Reading: Hebrews 4:12-13
Gospel: Mark 10:17-30
