During conversations with friends and acquaintances, I often hear expressed the idea that being good, not hurting other people, being generous, being law-abiding, and having a constructive mind and a positive spirit, in sum, possessing the human virtues to a high degree, are enough to enter the kingdom of the Heavenly Father.
Such an understanding reminds us of the episode of the very rich youth told in the Gospels (Matthew 19.16-26 and parallel passages in Mark and Luke). This young man came to Jesus, a bit too obsequiously, and asked what he could do to inherit the treasures of God’s Kingdom. Jesus’ answer was a laconic “You know the Commandments!” The youth, perhaps a bit taken aback, responded that he had lived just as the Commandments dictated since childhood. He was convinced that his wealth was God’s blessing and a sure sign of divine favor protecting him.
Jesus’ short answer was precisely intended to pull the young man out of his self-assured mindset and to teach that, yes, keeping God’s commandments, even from childhood, was not enough to fill the void in human nature, made in His own image, to obtain His kingdom.
What was the reason this rich young man had come to Jesus? Did he wish to show that keeping the Commandments was enough to obtain God’s favor, as evidenced by his wealth and virtuous life? Did he come to Jesus to teach Him that His invitation to repentance was senseless, since keeping the Commandments was enough? Or was he troubled in his inner thoughts that there was indeed something more in the invitation to repent, exposing his soul to uncertainty beyond the comfort of simply following the law?
What was the “more” that was required? What was the “more” that the young man’s soul sensed he was missing? What was the transcendence of God’s Grace from which this virtuous man’s humanity stood empty? Why was the meaning of human goodness, if it was incapable of attaining the presence of the Heavenly Father?
The moment we acknowledge our limits and stay within them, as St. Gregory of Narek prays (Prayer 6.4), God’s Grace infuses our human virtues with His own power. He transforms our human deeds into divine works and fills us with the breath of eternal life of His Holy Spirit. He reforms us into new creatures, not in renewed dust but in the new salt of His tasty salvation. He brings to perfection our human faith with the salvation brought by His Only-begotten Son and opens a new heaven and a new earth where to love no longer means to conquer and obtain, but to give and to serve; to hope no longer means dreaming of a promised land but receiving the transfusion of the very nature of our Heavenly Father through the power of the sanctifying grace of divine adoption.