"You know the commandments," Jesus says to the rich, young man.

"Oh, yeah," replies the man. "I've done all those."

And arrogant as it sounds, maybe he has. Maybe this guy has lived the exemplary life and although he has acquired a good deal for himself, maybe he's helped out a lot of others along the way.

Maybe this guy is the grandfather of trickle down economics!

But none of that matters to Jesus. Because it isn't what we do that determines who enters the kingdom of God.

I don't care if your life makes Mother Teresa's seem like a mafiosi, it doesn't make the kingdom come.

Only God does that. Only God saves.

Can we believe that? Can we really come close to imagining that our God of grace actually promises that it isn't what we do that inherits eternal life, it's who we are...and we are all children of God.

Maybe Jesus' silence as the man walks away is a means of underscoring this amazing truth. It isn't what you do or don't do. It isn't what you have that saves you.

It's God.