"What Do I Still Lack?"
Christian Vocation in Matthew 19:16–22
"Vocation" is one of those words that people use in many different ways. In its most narrow and technical sense, it applies to specific jobs (that one might learn at a "vocational" college). One level broader, it refers to a job or career that one has. In my context, working at a Christian university, this latter association is probably the most common, with the added bonus of God’s guidance or favor. But these notions do not accurately represent what vocation is.
"Vocation" comes from the Latin root vocare, meaning "to call" (from which we also get words like vocal, vocabulary, evoke, etc.). It is the equivalent of kaleo in New Testament Greek (from which we get the word "call"). We talk of being "called" to a kind of work, a kind of life. To be called means we are invited to respond—the call comes from outside of ourselves.
This is problematic in our modern American context because we are obsessed with choice. To smooth that tension, "calling" or "vocation" has become just another thing we get to choose. Because we conflate vocation with employment, discerning one's "calling" becomes an exercise in career planning. Sure, we may choose based on what we feel "God calling us to," but often the process of discernment involves the wisdom of our own inclinations. What am I good at? What am I interested in? What will make me financially stable? While these questions can be helpful, they miss deeper, more important questions.
Before I examine the passage in Matthew's gospel, I want to list three misconceptions about vocation, and outline a useful vocational model.
Misconception 1: Vocation = job or career. This implies that only people who are currently, or have the potential to be, employed have a calling. The unemployed, the sick or injured, children, those who are retired, etc., are somehow excluded from calling. This misconception also supports the idea that my calling matches perfectly into a particular job.
Misconception 2: If I have a calling from God, it will be very clear and articulable. Also, I will know I have a calling because I will hear God's booming voice telling me exactly what to do.
Misconception 3: As long as I'm living into my calling, things will go well for me, and I will be happy / satisfied / fulfilled.
Doug Koskela, in his book Calling and Clarity, presents a very useful model for vocation. He delineates three "modes" of calling (which overlap, of course):
General Calling: This is a call for all people, all those created by God, to be in relationship with God and one another. For Christians specifically, it is a call into the new life of God's kin-dom, following Jesus's teaching and example.
Direct Calling: This is when God calls a person or people to a specific task or place or community. This is the most recognizable example found in the Bible: Abraham, Moses, Samuel, Jonah, etc. Some people might experience this kind of call as a "booming voice from God," but it need not be so obvious.
Missional Calling (or Personal Vocation): This kind of calling is unique to each person. It is bound up in the way God created you. In a sense, it is the calling to be yourself more truly. It's more concerned with who you are to be than what you are to do. It dwells in you from birth to death; it is the way you inhabit the world. It outlives any job or career you may have. No matter what you do, you will do it in your own unique way, with your own particular flavor. This means that in order to understand your personal vocation, you must develop a greater self-understanding (for the Christian, this self-understanding is always in relation to God, in relation to others, and in relation to creation).
As you read the following passage from Matthew (19:16–22 NRSV), pay attention to the way that these vocational aspects show up.
Then someone came to him and said, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” 17 And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” 18 He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; 19 Honor your father and mother; also, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 20 The young man said to him, “I have kept all these; what do I still lack?” 21 Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” 22 When the young man heard this word, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions.
The young man approaches Jesus, evidently concerned about his access to eternal life. We don't know anything about this man, other than his wealth. Perhaps he has inherited the wealth, maybe he's earned it for himself. Regardless, it is part of his self-understanding, his self-image, his self-worth.
He asks, "What good deed must I do to inherit eternal life?" This question carries many layers. First, he asks about a singular good deed. "No matter how my wealth came to me—through inheritance, exploitation, hoarding, theft, deceit, etc.—I want to make up for it with a public act of goodness." He's asking Jesus for some specific thing to do. However, Jesus invites the young man to a way of life, a way of living. Using our earlier vocational terms, we could say the young man wants a direct calling (toward one good deed), but Jesus responds with a general calling ("follow the commandments").
The young man's question is self-focused. What good deed must I do to inherit eternal life for myself? The good deed apparently doesn't even need to be done for the good of others; it is solely to benefit himself. When thinking about one's vocation, it is very easy to become overly self-focused. What do I want to do? What am I good at? What would bring me fulfillment? There is a Frederick Buechner quote which goes, "Vocation is the place where our deep gladness meets the world's deep need." I haven't read the work from which this quote comes, but I have seen the effects of it removed from its context. Young people are told that when they find a job that brings them satisfaction, they are living into their vocation—bonus points if it also benefits other people directly or indirectly. The goal of work, the goal of life, then becomes a seeking after financial stability or happiness, instead of seeking God's kin-dom or the good of others. Living into one’s vocation may involve sacrifice, suffering, and instability (see, for example, Jeremiah, Jonah, Jesus).
Another problem with the young man's question is his understanding of eternal life. He sees it as a goal, a reward, a cookie for his good deed. Jesus counters this notion by responding, "If you wish to enter into life..." Jesus invites the young man into a way of life that begins now. That way of life involves ongoing responsibility, not just a one-time good deed.
The young man, however, continues to press Jesus for a direct calling. He’s now asked three questions on this point: (1) What good deed must I do? (2) Which commandments are most important for getting the reward? (3) I've done all that and still don't seem to have eternal life—what do I still lack? At this point, Jesus gives the young man what he wants: a direct calling, a specific task to undertake: "If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me."
The young man asks Jesus, "What do I still lack?" Jesus essentially answers that the young man has too much. He lacks nothing except to experience lack itself, and the inevitable dependence on God and other people that comes with it.
This course of action is radically opposed to what the young man wants to do. He leaves saddened, because he doesn't want to part with his wealth. At a deeper level, he doesn't want to part with the security and self-image that comes with wealth. Jesus issues a direct call to the rich young man that challenges his self-understanding. (Perhaps that is something we could say about "direct callings": they do not necessarily align with one's desires or self-understanding—cf. Moses in Exodus 3–4.)
However, Jesus invites the young man into more than “one good deed.” It sounds like a direct calling because it is a specific task for the rich young man: "sell your possessions and give to the poor." Yet this appears only to be preparatory for the general call of discipleship: "Then come, follow me." Following Jesus is what all Christian disciples are called to do. The young man is invited, not just to one good deed, but to a new life of discipleship. The direct calling is part of this young man's journey of following Jesus. It is a first step. The direct calling leads to the general calling.
There is also a missional calling, a personal vocation, present in Jesus's invitation. Jesus invites the young man to be transformed. Right now he finds self-worth and identity in his possessions and power. Jesus asks him to be who God made him to be without those impediments (cf. Matt 19:23–24). We might say that personal vocation is who you are in relationship to God when you cannot lean on your wealth, your accomplishments, or your power. Vocation is who you are when all is stripped away. The young man might no longer be rich in wealth, but he could be rich in faith. Jesus wants the young man to release his attachment to his possessions and give himself to God.
To summarize: in this encounter Jesus invites the rich young man into a new way of understanding discipleship (which informs our understanding of vocation):
A call to a new way of life, not just to certain specific deeds
A call to follow Jesus, not to trust in the security of wealth
A call to find his self-understanding and self-worth in who he is in God, not in social status based on wealth or power
A call to bless the poor in his community, not to think only of himself and his reward
A call to a community of other disciples, not an individualized faith/discipleship
Our calling is not something we choose, but comes from outside ourselves. We are called by God to be more than to do; we are called to faithfulness more than accomplishment; we are called to love more than to work. Living into our vocation is living into who God made us to be, according to our unique "flavor." No matter what kind of work we find ourselves in, no matter what context, we can fulfill our callings.
The rich young man went away sad, for his wealth was too dear to his sense of self. He could not, in that moment, consider the possibility of another way of coming to know himself. He could not step into the call that came from Jesus, but insisted on his own way, his own wisdom. Eternal life is not an end reward for good deeds, but a call to a new way of life now, a new community, a new self-understanding. This is how I understand vocation.
Note: this post originally appeared on my Wordpress site in 2021. It has been lightly edited here.