28th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)
Gospel
Mk 10:17-30 or 10:17-27
As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up, knelt down before him, and asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus answered him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; you shall not defraud; honor your father and your mother.” He replied and said to him, “Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth.” Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, “You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” At that statement his face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions. Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” The disciples were amazed at his words. So Jesus again said to them in reply, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” They were exceedingly astonished and said among themselves, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “For human beings it is impossible, but not for God. All things are possible for God.” Peter began to say to him, “We have given up everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the gospel who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age: houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come.”
Homily
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I remember many years ago asking a street vendor outside of Radio City in New York what she thought of the executives riding in their huge limousines while she had to toil so hard to make a living. Her answer to me was that she had no problem with it. According to her point of view they had worked hard for their money. She wished that she could have done the same. As I have thought of that answer over the years I have become more and more convinced that in general the ethics of greed have become the norm in our culture. The current financial difficulties which the world is experiencing are proof of this. It s not that money is evil or that having money is wrong. What may be wrong is the use to which money is put. If money is used to bring about the harmony which God desires for the world there is no problem with it. Unfortunately money is so often used for power and pleasure that it loses its capacity to bring about God’s vision for humanity. That is the reason why Jesus in the Gospel reading given to us for this weekend, reminds us; “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!”
The context of this saying of Jesus is well known. The rich young man asks Jesus what he must do to enter eternal life. Jesus tells him he must keep the commandments. The young man, evidently a good person replies that he has kept them all. Jesus we are told then looked at him lovingly and said those famous words: “You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” Jesus acknowledges that the young man has indeed lived God’s vision for the world. All the commandments enunciated by the young man are meant to safeguard the trust and love in a community and so develop and maintain harmony within it. Jesus however tells the young man that living these commandments is not enough. He must actively work to bring about God’s vision for the world and to do this the following of Jesus is necessary. At this the rich young man baulked for it meant giving up his many possessions.
Today Jesus also looks at us and invites us to follow him in working to bring about God’s vision for the world. This means giving up a whole host of attitudes and desires which can make us rich in this world, (attitudes like get rich at any cost; one’s comfort before all else, power over as many as possible etc.). Unfortunately although they might make us rich in this life, these attitudes do not further God’s vision for humanity. On the contrary they are obstacles to it. Those of us who have heeded the call to follow Jesus must therefore ensure that any attitude which is an obstacle to God’s vision for the world must be eradicated from our lives and whatever talents and gifts we may have must be put at the service of God’s vision for the world, a vision of harmony and peace, of Justice and love. This is how Catholics and all persons who consider themselves to be followers of Jesus are called to live. That is why so many kings and queens of the middle ages are saints. (Read about St. Louis IX and St. Henry II and the two Elizabeths’ of Hungary and Portugal) This is what our modern day saints like Teresa of Calcutta and Monsenor Romero of El Salvador lived. That is what countless volunteers giving of their time and talent in lands faraway from their own live and this is what YOU AND I are called to live.
May our response to Jesus’ invitation to “Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” be different to that of the rich young man. Our world depends on us.
Prayer
All powerful and ever-loving God You have placed in our hands a world of great bounty and tremendous beauty but because of our selfishness and greed we disfigure it daily and we have made it a place on endless strife. Today and every day YOU invite us to restore it and to make it what you meant it to be. Give us the grace to change in ourselves every attitude which is an obstacle to a renewed world. Give us the courage to witness to our belief in your vision for humanity even in the face of opposition. We ask this through the intercession of Mary Our mother and your Son Jesus. Amen
Fr. Joe Harris, is a former Rector of Regional Seminary of St. John Vianney and the Uganda Martyrs, and currently Parish Priest of St. Ann’s, Cascade, Trinidad
