(Homily 28th Sunday in Ordinary
Time-Yr. B)
The three readings of this Sunday are
quite fascinating especially from the perspective of their literally styles,
however, they seem not to have a common thread, but in reality it is not so. At
the heart of the first reading and the Gospel we are presented with the existential experience of choice making.
And on this, we have two figures: King Solomon and the rich young man in their
different choices. The first made a
sapiential choice while the later made an imprudent choice. In that bid, the
common thread that dovetails into the three readings, somehow in a latent and
manifest way is that of wisdom and an invitation to a prudential approach to
life in general and to riches in particular. The pertinent question we could
ask is this: who is not desirous of making money in this world? Who does not
desire to have riches, to accumulate material wealth? Indeed, only few people
are immune from this avidity. This is what St. John called “the concupiscence of the eyes” (cf. 1Jn. 2:16; CCC 2514), the
obsessive desire to possess and behold the things that one sees. In Solomon’s
sapiential request he prayed for the wisdom that comes from God in order not to
be a victim of this obsessive desire. The rich man of the Gospel instead was
carried away by this obsession. In the context of the Gospel passage therefore,
wisdom according to Christ signifies the
capacity to use earthly riches and wealth without attachment and without seeing
the riches as an existential extension of oneself.
In the first reading (Wis. 7:7-11) King Solomon had to make a choice of God’s gift above
all else: Wisdom. While in the Gospel the Rich young man made a choice of
wealth in place of Jesus’ offer of His Sequela.
Our life daily is made up of many
choices. But the singular question
we have to grapple with is what do we choose? Solomon declared to have
received the gift of Wisdom, as a response to his prayer. This wisdom is not
ordinarily a fruit of studies or human intelligence, but a gift of and from
God. This Wisdom is a participation in the Wisdom of God. Solomon’s greatness as we can see lies in his preference of God’s
wisdom to fame and power. In the human person, the wisdom in question is
God’s action in man. It involves seeing, judging and acting in accordance to
God’s parlance. Be that as it may, we have two contrasting figures in the
readings of today. The rich young man of the Gospel is really a contrast of
King Solomon in the first reading. King Solomon placed wisdom before riches,
and wisdom here could be linked to the right relationship with God, with human
beings and with things. As a matter fact, biblically
the tradition of comparing wisdom to material wealth at the expense of the
later could be traced to Solomon’s prayer in the first book of Kings (3:6-9).
Thus, this comparison is common in wisdom literature. Thus, this passage indeed
matches the Gospel periscope of the rich young man.
In
today’s gospel (Mk10:17-30) we are
nourished by that wonderful decisive encounter between Jesus and the rich young
man. This passage of the Gospel is a continuation of the presentation of the
catechesis or instructions of Jesus to his Apostles and disciples, on the
significance and exigencies of his discipleship. A holistic consideration of the discourse reveals the novelty of the
Gospel of Jesus and the radicality of his request, which has to be welcomed
with ponderation and not in a cursory or superficial manner. Today Jesus
teaches his followers (us) the right attitude
towards riches and reminds us as well that riches are obstacle to true
discipleship.
The rich young man met Jesus and asked him what he can do to gain
eternal life. He said: “Good Master, but Jesus retorted “why do you call me
good? No one is good but God alone”. Furthermore, Jesus drew his attention back
to the commandments, but according to him he has observed them all since his
youth. The man in question ran to Jesus with many dreams and aspirations for
the future life (eternal life). So many people
who met Jesus went away happy, transformed and healed. But for the first time
in the Gospel a man met Jesus and went away sad afterwards (Mk 10:22). He went away sad because he
had dreams, but he does not have the courage to realize them and to transform
them into reality. What is it that changed the whole thing? The words of Jesus:
Go, sell all you have, give
the money to the poor, then come and
follow me. Jesus gave the man a
challenge that he was not ready to accept: go, sell, give, come and follow.
“Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in
heaven; then come, follow me.” (Mk.
10:21). The young man went away sad, at first one would have imagined that
he was very close to God, because he seemed to be a very spiritual person, but
the outcome of his encounter with Jesus reveals the contrary. In that
encounter, Jesus invited the man to follow him, to abandon all, as Peter and
the other apostles have done. This was a
privilege, and a call of predilection, but the man in question refused to
follow him, even though he has been a good person (he observed all the commandments since his youth, but the
words of Jesus saddened him, “he went away sad” (v.22). Indeed, it is true that “no one can serve two masters. He
will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the
other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Mt.
6:24).
Interestingly, Mathew’s version of this
passage is quite different. In the Markan version when the young man addressed
Jesus as Good Teacher, Jesus reacted: “Why do you call me good? No one is good
but God alone” (Jesus is God and he is therefore good, but he does not want to
be flattered). But Mathew substitutes this with “Why do you ask me concerning
that which is good? Again, in Mathew’s
version Jesus admonished his apostles on the renunciation of wealth and
personal discipleship as a counsel for perfection, “If you want to be perfect”
(Mt. 19:21). Thus, to renounce
wealth and follow Jesus in that special manner is not necessary for salvation
(but is necessary for those who want to follow Jesus radically as in special
consecration). On the other hand, obedience to the mosaic law alone is not
sufficient to gain eternal life. In that bid, the discourse of Jesus on riches
opens two prospective: Frist, effective
and radical renunciation of all earthly materials to follow Him (for those
that received a special call). Second, affective
detachment of the heart from earthly material wealth (for all Christians).
Practically
Jesus was telling the rich young man that true treasures are not material
wealth and money but persons (the poor). Here, we cannot but remember St.
Lawrence (deacon) who at the point of martyrdom presented the poor and needy as
the treasures of the Church. The rich man was living the beatitudes of the
unsatisfied, cor inquietum. He was searching for something more, but he
rejected the real treasure. As we have seen in the Gospel, the rich man has no name, money took away his identity. On the
other hand, in the gospel many rich people like: Zaccheus, Levi, Lazarus, Susan
and John were mentioned by their names. They had their names because money did
not take away their identity. What did they do? They stopped placing their
treasure on riches, seeking security from money. They placed their treasure
rightly on God. But the young man of
today’s gospel lost his identity because of the misplacement of his treasures.
He lacked generosity and the spirit of sharing.
Upon Jesus’ invitation to follow him, the young man walked away embittered,
even though he was described as a good man, who has been faithful to the
commandments. To his reaction, Jesus turned and said, “How hard it will be for
those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God” (vv. 24-25).
●Why is it difficult?
Because it is difficult for a rich man who is attached to his riches, in which
he feels secured, to trust and abandon himself to God. It is difficult for the
rich to become aware of his poverty as a creature and his indigence, as such, it is difficult to open up to the
gratuitous gift of grace (for he is englobed with self-sufficiency).
●Who then can be
saved? They apostles asked in bewilderment, and Jesus replied them: “By human
resources it is impossible, but not with God: because for God everything is
possible with men” (v. 27). There is
need for a rich to detach from his riches and open up to divine grace. But
Jesus reminded them that everything is possible to God. Therefore, if a rich
man seeks God and follows him detaching from his riches, the promise of eternal
life will be made possible. Then, Peter spoke up and worriedly reminded Jesus
“Behold, we have left everything and followed you” (v.28).
●Then another question
emerges: what will be the recompense of those who like Peter and the apostles
have left everything to follow Jesus? To them Jesus assured a hundred fold in
the present time and in the future, eternal life, together with persecution (because
the disciple has to experience the ordeals of the Master). Jesus promises total recompense, a definitive joy and eternal life.
Indeed, Jesus profited from the existential
experience of this man, to give us an important lesson on riches. He said that
wealth and riches are dangerous for one’s salvation, where there is attachment.
For they render one insatiable and unconcerned for the needs of others. Jesus
does not ask all to follow Him, but to those who follow him (Christians) he
requests detachment from riches. A real
follower is one who detaches and shares in love. This is the formula of today’s
Good news: Detach and Share. Of course, to live detached from riches is not
easy, but through God’s grace “all is possible”. Jesus told the rich man “you lack one thing”, and that is his
incapacity to detach and share in love. Also for each and every one of us, the words of Jesus still resounds again
“you lack one thing or many things”. What is it that you lack? What is it
that makes you to put a frown on your face and walk away from God? Where do you
place your value and true treasure? Unfortunately, we can see some aspects of
ourselves in this man, and thus we may well ask: do we go away sad in the
different ways and moments we encounter Jesus?
The second reading (Heb. 4:12-13)
talks about the Word of God, which is very much esteemed in the Old testament, Therein, God’s Word effects what it says
(cf. Is. 55:10-11), it has an effective power of realization.
And this passage is one of those New Testament passages that try to deepen this
Old Testament picture of God’s Word. God’s
wisdom is concretely expressed and manifested to men through His Word. The
Word of God is “alive and active, sharper than any two-edged sword”. It
penetrates into the inner recesses of the human heart. This assertion on the Word of God should be inspirational for all our
choices and actions. The “wisdom” of God incarnated is Jesus, the Word of
God, the hidden treasure, that a man sells everything he owns to purchase (Mt 13:44). And in the Word of God, his wisdom is fully manifested. Thus, the
hearts that prays and are nourished by the Word of God, acquire gradually the
wisdom of God; they in the words of St. Paul will make theirs the mind of Jesus
(cf. Phil. 2:5).
In this
contemporary culture, the discourse of Jesus on riches will be a
real hard nut to crack, for we live
in a society that is profoundly materialistic, and the dominant culture is the idolatry of riches and well-being, of
hedonism and the satisfaction of one’s desires and instincts. This is the
society in which a Christian is called to live and bear witness, he has to do
this with a continuous effort to
distance himself from the seduction of riches, learn how to use the earthly
goods without becoming a slave to them, and to share his wealth with those in
need. Even though Jesus does not ask
everyone to leave everything and follow him in the life of special consecration
to Him, but he asks all to detach their hearts from riches and renounce
egoistic possession of wealth at the expense of the poor. Drawing the issue
further, in this invitation of Jesus, consists the wisdom of the heart. The
wisdom that king Solomon prayed for in the first reading, of which the psalmist
implored in the responsorial psalm, especially in the first stanza.
The Word of
God today, therefore, invites us to adopt a sapiential and
prudential approach to life, not only with regards to material wealth, but
also in our daily living in general. For in biblical terms, “wisdom” stands to
indicate having a balanced rapport with God, with men, with oneself and with
things. And also to see and judge things and events in the light of the supreme
truth, God and the conformation of one’s life to the will of God. Truly, to be
able to do this, we need the constant help of the Word of God, in and through
which divine wisdom is revealed. No wonder, the Psalmist also tendered his
sapiential request to God, thus: Give us O lord, the wisdom of the heart” (Ps. 90:12b). This is an invocation we
ought to repeat often and on. Let us
appropriate the sapiential prayer of Solomon and the Psalmist and thus re-echo
our voices with theirs in asking: Lord give us the wisdom of the heart!
(Fr. Vitus
M.C. Unegbu, SC)
No comments:
Post a Comment