(Homily for the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year 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. 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 “pride in possession” (cf. 1Jn. 2:16), the obsessive desire
to possess and behold the things that one sees and take pride in them. 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). This
comparison is common in wisdom literature. Thus, this passage indeed matches
the Gospel periscope of the rich young man.
In today’s
Gospel (Mk. 10:17-30) 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 attachment 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 that category
of person to be aware of his poverty as a creature and his indigence. Truly,
when one feels secured in his riches, it
becomes difficult for the person to open up to the gratuitous gift of grace.
●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” (v. 27). There is need for a rich to
detach from his riches and open up to divine grace. 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 detach 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 resound 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. A culture of “fast food and
take away”, to the extent that that today we even have “fast food
spirituality.” We want everything here and now. 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 on 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! Let us pray, Lord Jesus, only you can satisfy the deepest
longing in and of my heart. In your benevolence, keep me free from all
possessiveness, discontentment, selfishness and greed, help me to know that You
alone are my true Treasure, Amen!
(Fr. Vitus Chigozie,
SC)
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