23-May-16

Gospel MK 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 men it is impossible, but not for God.
All things are possible for God.”
Reflection:
"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 by telling the man to obey the commandments.
When he replied that he had been obeying the commandments, Jesus went on to say, "Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”
At this, the man become sad and went away, for he had many possessions.
Those listening to the exchange between Jesus and the man with many possessions "were amazed" because it was believed that riches and material wealth were signs of God's blessings.
Poverty and lack of the things of this world were seen as a sign of God's displeasure.
Have we really come so far?
There are still many who view those in poverty as somehow having failed at life, as not having tried hard enough. The opposite view also exist, where people believe that wealth is somehow synonymous with intelligence and hard work.
Nether view, of course, is necessarily true.
But, one thing is certain, it is all too easy to fall into the trap of defining ourselves by the size and location of our home, the degrees we possess, the automobile we drive.
The danger exists that, like the man in today's gospel, we can allow ourselves to become possessed by that which we possess.
Jesus's message is crystal clear.
Today's gospel calls me to self-examination. I have many shoes...do I really need more? I have several suits. Do I need another? I have a reliable vehicle. Do I need a new car?
I don't believe it was ever Jesus' intent that we should go without the essentials of life. But, in God's eyes, what we do for others is far more important than what we excessively accumulate for ourselves.
Do we, like the man in today's gospel, ask, "..... what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

"Our lives are not defined by the things we possess, our lives are defined by the things we pursue." - - Joshua Becker