Word to the Wise
Sunday, October 11, 2009 - Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
[Wisdom 7:7-11; Hebrews 4:12-13; Mark 10:17-30]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 por 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.
The question asked of Jesus by the man in this story was not an unusual one. Rabbis were always getting questions like it. Furthermore, Jesus' response is similar to his response on other occasions to similar questions. He asks the questioner what he knows of the law. But there's always something more to be asked because the general question is cloaking a deeper agenda. In the story of the "Good Samaritan" the lawyer is trying to narrow the field of meaning of the "neighbor". In the incident today, the man is looking for something "more" that will not demand "more" of him. We know this is true when Jesus tells him that the "more" he wants will require him to do with "less" than he has in material possessions. In both incidents, the inquirer gets more than he bargained for. The lawyer learns that all human beings are "neighbor" to each other. The man in today's gospel scripture learns that real discipleship requires putting aside anything that inhibits following Jesus. The interesting thing to me is not the sadness of the man. We know that Jesus looked at him with love. Rather, the astonishment of the disciples at the teaching about the dangers of material wealth captures attention. Their reaction is similar to one we might get in our own time when the media continually bombard us with commercials to "buy, buy, buy!" Isn't material wealth supposed to be a blessing? Isn't "more" better? Does "eternal life" depend on our being economically deprived? One might get the impression that the disciples were following Jesus because they thought he might just get a kingdom going where they could profit materially. Jesus tells them that they will indeed gain "more" from following him, and that "more" may include persecution in addition to the family and property and eternal life. Our current economic downturn in which so many have lost so much in the way of material wealth should serve as a practical experience. What, indeed, have we valued most? It may help if we return to the first scripture of the day from the Book of Wisdom in which the prayer for prudence and wisdom becomes the highest quest. Jesus responds with the wisdom that he personifies. If you want to dedicate yourself to a great quest, you have to get rid of what prevents you from obtaining it. Jesus names all the things that his disciples would have considered their greatest blessings! If we ask what we must do to inherit eternal life, the response may surprise and disappoint us, but ultimately that response is what will save us. AMEN
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