Word to the Wise
Tuesday, August 18, 2015 - Tuesday in the 20th Week in Ordinary Time
[Judg 6:11-24a and Matt 19:23-30]"And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for the sake of my name will receive a hundred times more, and will inherit eternal life." [Matthew]
There is no question that Jesus' reaction to the rich young man who went away sad "for he had many possessions," astonished his disciples! They believed, along with most Jews of the time, that the amount of wealth in the world was finite. Some just had more than others. That "more" was considered a great blessing and those who had it were expected to be generous. Jesus says bluntly that rather than being a blessing, that "more" could be a curse - an obstacle to the "kingdom" and eternal life. He assures the disciples that if they give everything up for his sake, they will be cared for in this life and will have eternal life. Possessions per se are not the issue, it is the divided heart that is the issue.
How can we measure this? I have spoken before of the retreat exercise where I asked college students to rank the five most important people, things and activities in their life, write those down on individual pieces of paper, and then start deciding in what order they would be willing to give these up. It could be an emotional experience. Another way is to simply ask how important family, friends, country are and how much would we be willing to give up for the sake of any of those. Military people have to face this. Those who are threatened with terminal illness suddenly realize what they would be willing to give up just to live. Jesus places faith in him and following him as the supreme value. Each of us has to ask if that is where he fits in our lives. AMEN
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