Word to the Wise
Monday, May 28, 2018 - Monday in the 8th Week in Ordinary Time
[1 Pet 1:3-9 and Mark 10:17-27]"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........" 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.
The man who asked the question clearly was not expecting the answer he got. He was "successful" by the standards of his day, but his success had not brought him the ultimate satisfaction he hoped to have. eternal life. It had not occurred to him that his "success" was the very thing standing in the way of eternal life. His many possessions made it difficult if not impossible to follow Jesus. After he went away sad, Jesus' continued reflection on the incident leaves the disciples astonished because they measured success in the same way that man did. Does Jesus' reflection leave us astonished, too?
The great Russian writer, Leo Tolstoy, wrote a short story entitled, "How much land does a man need?" The story tells of a Russian serf who hears that he can be given as much land as he can walk around in day. His desire for that land pushes him to extreme physical effort. When he arrives back at his starting point, he drops dead! How much land does he need? Enough to bury him!
Jesus warns us often in the gospels of the danger of "stuff." This can take the form of physical possessions, as in the case of the man in today's gospel, but it can also mean power, prestige, money or anything we give high value to that we can acquire by our own efforts. None of this will guarantee us eternal life and it may prevent us from obtaining it. Even the great value of good health can escape our best efforts to "stay in shape." Our ultimate value is to follow Jesus. Whatever helps us to do that is worth keeping. The poor will always be there to receive the rest. AMEN