Word to the Wise
Monday, February 28, 2022 - 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......"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." 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. [Mark]
This incident is reported in all three of the "synoptic" gospels. It is often used in the context of preaching about vocations to the religious life, but the intent of the passage is much broader than that. The rich man went away sad, but when Jesus looked around, he must have seen puzzled faces among the disciples. And when he declares material wealth to be an obstacle to eternal life, those faces turned to astonishment! Material wealth would have been considered a sign of God's blessings (even if envied by those who didn't have much).
The old saying puts it bluntly, "Do we own our stuff, or does our stuff own us?" Jesus' reply to the man with many possessions is basically, "Who do you belong to?" The commitment to follow Jesus would be full time, not part time so that other things might seem to be equal to discipleship! I admire the students nowadays who give at least two years of their lives to go and preach the gospel to their peers on campuses around the country. While that experience is noble and sacrificial, the bigger challenge awaits them on the other end when they merge into the everyday world of "making a living" and the "career ladder" and marriage and kids and mortgages. As one speaker on this subject said recently at a conference, "This is going to be harder than I thought!" I recommend for reading Haley Stewart's wonderful little book, "THE GRACE IS ENOUGH," for those who seek a good example and lots of wisdom about everyday discipleship. Perhaps our amazement and astonishment at Jesus' teaching can turn into, "I can do this!" AMEN