Word to the Wise
Tuesday, August 16, 2022 - Tuesday in the 20th Week in Ordinary Time
[Ezek 28:1-10 and Matt 19:23-30]"Amen, I say to you, it will be hard for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of heaven. Again I say to you, 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." When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and said, "Who then can be saved?" Jesus looked at them and said, "For men this is impossible, but for God all things are possible."
Jesus' teachings on the dangers of material wealth were as astonishing to his disciples as his teaching on divorce. Just as divorce was considered a "given" because of the Law of Moses given by God, so material wealth was considered a "given" because it was considered a divine blessing. Giving up material wealth for the sake of discipleship was considered a contradiction!! Once more, Jesus turns things around. The call to discipleship demands total allegiance to Jesus and his teachings!
If we are honest, most of us live with "divided allegiances." We have political and social and personal allegiances, some of which may be real obstacles to true discipleship which we may have "rationalized" to make it seem not so. Faith can become one of many "options" that we choose from "compartments" in our life. Allegiance to Jesus and his teachings, whether manifested in the Church's practices or in ordinary life, requires intentional behavior and not just "good intentions." The promises made to Peter and to anyone who would follow Jesus seem, at times, like "pie in the sky by and by."
The words of the great Catholic writer, G. K. Chesterton, come to mind: "The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult, and left untried." What are our "allegiances" and how are they divided? AMEN