Word to the Wise
Monday, May 27, 2024 - Monday in the 8th Week in Ordinary Time
[1 Pet 1:3-9 and Mark 10:17-27]As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up, knelt down before him, and asked him, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" [Mark]
There are a multitude of things that can be said about this incident in Jesus' ministry. I will try to speak to only two. First of all, the incident is not about religious vocations. It is about all of us. Secondly, we cannot earn our way into eternal life. The classic form of this kind of thinking is called "Pelagianism," after a theologian named Pelagius who lived around the time of St. Augustine. We Catholics are often accused by non-Catholics of being at least "semi-pelagians" because of the way we sometimes act as if we can store up "brownie points" by doing certain things and earn enough in the end to make it into heaven.
The man in the incident has, indeed, been a faithful person. He has observed all the commandments. But he senses that something is missing. He takes his lifestyle as a "given" and discovers that what is missing is missing because of that lifestyle. In other words, he has been systematically putting obstacles in the way of what he wants most. When Jesus touches on that weak spot, the man goes away sad "for he had many possessions." He wasn't the only one in the story who thought those possessions were a blessing. The disciples standing by are "amazed" when Jesus points out that possessions can be an obstacle. Do we own our stuff or does our stuff own us? The man and we have to learn that we cannot "do" our way into heaven, but we can certainly make it easier for God to save us! Identifying the obstacles we are putting in the way of this is the challenge! And those obstacles may be inside of us and not just external possessions. When we think this is an impossible task, we are assured by Jesus that we can do it with God's help. In fact, we can't "do" it at all without that help!!! AMEN