HOMILY/REFLECTION OF 28TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME — YEAR B
HOMILY THEME: THE DANGERS OF RICHES, AND THE POWER OF GOD’S SAVING GRACE
BY: Fr. Celestine Muonwe
Wisdom 7:7-11; Psalm 90:12-13.14.15.16-17 (R.14); Hebrews 4:12-13; Mark 10:17-30
In the Gospel, a young man runs up to Jesus as He was setting out for a journey, and kneeling before Him asked: “Good Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” One notices the great pastoral sense and orientation of Jesus. He was about leaving for a journey, but stopped short to listen to this young man. Jesus is not in a hurry to listen to us, he is always available to listen to everyone. Jesus was not shut up in his room, in his private, as many people in public service do, to the exclusion of anyone. As pastors, teachers, Christians, we can always adjust our programme, to attend to the needs of everyone; flexibility is a gift in ministry.
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This young man wants eternal life. Just like him, there is a longing for God in the heart of all men. Everyone wants to go to heaven, everyone things of the nature of life after the earth’s sojourn of pain and sorrow. This longing is deep in the heart of this man. However, the question is: how ready is he to fulfil the demands of discipleship, the demands of heaven, the demands of the Gospel. Surely, this man recognises the divinity and sinlessness of Jesus, that was why he knelt before Him in adoration, and calls Him, “Good Master,” which was never used for any Rabbi in Judaism, because goodness is an attribute reserved for God in Judaism of this time. The man was most likely a man of piety, virtue and devotion. Jesus tells him that no one is good, but God, thereby affirming this understanding in Jewish custom, He never intended to refute His divinity.
This man appears to have met all criteria for being justified by means of the Jewish law. This is because, when Jesus reminds him of keeping the commandments required by the Jewish tradition for justification, the man confesses of having observed them faithfully. Hence, in terms of piety, observance of the commandments, and wealth, this man appeared complete in the eyes of Jewish religion. The Jews regarded wealth as a sign of divine approval and blessing, the stories of Abraham, Solomon, and some figures in the Old Testament, appears to sanction this understanding.
No wander, the Lord’s assertion that “it will be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God,” was a great surprise and shock for the apostles of Jesus.
What are the shortcomings of this pious man as observed by Jesus? The man presumes he has observed every inch of the commandments, but we know that Jesus calls us to perfection, to observe the spirit of the law, not just the letters of the law. It is not enough to say you do not commit adultery, but when you look at a woman lustfully, you have already committed adultery with her in your heart, and when you are angry with your brother, you are already guilty of murder to a degree.
The man thinks that salvation is all about works, about piety, or devotion, salvation is accomplished first and foremost by our submission to Christ and our faith in Him, in His work of redemption. Salvation is grace, and not just a mere accomplishment by man. Salvation is about a total surrendering of all to Christ, it is a detachment from all creatures, it is putting God and His will first before our own will.
Hence, when Jesus tells the man to sell all He had and give the money to the poor and follow Him, the man’s face fell and he went away disappointed and sad. Unlike the poor in the spirit, righteous souls, who like little children submit to the will of their parents and let themselves to be led and fed by their parents, wealth and riches have the propensity of giving men a false sense of security. It can lead men, to fail to depend on God and His will as a sure way to heaven, but to depend on their capacity to achieve well-being alone outside of God.
The man was therefore, so much attached to his wealth, in such a way that, in spite of his life of piety and observance of the law, he was not ready to fulfill the demands of discipleship, and to let go everything for the sake of Christ. Idolatry is not only when we worship crafted idols, but also, whatever we put first before God, whatever we consider a priority before God, that is what we worship in the actual fact. The man was therefore, an idolater.
From the teachings of Christ therefore, wealth and riches, which all desire to obtain, and for which men labor and toil and become old before their time— are the most perilous possession. They often wound the soul; lead men into many temptations; and engross men’s thoughts and affections; binding heavy burdens on the heart, making heaven even more difficult than it naturally is. St. James tells us that the love for money is the root of all evils
However, money can be used for good, but for every one person who makes a right use of money, there are thousands who make a wrong use of it, and wound their souls and others.
Let us pray daily for the souls of rich men, who should be pitied and not envied. Their prosperity in this world could lead to their destruction in the world to come. According to the Litany of the Church of England: “In all times of our wealth, good Lord, deliver us.”
The second point here is the almighty power of God’s grace in the soul. The disciples were amazed when they heard our Lord’s language about rich men, it was contrary, even to our current understanding of wealth as simply blessings of God. Hence, they cried out with surprise: “Who then can be saved?” And our Lord graciously answered: “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Hence, the Holy Ghost can move even the richest of men to seek treasure in heaven. He can move the hearts of kings to cast their crowns at the feet of Jesus, and to count all things but loss for the sake of the kingdom of God.
In the Bible, Abraham was very rich, yet he was the father of the faithful; Moses was a prince or king in Egypt, but he forsook all his brilliant prospects for God’s sake; Job was the wealthiest man in the East, yet he was a chosen servant of God; David, Jehoshaphat, Josiah, Hezekiah were all wealthy monarchs, but they loved God more than their earthly greatness and riches.
In the first reading, the author of the Book of Wisdom speaks of the attitude of great men, who on discovering Wisdom, that is, Jesus, the Word of God, counted every other thing as useless and meaningless. Their lives of example were unlike the life of the rich man in the Gospel of today. The author of the Book of Wisdom notes “I prayed and understanding was given me;… I esteemed her more than sceptres and thrones; compared with her, I held riches as nothing.” St. Francis of Assisi for instance, after his encounter with the Lord, in a conversion experience, threw away the clothes of his father, who was a very rich merchant, to the beggars around, and went barefooted and without clothes into the country side, caring for the lepers, and the poor.
Finally, we learn of the immense encouragement the Gospel offers to those who give up everything for Christ’s sake. Peter asked our Lord what he and the other apostles, who had forsaken all for His sake, would receive in return. The Lord assured them that a great recompense shall be made to all who make sacrifices for Christ’s sake: they “shall receive a hundred fold and shall inherit eternal life.” Jesus foresaw their future need, and the harsh situation and conditions of life they may likely go through, and intended these words to be their consolation.
The converted disciple of Christ at the initiation of the life of grace, may seem to suffer loss for a time; he may be so much cast down by the afflictions that he or she encounters on account of the Gospel. Hence, the Book of Hebrews today reminds us of the power of the word of God: “The word of God is something alive and active: it cuts like any double-edged sword but more finely…it can judge the secret emotions and thoughts”. In other words, following Jesus, through a life of poverty of spirit, involves great sacrifice, it involves accepting the often painful realities of the Gospel. But through the grace of God, the man of God will be able to live in union with God, and keep in the path of God’s word, “for everything is open to the eyes of the one to whom we must give account of ourselves”
Hence, those who, unlike the rich man, are able to fulfil the demands of discipleship will never find themselves losers in the long run. Christ can raise up friends for them, who shall more than compensate for those they lose in following Him; He can open hearts and homes to us far more warm and hospitable than those that are closed against us; above all, Christ can give us peace of conscience, inward joy, bright hopes and happy feelings, which shall far outweigh every pleasant earthly thing that we have cast away for His sake. He has promised us that it shall be so. None has ever found that word to fail: let us trust in His promise and not be afraid to follow Christ.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, You alone is capable of saving us from the dangers of riches and wealth, please help us never to allow the love for worldly possessions lead us into sin, and hence, away from Your love.
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