Ad Jesum per Mariam

Jesus Tells the Man that Earthly Life Can Prevent You From Obtaining Eternal Life

Jesus Tells the Man that Earthly Life Can Prevent You From Obtaining Eternal Life In the second reading, we hear there is a cutting sharpness of the Word of God. The Word can uncover what is in a person’s heart all along. It is in sharp contrast to the gentler words within the first reading. To fully understand today’s Gospel, it is important to understand the sharpness of the second reading! Hear more within the Homily! The Word of God can be inspiring and uplifting. The Word of God has a cutting brilliance about it that lights up even the darkest corners of the heart. If the language used in the Gospel is off-putting and frightening, it should be! Why? Because Holiness is like that! Hear more in the Homily! In the first reading we hear about values . . . about what is most important about life. More than a long life, riches and status, the author values Wisdom. Interesting! Wisdom is worth more than any earthly possession. Why would that be? Wisdom is a Gift Wisdom is a gift and good that teaches us to order and use all other things. The author of the first reading provides us a context for asking ourselves what we value in our life. The Homily explains Wisdom’s importance. A Young Man Runs to Jesus In the Gospel, we hear about what the Lord wants us to do! The Gospel begins in a particular way. A young man runs to Jesus. He rushes to Him! He needs to ask a question . . . so he runs to Jesus. When he gets to the Lord, he drops to his knees. There is something urgent and vital, even spiritual, happening here. He seeks a spiritual answer, that only Jesus can answer. What must I do to inherit eternal life? Interesting, do we feel urgency about eternal life? This is a fundamental question that resides in everyone’s heart. Again, the Homily explores this topic and question. In the question is hidden the young man’s real problem. Jesus says to attend to the basic things in doing the will of God. Jesus tells him to obey the commandments. The young man tells the Lord he has performed these basics since he was little. But the young man realizes that is not enough. He knows it when he was running to the Lord, so he asks again, what must we do? Jesus Tells Us What to Do Jesus tells him what to do . . . and then tells him to Follow Me (Follow the Lord). Do so and you’ll have treasure in Heaven. Hmmm! Relate the Gospel to the first reading. The young man wants eternal life . . . much like we all do! But he is disappointed when the Lord tells him what to do to obtain it. Wisdom and values . . . what is important? Listen to this Meditation Media. Listen to: Jesus Tells the Man that Earthly Life Can Prevent You From Obtaining Eternal Life ------------------------------- Image: Christ and the Rich Young Ruler: German Painter: Heinrich Hoffman: 1889 ------------------------------- Gospel Reading: Mark: 10: 17-30 First Reading: WIS 7: 7-11 Second Reading: HEB 4: 12-13

Broadcast on:: 14 Oct 2024
Audio Format:: other

They'll all be with you, and with your spirit. Everything from the Holy Gospel according to man, or into human love. As Jesus was setting out on a journey. The man ran up, knelt down before him, and asked him, "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. You shall not kill. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear a false witness. You shall not defraud. Gonna, your father and your mother," he replied to him, "Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth." Jesus looked at him, loved him, and said to him, "You are lacking 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 well-known authority to enter the kingdom of God." The disciples were amazed at his weight. So Jesus again said to them in reply, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God. 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." They were exceedingly astonished and said among themselves, "Then who can be saved?" Jesus looked at them and said, "For human beings it is impossible, but not for God. All things are possible for God." Peter began to say to him, "We have given up everything and followed you." Jesus said, "A man I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for sake of the gospel who not receive a hundred times more now in this present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands with persecutions and eternal life in the age to come. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ. We hear in our second reading that there is a cutting sharpness to the Word of God. The comparison is that it is like a double-bladed, a double-edged sword, able to cleave into the depth of the person, to separate the truth from the false, the good from the bad and to uncover what is really there and has been there all along. It's a sharp contrast to the much more gentle language of wisdom that we have in our first reading and it is important to understand the gospel that we begin with the sharpness of that second reading. The Word of God is not merely consoling, the Word of God is not merely uplifting, the Word of God is not merely gentle, although it can be all of those things, but that the Word of God has a brilliance, a cutting brilliance about it, that lights up even the darkest corners of the heart that brings into the light even those things that are most deeply hidden, that penetrates into the very depth of who we are and if that language is off-putting and frightening it should be because holiness is like that, holiness is like that, holiness is not a reality that is content to dwell on the safe surface of things, rather it tends to the very depth of who we are, not to hurt, not to damage, not to wound, but let's be honest, we're not comfortable when the deep parts of our lives are touched, we're not comfortable when the very depth of who we are is touched even in an affirming way because we're not used to that and yet the Word of God does exactly that. It penetrates life, it slices through the superficial of life to get to the very reality at the heart of life and that is what we see then in our first reading and our gospel reading in these different ways. Our first reading speaking of values, of what it is that's most important and the author saying more than wealth, more than pleasure, more than status, more even than a long life of many years, I value wisdom. It's an interesting statement that wisdom is worth more than all of these other things. Why would that be? Because wisdom is that gift and that good which teaches us how to use and order all of the other ones. Without it we only have chaos, without it we have what St. Augustine described as the very essence of sin being not that we choose to do something that is bad, that we choose the wrong good. We stretch out our hand thinking this is what's important, this is what I desire, this is what I want and we don't do it because I'm thinking this is going to hurt me, we do it because this will please me, this will give me a break, this will give me rest, this will allow me to be safe and we do that and we choose something that is less important than something else and everything gets out of whack. This is why the author of our first reading says I need to have that wisdom which allows me to know rightly the things of heaven and the things of earth and which ones are important and which ones aren't and which ones are the most important so that I can direct my effort and my living and my striving toward what really matters and not spend myself and waste myself on those things that might be good but aren't going to get me anywhere. So I value wisdom more than wealth because if I don't know how to use my wealth what good is it? I value wisdom more than a long life because if I don't know how to live well what good are all those extra years? I value wisdom more than all of these other things because this is the one that allows all of those other things to be used in a way that their goodness is clear. Let me start with that. And in speaking that way the author is also calling his reader to say what are the priorities of my heart? What is it that I'm really seeking? What am I striving after? What do I want out of life? These are not small questions it's amazing however how infrequently we ask them in church. You know but we're hanging out with our friends outside we ask these questions of each other all the time and we have the usual raft of made up answers that follow. Well what I really want is this, what I'm really looking for is that what I think would be really good and that's not bad but notice who's not involved in that conversation. That would be God. That would be the Lord. And we often think about and ask these questions in merely worldly ways. And a merely worldly answer isn't going to get us very far. And so we have then this marvelous incident in our gospel reading. And when we engage stories like this in the gospel one of the most important survival skills for understanding and interpreting is pay attention pay close attention to how it begins. You might be thinking right now well the story begins with this young man coming up to Jesus but that's not exactly true. The Holy Spirit through Saint Mark describes this in a very particular way. This is not a young man who came to Jesus. This is a young man who ran to Jesus. Now what that implies, there's something urgent about this movement. We don't just run to somebody. He runs to Jesus, he's in a hurry, he rushes, this is not calmly walking up, this is not Jesus is passing by, I'm going to talk to him. This is someone who goes out of his way in a hurry to get to Jesus because there's something he needs to ask. There's an urgency about this question. This urgency of his own life is burning within him. And he moves rapidly and aggressively in that urgency. I don't run up to you to ask you something if it's not important. I don't run up to you to ask you just how was your day? And so here it is, this young man on fire in some way rushes to the Lord and when he gets to the Lord, he drops to his knees. Note how different this story sounds when we catch that. This is not just a young man calmly standing before the Lord asking his question. He's out of breath, he's just run, he's in a hurry. And when he gets there before he says anything, he drops to his knees, which is the posture of prayer. There's something going on here that is beyond mere curiosity. There's something urgent, something vital, something spiritual happening here. And we pause at that moment, just marveling at this young man, because let's be honest, how many of us have ever really rushed to Jesus in our prayer? And in running, then drop to our knees. And we might do one or the other, we might get to our knees, but we walked up slowly. Or we might run, but we're not going to drop to our knees because we need to say what we've got to say. This is very different. There's something urgent here. There's a pressure in this young man's life that makes him move, but makes him move seeking a spiritual answer. Not an answer he can get from anybody else. There's something about Jesus that has the answer he's seeking. He wants to go there and he wants that answer. So he drops on his knees and looking up and catching his breath. Good teacher. And now we find out what's so urgent. What must I do to inherit eternal life? I'm not going to ask for a show of hands, but how many of us really feel that kind of urgency about eternal life? How many of us, if we had to ask for a show of hands, don't really feel that urgent about it? Note the difference all of a sudden between him and me, between him and most of us. He is concerned about this. What must I do to inherit eternal life? The question burns in him so powerfully he runs, places himself on his knees. This is the question. Now let's back up a minute, because it's the question that lives in the heart of man. It's often covered over with other concerns. It's often buried deep within us. But this is the fundamental question that lives in the heart of every human being who has ever lived. What must I do to inherit eternal life? As Santa Gustin so beautifully says, "You have made us for your self, O Lord, and our hearts will always wander restlessly until they rest in you." We know the restlessness of life. That's common. Everyone knows the restlessness of life, but not many know where that restlessness gets resolved. This young man senses that. There is this restlessness deep within him, and he knows that there is something about Jesus that holds the key to solving that. And so he moves swiftly. He moves boldly. What must I do to inherit eternal life? And in that question, in that question is hidden his problem. And so the Lord looks at him, "What must you do? What must you do? Follow the commandments." And he gives him at first what sounds like the basic and the standard list of things. You know, and most of us would say, "You know, I'm pretty good at that. I've never killed anybody. You know, I've never knocked off a bank. I'm okay on the killing and the stealing." It doesn't sound like much, does it, honoring your parents, "Well, yeah, I'm pretty good at that, too." It doesn't sound like much. What the Lord is doing is he saying, "The first thing you do is you attend to the basic obligations of doing the will of God." Because if you start someplace else, you're not going to go anywhere. If you don't get the basic right, you're never going to get the deeper right. But the proud human heart wants to start with the big thing, the deep thing. Get me right there. And the Lord says, "No, no, we don't start right there." We start with establishing the fundamental ordered stability of a healthy living. You start with that. So he looks up at the Lord, this young man whose heart is burning in this way. "Lord, I've been doing that. Lord, I've done that since I was little. This has been my deal. I am that guy. I'm the guy who doesn't kill. I'm the guy who doesn't steal. I'm the guy who's good to his mom and dad. That is me." You know, and again, there is this tendency in the heart of man where we look at these things and we tap ourselves on the shoulder and say, "I'm doing pretty good. I've got this. I'm doing pretty good. I've never killed. I've never stolen. I treat my family with respect. Ah, I got it." And yet he knows that's not enough. This young man knows that's not enough because if it was, he wouldn't need to run. If it was, he wouldn't have that disturbing question in his heart. He knows that there's something more. And note the response. Jesus looks at him and he loves him. Jesus sees this ache within him. Jesus sees how honest and how real it is. Jesus sees he is a guy who's trying to get it right. And Jesus loves that. And so again, this is not a bad guy. This is a good guy. Jesus looks at him and says, "Well, you know, if that's where you're at, you're still missing something." And the young man knows it. He wouldn't be here if he didn't think he was missing something. He just wasn't ready for the answer. Take what you have and sell it. And don't keep the profit. Give that away too. Give it to the poor, divest yourself of all of these things you have. And even give the proceeds away. And then you come and follow me. That's what you need to do. And then you will be perfect and you will have treasure in heaven. Remember what we said about the Word of God? It's sharp and it cuts and it reveals what's really there. What we have now. Lord, I really want eternal life, but I don't know if I want it that much. You know, this is the first indication of that classic statement everybody wants to get to heaven, but no one wants to go today. You know, Lord, I really want this. I really want eternal life, but I didn't realize it was so expensive. But I like my things. I like my comfort. I like who I am. What do you mean, I've got to give all of that away? It's not that he doesn't want eternal life as he wants all these other things too. And he wants them more. What is your priority? You know, in any room you walk in and you ask people who wants the very best from life and all the hands would go up. The interesting thing is who's settling for less than the best in life and pretty much all the hands would go up to? On the one hand, we say we want the best. On the one hand, we say we want happiness. On the one hand, we say we want goodness and on the other hand, oh, we settle so quickly. We settle so quickly for less. All of these other things are important too and we don't know how to navigate them. So what happens is we're surrounded by our wealth. We're surrounded by our possessions and our relationships. And over time, what happens is these things end up owning our hearts without our realizing it. My life becomes defined by them. My identity becomes defined by them. And so this is Jesus now calling this young man out of himself. This is the way that God of Israel has always worked. He calls Abraham out of his land, go to a land that I will show you for sake everything and you go. And it's out of that movement of leaving behind and going forward that I will raise up a people through whom all of the nations of the earth will be blessed. And this is Jesus now speaking to that young man. I need you to step out of yourself toward me. And here's how you do it. It begins with loving me and valuing me over all of those other things you think are important. Jesus is not saying that wealth is bad. But what he is saying is it's a trap, comfort, security, pleasure. All of these things are good but they're traps because we end up living there and we get so comfortable it becomes like that mattress we don't want to leave on a cold morning. This is so good I'm not ready to get up right now Lord the bed is feeling too good. And yet the Lord is saying but you got to move. And note it was so important he ran and he dealt and all of a sudden he's not ready for the answer and he gets up and he goes away and he's disappointed. We don't know what becomes of the young man but we do know he's struggling with what the Lord says. And note Jesus loves this guy and he still gives him that difficult word, that hard word because it's an important word. And as that young man leaves and we can only hope that as he listens and lets that word cut into his life he'll respond but we don't know. And note how marvelous that is in a sense because the gospel leaves us with that question because if it was me what would I do? What would I say? Where would I go? What would my reaction be to that word? And note by not giving us the man's final answer the scriptures invite us to put ourselves there and say what if that's me on my knees and that's the answer I hear. Where am I going to go? What am I going to do? And this is when the Lord turns around and says oh it's so hard. It is so hard for the rich and the comfortable to enter the kingdom of heaven. And the disciples are amazed because in their era being blessed materially was a sign that God's favor was on you. There are still elements of Christianity which preach a misguided gospel of prosperity. Because if God's love always manifests itself in material abundance in some way, in worldly success in some way, it doesn't, spoiler alert, it doesn't. And so the disciples are puzzled, well if the ones who are supposed to be most blessed by God can't get in who can, then the Lord gives another difficult statement. And again have the mental picture, it is easier for a camel. Camels are pretty big aren't they? Really big right? And needles are pretty small and a little hole in the needle that's even smaller. Can you get a camel through that? You're pausing. No you can't. Know what the Lord is saying have the mental picture. You know what a needle is, you know what a camel is, it's easier to get a camel through that little opening than it is to get someone who's wealthy into the kingdom of God. And this is another one of those biting passages of the word of God that certain Christians long to interpret in ways that make it less biting. Oh Jesus is talking about a gate called the needle and you have to unload the camel to get it through. No he's not. No he's not. And the Lord tells us he's not by the next statement. For man it's impossible. He's not speaking about possibilities, he's not speaking about difficulties, he's speaking about a fundamental impossibility. And these attempts to interpret his parables in ways that make it possible for me miss the point. It's the point the young man missed with his question. What must I do to inherit eternal life? He can't do a thing to inherit eternal life. No one can gain it on his own, no one can merit it on his own. That's why the Lord said the only thing you can do is surrender. Give yourself over to me. That's the one thing you can do. Nothing else you do will get you there. Nothing else you do. All of these ways you try to control the outcome. All of these ways you try and guarantee your success. In the end none of them get you eternal life. I get you that. That's the irony in the young man's question. You don't do anything to inherit something, an inheritance is a gift. What must I do to receive a gift? Show up. Note the irony in the question. The young man is preoccupied with what must I do to gain it, to get it, to earn it, to purchase it. How do I buy the inheritance? Yeah, it's so easy for the heart to fall into that trap. What do I do? What must I do? And of course saying that's not where we start. You start with me. The young man was right, running to Jesus is right. Getting on his knees before Jesus is right. What then the next thing is when you get there, that difficult word that the Lord speaks. But how do I even begin divesting myself of everything? It's impossible. Let's be blunt for us, but with the grace of God it becomes possible. And this is the point. Jesus asked the young man to do something hard. Unimpossible, but the Lord would give the grace to make that happen. That's the difference. For man it's not possible. For God it is. Buy into the possibility that God holds out for you, but don't try to buy that possibility. Buy into it. Surrender yourself into it. If you want the very best, if that urgency of where is my life really going is something that you feel, the Lord is the only one with that answer. And that answer involves a trust in him above all of the other things we try to place our trust in. And note, when I trust in Jesus, I'll know how to use my wealth. When I trust truly in the Lord and seek to know his will, I'll know how to spend my time. When I trust in the Lord, I'll know how to act, I'll begin knowing how to think. But if I trust in somebody else, it's always going to be out of order. Take the greatest good and put it at the top. That's what wisdom is. The greatest good is Christ, who gives us the kingdom. And we have that everything else comes. If we don't, it doesn't matter what else we have, we're not getting anywhere. Now wonderful it is that we can reflect on that here today. Because on this altar, that same Jesus Christ who spoke to that young man, is going to be here. And note how cool it is, because we may not have run, but some of us might have broke the speed limit getting here today. And we're here. And we'll be on our knees in front of Him. And our hearts do have those deep, longing issues within them. We'll ask the question differently, but we've all got it. It's there that desire within each and every one of us for the fullness of life, it's there. And note, I'm here, Lord. And I desire your eternal life. And the beautiful thing is He's here too. And note what He does. He lays aside His glory. Remember what He said to the young man? Sell what you have? He lays aside His glory to hide His glory in bread and wine for you. He who laid aside His wealth to make you and me rich. This is what the young man is missing. Jesus is the first guy who sold everything He has for the poor and we're those poor. He makes Himself poor to make us rich with His wealth. And how wonderful it is that we who are poor, however wealthy materially we may or may not be, before Him we're all poor. But we come forward and we can stretch out our hands and we receive the greatest treasure that heaven knows, which is Him, which is Him. And we have that Lord's response again, start with me. Don't start with what you do. Start with me. And when you start with me, the steps you take afterwards are going to be very well made. Amen.