Homily for Ordinary Time – 28th Sunday Year B 2018
Wisdom 7:7-11; Hebrews 4:12-13; Mark 10:17-30
Introduction
The question, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" asked by the young man in today's gospel, reminds me of a question that some of my seminary students will often ask me. They don't call me "good teacher" but they say: "Father Deo, what must I do to get an ‘A’ in your course?” Of course, I tell them that the only way they will get an "A" in my course is if they do their assigned readings, listen attentively in class, take notes, and revise them, and most importantly, write me a large check.
Scripture and Theology
Jesus gives the young man a much more enlightened answer than mine, an answer that should interest us too, after all, don't we also want eternal life?
Actually, the answers that Jesus gives to the question of eternal life could be categorized into three groups.
The first thing Jesus says we must do to inherit eternal life is to believe in him:
- At the beginning of his ministry Jesus says: "The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel" (Mk. 1:15, Mt. 3:2).
- And then John’s gospel says: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life” (Jn. 3:16).
The second requirement for eternal life is the sacraments:
- In John's gospel, after Nicodemus, who visits Jesus at night, declares his belief in Jesus, Jesus mentions one more requirement: “Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit” (Jn. 3:5); Nicodemus must also receive baptism.
- And in the same gospel, Jesus mentions another requirement for inheriting eternal life, the Eucharist. He says: “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day” (Jn. 6:54).
And so we have two requirements: believing in Jesus and celebrating the sacraments. The third one is that the Christian live a moral life according to the example and teaching of Jesus. Jesus spends quite a bit of time on this subject, especially in the Beatitudes and various parables. The answer that Jesus gives to the young man in today's gospel, falls within this third category of good works. And to be fair to the young man, he was actually doing quite well. For he said: “Teacher, all of these [ten commandments] I have observed from my youth."
But for Jesus just observing the commandments is not enough; after all most of them are in the negative, telling us evil things to avoid doing, killing, adultery, stealing etc. But Jesus wants the man to do some good, something positive. And so he tells the man: "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."
But why this extra requirement? Is Jesus not moving the goal posts? Why should the man dispose of his hard-earned wealth?
Christian Life
This action of selling off his possessions and giving the money to the poor opens the door to heaven for the man and for us in two main ways.
First, divesting himself of what he has frees him from dependence on passing things and allows him to depend on God. Having material things can sometimes stop us from allowing God to work in our lives. Because we can satisfy all our material needs, we may fail to see our spiritual needs, the kind of needs that Solomon in the first reading identify: prudence and wisdom. A good example of this unhealthy attachment to material things is the Ring in the movie Lord of the Rings. The Ring is a great obsession and obstruction; all those who try to acquire it and retain it for themselves end up badly.
For his part, Jesus uses the hyperbole of a camel being able to pass through the eye of the needle, but not a person attached to their material things. But St. Ambrose and St. Thomas explain this hyperbole in another way, saying:
[A]t Jerusalem there was a certain gate, called, ‘The needle’s eye’, through which a camel could not pass, but on its bended knees, and after its burden had been taken off; and so the rich should not be able to pass along the narrow way that leads to life, till he had put off the burden of sin, and of riches, that is, by ceasing to love them (Attributed to Anselm; quoted in Thomas Aquinas, Catena Aurea on Matt 19:26).
I am reminded of story about five-year old Suzy and her pearls. With her very own money that she saved all year long, she bought her very own plastic pearl necklace. She really loved those pearls. They made her feel dressed up and grown up. The only time she took them off was when she went swimming or had a bath. The pearls weren’t real, being plastic and all, but it didn’t matter to her. She had bought them herself!
Suzy had a very loving father. One day he said, “Sweetheart, do you love me?”
“Oh yes, Daddy. You know that I love you,” she replied with a beaming smile.
“Then give me your pearls,” he asked.
“Not my pearls! You can have my toy horse,” Suzy said.
“That’s okay, Honey. Daddy loves you.” And he brushed her cheek with a kiss.
About a week later, Suzy’s father asked again, “Do you love me?”
“Daddy, you know I love you,” she said.
“Then give me your pearls.”
“Not my pearls. You can have my baby doll,” she offered.
“That’s okay. Daddy loves you.” And as always, he gave her a gentle kiss.
This happened over and over again, and Suzy wondered anxiously, “If he loves me, why does he want to take away something I love?” Eventually one day, Suzy nervously and teary-eyed walked up to her father and held out her fake pearl necklace. “Here, Daddy. This is for you,” she said.
The father reached out with one hand to take the imitation pearl necklace and with the other hand he reached into his pocket and pulled out a velvet case with a strand of genuine pearls and gave them to his daughter. He had had them all the time, but was waiting for her to give up the fake pearls she had, so he might give her the genuine thing.
Similarly clinging to and depending only on our fake pearls can stop Christians from getting the real ones, those things that lead us to heaven.
And now to the second instruction. Why should the young man give the proceeds of his sale to the poor? Unlike me who has the students write me the large check, Jesus has the check written out to the poor. But why the poor? In giving to the poor, it is like the man is giving them a loan. But being poor, they will never in a million years be able to pay it back. Fortunately, God, who hears the cry of the poor, has co-signed the loan. And he will pay the man back both the principal and a generous interest in the form of eternal life.
That is why Pope Francis has consistently reminded us about caring for the poor. He reminds us that in Matthew 25 it is to those who cared for the hungry and thirsty, the sick and prisoner, the naked and the strangers, that on the day of Judgement the King will say: "Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."
Conclusion
Are you and I ready to do those things that Jesus says we must do to inherit eternal life, namely, to believe in his teaching, celebrate his sacraments, and live a life of good works especially one that detaches from material things even as we use them, give to the poor?
It is in doing these things that we follow Jesus. It is in doing these things that we are his disciples. It is by doing these things that we will 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."
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