Sunday 13th of October 2024 - Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Wisdom 7:7-11/ Psalm 89(90)/ Hebrews 4:12-13/ Mark 10:17-30

The wisdom of the world tells us how to measure our success and failure. We are a success in the world if we are well off, climbing the promotion ladder at work and the social ladder in our public lives, own our own house or apartment, a fancy car or two, maybe a boat, we go on extravagant holidays, generally living comfortable lives. We can have all the success in the world but remain unfulfilled. The man who meets Jesus in the gospel passage today we can assume was successful in the world, we are told he was a man of great wealth. Although he followed all the commandments he needed more, he did not feel he had a purpose. The wisdom of God is very different from the wisdom of the world. When I was considering the call to the diaconate, I was wondering what it was the deacon does. A wise old deacon said to me that it was not about what the deacon does but what the deacon is. It is the same for us all, it is not what we do that God sees but what we are that is important to him.

Jesus looked steadily at the man, and he loved him. Jesus was not seeing what he had achieved in the world, he was not seeing his wealth and success, he was not seeing the commandments he had kept. What Jesus was seeing was not what the man had done but what he was. Jesus gazes at us as he gazed at the rich man, he loves us, he sees into our very souls, he sees what we are, he sees into every corner of our being, even those dark areas that we hide from ourselves. Our whole being is open to Christ, his wisdom is like the double-edged sword described in the letter to the Hebrews, it cuts so finely that it can slice between what we do and what we are.

As a deacon I minister at funerals and there are often many words spoken about the person who has died. Invariably these words concentrate on what the person had done in their lifetime, what their apparent achievements were. The world demands us to be somebody, to achieve things, to be successful. What is more important is our meaning, what we are, not what we have done. The rich man told Jesus that he had kept all the commandments to which Jesus replied that there was one think he lacked. What was that one thing that this successful man lacked? Meaning, what he was, what his created purpose was, this was the one thing that he lacked, the obstacle to him becoming perfect, to achieving God’s plan for him. He was too attached to the values of the world, and he went away sad because he had great wealth.

The encounter between Jesus and the rich man was a shock to the disciples. We are told that they were astounded and astonished when Jesus told them that it was harder for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven than it was for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle.  In their culture wealth and worldly success were taken as a sign of God rewarding a just life. As often happened Jesus turned the established thinking on its head and established clear differences between the thinking of the world and that of God.

The point Jesus is making to us is that if we cling to the values of the world it is impossible for us to enter the kingdom of heaven. What is often missed when this passage is quoted is the vitally important follow up sentence that for us it is impossible but not for God, because everything is possible for God. We cannot earn our own passage into heaven; we enter heaven only by the death and resurrection of Jesus. What we need to do is to work for the perfection that God calls us to, for the perfection that we were created for, the perfection that one day we may achieve, the perfection that Jesus sees when he gazes into what we are, not on what we do. We can do all the right things, keep the commandments, go to Mass on Sunday, be nice to people, but there might still be one thing we know is missing. The rich man was asking the wrong question, what must I do? The life he wanted, the life we also seek, is not about doing and achieving, but about being and meaning. What are we? What is the meaning of our lives? We must not get so wrapped up in doing things at the expense of being someone. Is what we have done and achieved really what we amount to? We should strive to matter more about who and what we are rather what we have done. Today marks the beginning of prisoner’s week, when we pray for prisoners and their families. Here we find an example of categorising people for what they do rather than what they are. Beyond what the prisoner has done is the son, daughter, mother, father, friend, brother and sister, the people that Jesus sees when he gazes at them

When Jesus gazes upon us, when he sees into our very being, what is the one thing he sees is lacking? It may well be different for each of us, it does not mean that we must give up everything we own as the disciples did. But there may be one thing in our lives that is an obstacle to us in our search for our entry into God’s Kingdom. What is it that would give us more meaning in our lives rather than simply measuring our success by the values of the world? The comment by Jesus to the rich man, and to us, is not a judgement, it is not highlighting a failing in our lives, it is an opportunity to respond to God and the fact that for God nothing is impossible and the one thing we need in life is the love from Jesus as he gazes into who we are.

God Bless Brendan