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TWENTY-
EIGHT SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (14th
October 2018)
A
reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark
10:17-30
As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt
before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must
I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him, “Why
do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You
know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder; You
shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall
not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honour your
father and mother.’” He said to him, “Teacher,
I have kept all these since my youth.” Jesus, looking
at him, loved him and said, “You lack one thing;
go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor,
and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow
me.” When he heard this, he was shocked and went
away grieving, for he had many possessions. Then Jesus
looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard
it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom
of God!” And the disciples were perplexed at these
words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how
hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for
a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone
who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” They were
greatly astounded and said to one another, “Then
who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “For
mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all
things are possible.” Peter began to say to him, “Look,
we have left everything and followed you.” Jesus
said, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has
left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or
children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the
good news, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this
age-houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children,
and fields with persecutions-and in the age to come eternal
life."
YOU
WILL HAVE TREASURE IN HEAVEN
One
of the delightful scenes from the musical 'Fiddler on the
Roof' begins with Tevye talking to God. He says to the Almighty;
'O Dear Lord, you made many poor people. I realise of course
that it is no shame to be poor, but it's not a great honour
either. So, what would be wrong if I had a little fortune?'
Then he begins to sing and dance his dream of how life would
be 'if I were a rich man?' - there's the house he could build,
the clothes his wife would wear and the respect he would
win in the community.
Perhaps at one time or another every one of us has had a
similar dream - winning the Lotto, not having to worry about
bills, mortgages or whatever. Yes, it's a lovely thought,
but we should keep in mind that money has its own inventory
of problems. In today's Gospel (Mark 10: 17-30) Jesus talked
about the perils of prosperity. He said that it was easier
for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for
a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. Local guides tell
pilgrims to Jerusalem that Jesus was referring here to a
certain low archway in the walls of David's city that made
it exceedingly difficult for camels to pass through and known
in Jesus' day as 'the eye of the needle'. We know that Jesus
was not well off. He once remarked that he had 'no place
to lay down his head'. He and his disciples must often have
slept out at night in the open, which in balmy weather would
have been tolerable. We also know that Jesus had just been
talking to a young man who is described in the Gospel as
having many possessions. Without realising it, this man is
in a good state, but he still lacks something - loving God
to the exclusion of all idols. This was the essence of the
first tablet of the law and this was still lacking, but when
he heard the price, it was more than what he was prepared
to pay, and he went away, we are told, 'very sad'. To go
and sell all his possessions and give the money to the poor
and then to follow this itinerant prophet was not on.
This encounter shocked his disciples and perhaps we too were
taken aback. To go and sell all seemed a bit harsh, when
perhaps today we might urge such a well-off young man to
'go, invest his money' and he'd have a fine pension for himself
in later years. Riches to the disciples and the people of
Jesus' day were regarded as a sign of divine favour. We often
hear about poverty and the effects it can have on those afflicted,
but we would do well also to heed what Jesus has to say about
prosperity.
You and I may not regard ourselves as rich, but we live in
a culture that is somewhat obsessed with the material side
of life. Success today has become only one thing - money.
So, we may very well ask what it is about money, the desire
for it, and the love of it that causes such deep concern
in the compassionate heart of the Saviour?
Well, prosperity can create an illusion and keep us from
seeing ourselves as we really are. A rich person has standing
and rank in the community. They are treated with deference,
they can receive concessions, and they have what we term
'access'. They don't have to wait in queues and voices within
suggest to them that they are a cut above the common lot.
Yet all the while, prosperity may only be window dressing
and says nothing about the person one really is. Bob Geldof
remarked that the bulk of the millions donated each year
by the Irish people to alleviate starvation and provide infrastructure
for projects in the Third World, do not come from the coffers
of the rich, but the Euro and cent of ordinary folk.
Money is a powerful force, but it can pose an obstacle to
one's entry into God's kingdom. The secret millionaires who
present themselves in documentaries on our TV screens, may
have unlocked the secret of having a 'little fortune' and
disbursing it on worthy causes before the curtain on their
lives comes to a close.
Kevin
Lyon
Archdeacon of Glendalough
