Homily:
28th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle B
Friends,
today, in our Gospel reading, once again we get this wonderful and very
familiar story of the rich young man.
For me, this story exemplifies the very human life and ministry of
Jesus. In our familiarity with this
story, however, we might miss the human aspects of it, which make it so real
and relatable to our lives today. And so,
I’d like to highlight some of these aspects today in an effort to help us see
how this story can illuminate and inspire our discipleship today.
First,
let’s begin just looking at the situation.
The reading begins by telling us that “Jesus was setting out on a
journey”. Let’s think for a moment about
what it’s like for us when we “set out on a journey”. Typically, this means that we’ve made plans,
prepared everything that we will need during our journey, planned out how long
it will take to get to our destination, and so have decided on a time to “set
out” on the way so that we arrive on time.
Imagine now that you have everything packed up and are ready to
leave. Just then, a car pulls up to the
house and someone gets out to ask a question.
Wouldn’t you be a little frustrated?
I know that I would! “What is
this all about?” I’d ask myself. “Doesn’t
this person see that I’m leaving?” Then
this selfish attitude would lead me to give the most simple and direct answer I
could give, hoping that it would satisfy the person so that I could begin my
journey.
Although
we know that Jesus didn’t suffer from the same selfishness that we must suffer
with every day, he was still human like us.
Therefore, it’s safe to imagine that his first response to this man who
approaches him as he is setting out on this journey is a “hurried” response
that he hopes will satisfy the question so that he can begin his journey
without further delay. “What must I do
to inherit eternal life?” the man asks. Jesus’
response is the most simple and direct: keep the commandments.
When
the man responds, however (“all of these I have observed from my youth”), Jesus
senses something deeper in him. He
senses that this man recognizes that eternal life is more than observing
commandments and that there should be something personal about it. “But what must I do to inherit eternal life.”
Having sensed this, Jesus stops, forgets his journey for a moment, and
gives the man his full attention.
There
are two things that I believe this aspect of the story reveals to us. First, it is that Jesus relates to us on a
very human level. Yes, he is the King of
the Universe and so must be respected as such; but he is also human, like us,
and so can be approached as we approach someone close to us: with familiarity
and trust. Second, is that Jesus will
respond to us according to the sincerity with which we approach him. If we approach Jesus like the scribes and
Pharisees did—seeking always to test him—then Jesus will respond as he did to
them, with harsh words. If we approach
like the man in today’s Gospel reading did—sincerely seeking the truth and the will
of God—then Jesus will respond as he did to him, with care and attention. In sum: Jesus is always on the move; but if we
approach him with sincerity and a desire for truth, he will respond with care
and attention. Therefore, let us take
care of how we approach him!
Next,
let’s look at the man in the story. As
we’ve seen, he approaches Jesus with sincerity.
He asks a question—perhaps the most important question that anyone could
ask: “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”—and he was not satisfied by the
simple answer. He senses that there must
be a deeply personal answer to this question.
Thus, his question is a question of vocation: “what am I called to do to inherit eternal life?” He recognizes both that he has to do
something and that this “something” is not something that he invents by
himself. Rather, it’s something that is
revealed by God.
This
is definitely a great witness for us.
How often do we approach Jesus in prayer with this attitude? Perhaps, like me, you’ve already embraced
your vocation: me as a priest, you as a husband or wife, a father or
mother. Nonetheless, as we live these
vocations, we come to many moments in which we need to return to Jesus and ask
once again, “what must I do?” The danger
in those moments is that we rely on ourselves to generate the answer. We forget to run to Jesus, as this man did, to
seek the answer that is beyond us: the one revealed by God. Our prayer must be deeply personal in this
way: taking to him the most difficult and distressing questions in our hearts
and seeking his answers, not our own.
Finally,
we must also look at the man’s response.
Jesus, seeing that this man was seeking a deeper, more personal
response, gives it to him and invites him to sell his possessions, give the
money to the poor, and then to follow him.
We don’t know what answer the man may have been anticipating, but it
seems like this answer certainly wasn’t one of them. The man was rich. Perhaps he never imagined that inheriting
eternal life would mean the abandoning of his riches in this life. Having heard this, he turned away sad:
imagining all that he would have to lose to inherit eternal life.
I
think that there are two lessons in this witness for us: one obvious and one
hidden. The obvious lesson is that we
must be careful not to allow our worldly possessions to possess us. In other words, we must be careful not to
become so attached to the things of this world, that they become obstacles to
following Jesus into heaven. The more
secure we feel because of our many possessions, the less ready we are to leave
them all behind to follow Jesus into eternal life. Thus, Jesus’ stern warning: “How hard it is
for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!”
This
is why almsgiving—selling what we don’t need and giving to the poor—is such a
great safeguard: it keeps our hearts detached from our wealth so that we remain
ready to follow Jesus when he calls. The
rich man in the story had not practiced almsgiving. Thus, he was distraught when Jesus revealed
that he must give up his possessions in order to follow him into eternal
life. His heart had become too attached
to his wealth. Our regular commitment to
giving alms can prevent our possessions from possessing us.
The
hidden lesson in the man’s response to Jesus’ instruction is this: whether we
like Jesus’ answer, we must receive it as the answer. Here’s what I mean. In the story, we know the rich man’s
sincerity when, after Jesus instructs him to sell his possessions, give to the
poor, and follow him, the man goes away sad.
In other words, the man believed what Jesus told him. He was not ready to accept it, of course, but
he believed Jesus, nonetheless. How often
do we seek a response in prayer (or advice from a trusted guide) and, having
received an answer that we don’t like, dismiss the answer? When we do this, we demonstrate that we were
insincere: that is, that we really only wanted the answer we wanted to hear,
not the true answer.
When
we seek answers to life’s most difficult and distressing questions, we must be
ready to receive the answer: even if it is an answer that we’re not ready to
accept. This is the way of
sincerity. When we seek the answers in
sincerity, only then we will discover the truth that our hearts desire. ///
As
I said at the beginning, this is a wonderful and very real story to which we can
relate so much of our efforts to live as disciples of Jesus. I encourage you to read this passage in
chapter 10 of Saint Mark’s gospel again this week and use it as an examination
of conscience. Ask yourself these
questions, “Do I approach Jesus in prayer with sincerity?”, “Do I seek his
answer and not only a confirmation of my own?”, “Am I practicing almsgiving so
as to be ready to follow Jesus, wherever he calls me?”, and, “Will I accept
Jesus’ answer, even if I’m not ready to follow it?” Regardless of the answers, let us remember
that the beauty of the life of discipleship is that we can always begin
again! If we find that we have been
insincere or that our possessions have started to possess us, we can begin
again: turning back to Jesus with sincerity and opening our hearts to the poor
through almsgiving. Strengthened by this
Eucharist, let us commit ourselves once again to this good work.
Given at St. Charles Borromeo Parish: Peru, IN – October 10th,
2021
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