THE MOST IMPORTANT thing I did on a computer this weekend was to transcribe a sermon that Fr. Dan Donovan gave last Tuesday on The Daily TV Mass from Toronto. I will risk posting it as I transcribed it, hoping I did it right. I'm going to forego extensively commenting on it because I couldn't do it justice except to say this way of seeing things with its consequences for economic inequality is more likely to produce equal justice than what I've been criticizing for the past week.
Today's Gospel follows immediately on Matthew's account of the rich, young man who asked Jesus what he must do to enter into eternal life. When Jesus answers keep the commandments, the young man answers he has done so all his life. Jesus then invites him to sell all that he owns, give the money to the poor and join Jesus as he travels throughout Galilee proclaiming the good news of the nearness of the Kingdom of God. When the man heard this, Matthew tells us he went away grieving for he had many possessions. That the man grieves is revealing. He clearly is not indifferent to the invitation that Jesus has made to him but he's unable to accept it. His wealth means that much to him.
As the young man turns Jesus turns to the disciples and says, "Truly, I tell you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven." To underline just how difficult it can be for those who possess great wealth to enter eternal life Jesus declares that "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."
Taken literally the saying seems to affirm that for the rich salvation is impossible.
Over the centuries People have tried to soften what Jesus is saying by claiming there was a particularly narrow niche in Jerusalem called "the needle," a gate through which a camel might pass with great difficulty. In fact there was no such gate. What we have here is the kind of exaggerated and shocking language that Jesus sometimes uses, for example like cutting off one's hand or tearing out an eye if they cause us to sin. Such language is meant to catch our attention, to stop, make us think. In this case think about how money and great possessions can undermine our relationship with God.
This is the way in which the disciples understood what Jesus was saying. Hearing it, Matthew says the disciples were greatly astounded and said, then who can be saved? For mortals, Jesus declares, the salvation of the rich is all but impossible but for God all things are possible. Salvation is ultimately a gift, something that God pours out on us if we turn to him and recognize our need for that gift.
As crucial as this reference to grace is, it does not take away the difficulty Jesus said the rich have to enter the Kingdom. The issue of wealth and riches and the way they can make our relationship to God more challenging comes back a number of times in the Gospels. They report that Jesus spoke about it on various occasions. The early Church, for its part, struggled with and sought to integrate it into its teaching.
It is not easy to apply what Jesus said here to ourselves, given the world and complex culture in which we live. With the exception of the very rich it is by no means self evidence who in our culture might be among those of whom Jesus is speaking. What is it about wealth, we might ask, that makes it so difficult for those who possess a great deal of it to fulfill their human and Christian responsibility in regard to it. The basic challenge in what Jesus said is something we have to deal with as individuals, families and societies.
We need to begin by thinking of what we possess and what we might be being called on to share with others. The more we focus on money and on our efforts to amass ever greater sums of it the more we will be tempted to think of ourselves as different from others. To think of ourselves as superior to them. We can begin to think and act as if we were the source of our own wealth, we lose a sense of how much we have received from others, from God and family and from the culture and country in which we have been born and educated. And in which we have been able to be as successful as we have been from a monetary and from other points of view.
In spite of the many differences among us, including differences in wealth, education and influence, differences, too, in health, general well-being, we all share a common humanity. Made in the image and likeness of God we all have the same dignity the same rights the same needs and longings. The same ultimate destiny in God. The good things we have, family and friends, education and a rewarding job or profession, sufficient funds to provide for our needs and those of our family, these things should be available to everyone. While great wealth puts us in a position where we can help others and contribute in a significant ways to the creation of a society that cares for the poor and the disadvantaged it can also cut us off from such People and from efforts to build up a culture that is more sensitive to their needs.
What Jesus has said about wealth and great possessions and the difficulty they create for entry into the Kingdom of God leads Peter to ask about the situation of the disciples, they have in many cases given up everything in order to join with Jesus. What will they receive in return? Jesus evokes the end-times and the judgement that will be a part of them, those who have left family, home and much else in order to join with him, he says, will receive good things in this life and even more in the life to come. The life of those who embrace the Gospel and who commit themselves to living in accordance with it will bring in its wake a host of good things including peace of mind and heart and a sense of meaning and of purpose in their life. Whether our means are great or modest a saying of Jesus quoted by Paul remains true, It is more blessed to give than to receive.
No comments:
Post a Comment