Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Today's Scripture
In the gospel reading today we hear about Jesus encounter with a young man who wanted to follow Jesus. In Luke’s gospel he is called the rich young man. From his question, “Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” we can conclude that he was a good, conscientious man. After all, not many rich young men live their lives in the context of eternity. Moreover, he was meticulous in following all the commandments.
However, inside him was a gnawing emptiness. Being good was not good enough for him. He wanted to take a deeper spiritual plunge. Jesus recognized the potential of this young man. Jesus offered to take him deeper. When the young man realized what it would cost him to follow Jesus radically, his face fell. By asking the young man to give all he had to the poor and then come and follow him, Jesus was not merely presenting a choice between wealth and Jesus. Rather, the young man was being invited to live life from the perspective of the Kingdom of God. Right at the beginning of the Gospel of Mark, Jesus had announced, “The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel.” That is why thrice in the gospel reading today Jesus tells his disciples about how hard it would be to enter the Kingdom of God. Jesus was calling the rich young man to conversion – conversion from dependence on wealth to total dependence on God and to faith – faith that his life would be still be meaningful without his wealth, but that if he lost he Kingdom his life would be worthless.
The first reading from the book of Wisdom offers us an example. We know the story of Solomon. God offered him a favor and asked him to ask for anything he wanted. Of all the things Solomon could have asked for as the King of Israel, he asked for Wisdom. “I prayed, and prudence was given to me; I pleaded, and the spirit of wisdom came to me. I preferred her to scepter and throne and deemed riches nothing in comparison to her.” Now that is life from the perspective of the Kingdom – dependence on God and faith that without God’s wisdom he is worthless. Solomon bears witness to that. “Yet all things together came to me in her company, and countless riches at her hands.” Nevertheless to say, the young man could not muster the courage to do what Solomon did.
The rich young man who came to Jesus in today’s Gospel passage was a good man. He did everything the law required him to do. But there was one thing he lacked – the courage to follow Jesus the extraordinary way. When it comes to our being Jesus’ disciples, good is not good enough. In a lesson I teach seventh graders, saints are defined as those people who do ordinary things in an extra-ordinary manner. My calling is to be a ordinary priest in an extraordinary manner.
‘To be who we are’ the extraordinary Christian way – that is the key to the Kingdom. Strive through prayer and close following of Christ to be that extraordinary husband and father, wife and mother, child and student, friend and soul confidant and whatever other roles we play. Being good is not good enough - we must be disciples to the core.
- Fr. Satish Joseph