Memorial of Saint Philip Neri, Priest
In the text from Mark before us today, we receive a bold challenge. Peter announces that the disciples have given up everything to follow Jesus. Jesus talks about giving up the kinds of possessions that people value most. He names houses and land, which were surely among the most prized possessions for people of his time.
If we aspire to be followers of Jesus, what are we called to give up? What are our prized possessions?
In an early scene of a movie-version of Little Women (which aired on PBS), the four teenage Marsh daughters are in the kitchen on Christmas morning. They are admiring the beautiful Christmas meal that has been laid out before them when their mother gives them news that a woman and her many children in town are so hungry they can barely function. The daughters know what this means—it’s time to pack up their precious dinner and take it to this family in need. Giving up their Christmas meal is hard enough. What is even harder is witnessing the deprivation suffered by the hungry family. Never having seen such deprivation before, they respond simply and profoundly—no one should live like that.
While this example may not seem to measure up to the call for giving that we encounter in the Mark text, I think it too poses a bold challenge to us. What suffering do we see around us? Who perhaps even quite nearby us is in desperate need? What needs can we meet with what we have been generously given?
Of course, the text from Mark isn’t just about what we might give up. It is also about how God responds to those who follow Jesus with this kind of generosity. Jesus says that those who give will receive a hundred times what they give in return. And we know this to be true from our own experience. When we give in Jesus’ name, we are blessed. Indeed, to give generously is itself a great gift.
May we be always mindful of the suffering in our midst and give. Amen.
- Sue Trollinger