Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
There is a new movie released called, “Equity.” It brings two seemingly unconnected themes together: Wall Street and women. Early in the movie, Naomi, an investment banker, who is overseeing a tricky IPO, is asked by the career panel what makes her get up in the morning. “I love money,” she responds. “I grew up in a house where there was never enough,” she continues. “I was raised by a single mom with four kids. I took my first job on Wall Street so I could put my brothers through college. But I am not going to sit here and tell you that I do what do for other people because it is OK to do it for ourselves… for how it makes us feel.” Later in the movie she says, “Money is not a dirty word!” Let’s admit it - money is not an issue for those who have enough; but for those who cannot make ends meet or have to work hard at it, not having it is the hardest thing. Money may not make us happier, but it sure does make life easier. Financial stress is a killer. It breaks marriages, it can make people unhealthy, give us heart attacks, and change our behavior.
As Christians, on the one hand, we know how important money, and on the other, we know that Jesus was poor. There are instances where he asks those who sought to follow him to give it all away. Obviously, we simply cannot do that today. Today I would like to focus on three teachings about riches based on Jesus’ words in the gospel reading.
1. “Take care against all greed.” When a man came to Jesus asking to intervene in a family’s inheritance struggles, Jesus says, “Take care against all greed.” We are not sure if Jesus’ response was directed towards the man who was seeking his inheritance or to his brother who was refusing to share the inheritance. Perhaps he was telling the later to not be greedy and to share the inheritance. Either way, Jesus makes it a teaching moment. Why does Jesus ask us to guard against all greed? Because greed means that we have lost control of ourselves. Greed is not knowing how much is enough. Wasn’t that the problem with the rich man in the parable? Perhaps, the problem in the world is not that there are a few people with too much money, but that those who have too much, have it because they do not know how much is enough for them. They are even able to manipulate the system to help them accumulate more. It is true that money makes life easier for those who have it, but their greed makes it harder for everyone else. Greed makes people focus on themselves at the expense of others. Greed removes the boundary between what is enough and what is more than enough. “Take care against all greed” is an advice for all of us. We are all capable for forgetting this boundary.
2. “Though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.” There is another dialogue from Naomi in “Equity” that is thought provoking. She says, “Don’t let money be a dirty word.” For Jesus too, money is not a dirty word. Jesus is not anti-rich. However, he redefines what it means to be rich. Our definition of “rich” tells us that Bill Gates the founder of Microsoft, Amancio Ortega the owner of Zara and Jeff Bezos the founder of Amazon are the three richest people on earth. Jesus says, that if these three people are indeed the richest, its not what they possess that defines that. By Jesus’ measure it is the kind of people that they are that would tell us about their richness. The richest people I have met are onk the streets or in the slums in India. They are not rich because of how much they have but because of the kind of people they are. They share more easily, give more generously, and give not from their abundance but their want. They sacrifice their own need for others. Jesus himself was not rich, but he is richest person we know. Whether we are rich of poor is not about how much money we have but about the kind of people we are.
3. “Rich in what matters to God.” Jesus ends the parable of the rich fool by saying, “Thus will it be for all who store up treasure for themselves but are not rich in what matters to God.” What are the things that matter to God? Let me answer this question in this way: The opposite of what matters to God is greed and selfishness. In today’s second reading, Paul calls greed, “idolatry.” The reason that greed is idolatry is because greed reverses the order in which we prioritize things. Our priority, like Jesus’, should be God, others, and then, self. Greed reverses this order and makes the priority self, God, others. Is it not what Naomi was saying in the movie when she said “I am not going to sit here and tell you that I do what do for other people because it is OK to do it for ourselves… for how it makes us feel.” To understand how to be rich in what matters to God is to look at the life Jesus. He had nothing but gave us his all. And then, there is Mary. “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord…, “she said.” She gave herself to God, for the sake of humanity, and kept nothing for herself. She is the richest person that God knows. Francis of Assisi, Dorothy Day, Mother Teresa, and Pope Francis… these people are rich in a way than the rich of the world are not. Jesus says to us today… we must strive to be rich in the eyes of God more than being rich in the world. Everything else is, as today’s first reading says, “vanity.” Everything thing else is vanity.
In this Eucharist, Christ does not count the cost. He gives us his all because he is rich in what matters to God. As we receive him, let us become like him... rich is what matters to God.
- Fr. Satish Joseph