The readings for the Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year B may be found at:
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/101324.cfm
Today’s passage from the evangelist Saint Mark tells us the story of the rich young man who approaches Jesus.
Now, we don’t know alot about this rich young man,
but we do know some things,
even if only from the few verses we just read.
We know he was rich,
He was young.
He was a man.
We know he was enthusiastic about his faith because he “ran up” to see Jesus.
He was reverant, even obedient - because he “knelt” down before Jesus.
He must have been wise and learned because he called Jesus “good” and “teacher”.
And we know that he asked Jesus the most important question that any of us can ever ask.
And that question is…"What must I do to inherit eternal life?"
On the surface,
the rich young man had it all.
Wealth, respect, possessions.
But Jesus saw deeper, below the surface, into this heart.
Jesus has a way of doing that.
He knew this rich young man had a generous heart.
That is why Jesus treats him so affectionately.
That is why He looks at him with such love.
That is why He invites this rich young man
to holiness and greater intimacy with God.
Exactly what it means to inherit eternal life.
The rich young man’s situation
looks pretty great to our human eyes,
But it looks different to Jesus’ divine eyes.
In order to grow in holiness,
in order to get close enough to God to inherit eternal life,
Jesus explains that the rich young man
needs to sell everything he owns,
give the proceeds to the poor
and give his heart whole and entire to Jesus.
God is good all the time, we know that.
But this answer. Sell all you have and give it to the poor.
Does that mean that God doesn’t want us to have nice things?
Does that mean that God believes having money is bad?
I mean, Jesus tells the disciples that
“it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
Does this mean that Jesus wants us all to live in poverty?
I don’t think Jesus is saying that at all.
The reality is that we have a God
that loves us with such an extravagant love
Such an immeasurable love
that He wants us to have the best.
The problem with the rich young man was that
What he had,
got in the way of him having the best.
What he had,
got in the way of him accepting Jesus’ invitation to follow Him
And prevented a deeper and more intimate relationship with God.
What he had,
Got in the way of him doing what Jesus wanted for Him -
The best.
And it’s a cautionary tale for each of us.
It’s not about the money,
It’s about anything,
whatever it is
that gets between us and Jesus
and prevents us from growing in holiness,
That gets in the way of us knowing Him better, loving Him better,
That gets in the way of us getting closer to Him,
That gets in the way of us serving Him better,
Whether its little money, lots of money, alcohol, drugs, poor choices, bad relationships, hurt, anger, selfishness, harsh judgements, hardness of heart
whatever it is -
If it gets in the way of you and God - that’s the problem.
So, this week, I ask you to put yourself in the place of this rich young man.
Approach Jesus in prayer.
Ask him the most important question that any of us can ask in our entire lives.
Ask him, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?"
Pray that He will show you the people, things, habits or behaviors
that are getting in the way of you growing in holiness
To show you the things that are keeping you
from more fully embracing your relationship with God.
Ask Him for the strength to choose Him first,
to follow Him more fully.
Because as much as we have,
Jesus always wants us to have more - to have the best.
And what he offers us far surpasses the value
of anything else we could ever gain on our own.
He offers us Himself.
Let us pray for the strength to choose Him confidently and unreservedly,
So that we may have eternal life with Him forever,
instead of settling for less now
and going away sad
like the rich young man.
