By Deacon Jerry Franzen at the
Cathedral
Wisdom 7: 7-11 ` Hebrews 4: 12-13 ` Mark 10: 17-30
Praised Be Jesus Christ! Good Morning!
"It is easier for a camel to
pass through the eye of a needle,
than for a
rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.”
There are interesting
explanations of just what is meant by “the
eye of a needle” but the bottom line is that
this statement should make us squirm.
As the disciples said, “Then
who can be saved?”
It should make us think
about what is in our wallets,
about the size of our bank accounts,
and the size of the collection of all that we
possess.
To be sure, we must face the issue
head-on.
What is Jesus saying that we
must do to enter the kingdom?
I suggest we do three things
to help ease our concerns:
1. We must put the passage
in the context of the times;
2. We must uncover what
Jesus had in mind
when he spoke this way about riches;
3. We must look at how this
might speak to us today.
I
It’s little wonder that “the
disciples were amazed”
at Jesus’ words and they were “exceedingly astonished.”
Jesus had seemingly told
them that
NO ONE could
enter the kingdom of heaven.
A powerful Jewish tradition,
a part of the very air the disciples breathed,
deemed that wealth was a sign of God’s
grace.
The Lord blessed Job in his
latter days not only with grace
but also with
abundances of sheep, cattle and oxen.
God enriched those he loved,
as was the
case with Abraham, Issac and Jacob.
In the old Testament,
wealth was a part of life’s peace and fullness.
Moses promised the people
that, if they obeyed God,
they would
prosper mightily in a land
where they would “lack nothing.”
But it wasn’t that God
blessed all that were financially rich.
Isaiah warned, “cursed are
those who add house to house
and join field to field, till they snatch up the whole area
and become the sole inhabitants of the land.”
And woe to those who forgot
that the source of their wealth was God.
The understanding in Jesus’
day was that,
if you feared God and you truly loved him,
you would be
blessed with the good things of the earth.
It is understandable that
the disciples said,
“Then who can be saved?’
Either you did not fear and
love God,
received none of His
graces and were doomed, or
you feared
God, loved God and then were doomed
by
the riches you received.
II
What did Jesus say to this
revered tradition?
He reversed it rudely in his
own life style.
He had by his own admission
“nowhere to lay his head.”
He lived off the hospitality
of some women of Galilee,
the hospitality of Martha, Mary and Lazarus in Bethany,
the hospitaliy of Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimethia
and Zacheus, even some of the Pharisees.
He also reversed this
revered tradition in his teachings:
“Woe to you who are rich,
for you
have your consolation.”
The fool who “lays up treasure for himself
and is not rich towards God.”
The rich man who died and
went to hell,
as the poor Lazarus was carried by angels to heaven.
Jesus called riches “unjust
mammon” and said
“You cannot serve both God and mammon.”
“Any of you who does not bid
farewell to all he has
cannot be my disciple.”
That is tough language
indeed.
But there is another side of
Jesus to keep us
from reaching a conclusion too quickly.
He did not tell Lazarus,
Martha and Mary to sell all;
He didn’t admonish Nicodemus
and Joseph of Arimethia
for their riches.
Zacheus proclaimed that he
gave only half of his goods
to the poor, just half, and still Jesus told him
that salvation had come to his house.
Will the real Jesus please
stand up?
Will it be no riches or
some?
There seems to be the
radical Jesus of no riches
and the moderate Jesus of some wealth,
the Jesus
who links wealth with evil
and Jesus the who advises sharing wealth.
Jesus told the young man in
today’s Gospel reading,
“Sell what you have and give to the poor.”
Contrary to what we often
unconsciously hear, in this reading
Jesus did not tell the young man to sell everything.
There is the Jesus who tells
some to give it all away AND
the Jesus who advises others to share what they have.
The Jesus who stresses
how selfish and
godless the rich can become
AND the Jesus who experiences how generous
and God-fearing his well-to-do friends can be.
III
What might this say to us
today?
How do both the radical
Jesus – give it all away -
and the moderate Jesus – share it - speak to us?
1. The radical Jesus reminds
us that nothing,
absolutely
nothing, can take precedence over Christ
in our lives,
over his right to rule over our hearts.
He reminds us that there is
a peril in any possession,
be it a preferred stock or a video game,
be it the position of vice president of marketing
or the position of RCIA coordinator,
be it the knowledge of the practice of courtroom law
or the power of being a parent,
be it health, wealth, family or home.
And what is the peril?
It’s simply that the
possession is mine,
and it can be
the center of my existence,
to constrain my life,
to manipulate me, to strangle me.
When that happens, Christ
takes second place and we don’t listen.
We don’t hear Jesus’
continual invitation
into an ever-deepening and more personal
relationship with him.
We don’t hear his call to
give it up, to let go.
The radical Jesus poses the
question:
What is the camel in your
life
that will keep you
from passing
through the eye of the needle
into the kingdom of heaven?
What rules your life, the
camel or the kingdom?
2. The moderate Jesus
reminds us
of something more splendidly positive.
Whatever is mine, whatever I
own, is a gift from God -
even if it stems from my talent.
That talent owes its origin
to God.
A gift from God is not a
gift to be clutched;
it’s a gift to be
given.
The science I have learned
over fifty-plus years
is not just to
be stored away in my gray matter
for my own intellectual delight.
It’s meant to be shared,
sometimes even questioned.
Each of you is a gifted man
or woman, more gifted, perhaps,
than our modesty may allow us to admit.
It matters not whether it is
millions or a widow’s mite,
intelligence or power, beauty or wisdom,
gentleness or compassion or faith, hope or love.
The moderate Jesus tells us
to share our gifts.
To some, such as Mother
Therese,
He says give all that you have to the poor,
and follow Him without any possessions.
To others He says share what
you possess:
give to your brothers and sisters,
use your gift of knowledge to open new horizons,
exert your power for peace,
offer your wisdom for reconcilation,
your compassion for healing,
your hope to destroy despair,
your very weakness to give strength.
Remember, your most precious
possession is yourself.
Give it away. At least share it.
To be able to share the
gifts God has given each of us,
our vision cannot be fixed on the “eye of the needle,”
the obstacles ahead.
It must be fixed on the beyond.
For looking too long at the
needle’s eye and
worrying about
how you will get your personal camel
through it, can lead to despair.
We may ask:
“How can I reconcile my
riches with God’s kingdom,
all my possessions with the command to let go?”
We can’t do it alone; but all things are possible with God.
My brothers and sisters, we
must listen to God.
Some are told to give their
all totally, all for God.
The rest must share their
time, talent and treasures with others.
It is only through our
acceptance of His invitation,
through His commands, through His plan
that each of us in our own way
will be able to pare down what we have
in order to focus on the kingdom here on
earth and in heaven.
*Based on “Easier
for a Camel” in “Still Proclaiming Your Wonders” by Walter J. Burghardt S.J.
Paulist Press New York 1984 pp 134-138
