Gospel Reflection

October 14, 2012

Year of Faith

Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

by Rev. Fr. Nicandro Lim Jr.

A homily delivered in St. Mary’s Church, Bunbury, Australia

Reading 1 Wis 7:7-11

I prayed, and prudence was given me; I pleaded, and the spirit of wisdom came to me. I preferred her to scepter and throne, and deemed riches nothing in comparison with her, nor did I liken any priceless gem to her; because all gold, in view of her, is a little sand, and before her, silver is to be accounted mire. Beyond health and comeliness I loved her, and I chose to have her rather than the light, because the splendor of her never yields to sleep. Yet all good things together came to me in her company, and countless riches at her hands.

  

Responsorial Psalm Ps 90:12-13, 14-15, 16-17

R. (14) Fill us with your love, O Lord, and we will sing for joy!
Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain wisdom of heart.
Return, O LORD! How long?
Have pity on your servants!
R. Fill us with your love, O Lord, and we will sing for joy!
Fill us at daybreak with your kindness,
that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days.
Make us glad, for the days when you afflicted us,
for the years when we saw evil.
R. Fill us with your love, O Lord, and we will sing for joy!
Let your work be seen by your servants
and your glory by their children;
and may the gracious care of the LORD our God be ours;
prosper the work of our hands for us!
Prosper the work of our hands!
R. Fill us with your love, O Lord, and we will sing for joy!

Reading 2 Heb 4:12-13

Brothers and sisters:
Indeed the word of God is living and effective,
sharper than any two-edged sword,
penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow,
and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.
No creature is concealed from him,
but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him
to whom we must render an account.

 

Gospel Mk 10:17-30

As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up, knelt down before him, and asked him, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus answered him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; you shall not defraud; honor your father and your mother." He replied and said to him, "Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth." Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, "You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." At that statement his face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.

Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!" The disciples were amazed at his words. So Jesus again said to them in reply, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 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." They were exceedingly astonished and said among themselves, "Then who can be saved?" Jesus looked at them and said, "For human beings it is impossible, but not for God. All things are possible for God." Peter began to say to him, "We have given up everything and followed you." Jesus said, "Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the gospel who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age: houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come."

or Mk 10:17-27

As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up, knelt down before him, and asked him, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus answered him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; you shall not defraud; honor your father and your mother." He replied and said to him, "Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth." Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him,"You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." At that statement his face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.

Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!" The disciples were amazed at his words. So Jesus again said to them in reply, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 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." They were exceedingly astonished and said among themselves, "Then who can be saved?" Jesus looked at them and said, "For human beings it is impossible, but not for God. All things are possible for God."

HOMILY

Let me share with you this story I found in one of the commentaries I read a while back. The story goes like this:  A hill shepherd's wife wrote a most interesting letter to a newspaper.  Her children had been brought up in the loneliness of the hills.  They were simple and unsophisticated.  Then her husband got a position in town and the children were introduced to its' life and ways.  They changed very considerably --- and they changed for the worse.  The last paragraph of her letter read ---'Which is preferable for a child's upbringing --- a lack of worldliness, but with better manners and sincere and simple thoughts, or worldliness and its present-day habit of knowing the price of everything and the true value of nothing?'

Some people would say that if a man's main interest is in material things, he will think in terms of price and not in terms of value.  He will quickly think in terms of what money can get.  And he may well forget that there are values in this world far beyond money, that there are things which have no price, and that there are precious things which money cannot buy.  Indeed, it is fatal when a man begins to think that everything worth having has a "price tag."

Interestingly, Jesus in the gospel, is saying indirectly that possession of worldly goods is two things: 1) It is an acid test of a man.  What do I mean by this?  For a hundred men who can stand adversity, only one man can stand against prosperity.  Prosperity can easily make someone arrogant, proud, self-satisfied, materialistic.  That's why it takes a really big and good man to bear it worthily.  2) Prosperity is a responsibility.  Correct me if I'm wrong but at times, we are being judged in two standards --- how we got our possessions and how we use them.  The more we have, the greater the responsibility that rests upon us.  Now, will we use what we have selfishly or generously?  Will we use them as if we had an undisputed possession of them, or remembering that we just hold them in stewardship from God.

Realising what Jesus had taught them, the disciples' reaction was that, if what Jesus said was true, to be saved at all was well impossible for men.  However, Jesus clarified this in saying that "if salvation is depended on man's own efforts it would be impossible for anyone.  But remember, salvation is the gift of God and all things are possible to Him."  Dear friends, the man who trusts in himself and in his possessions can never be saved.  On the other hand, the man who trusts in the saving power and the redeeming love of God can enter freely into salvation since he relies on the very power of God and not his own.  The question we ought to ask ourselves then is, "Can we gradually let go of those things that thwart our love in our faith response?  Or must we go away sad like the rich young man in gospel?...

A hill shepherd's wife wrote a most interesting letter to a newspaper.  Her children had been brought up in the loneliness of the hills.  They were simple and unsophisticated.  Then her husband got a position in town and the children were introduced to its' life and ways.  They changed very considerably --- and they changed for the worse.  The last paragraph of her letter read ---'Which is preferable for a child's upbringing --- a lack of worldliness, but with better manners and sincere and simple thoughts, or worldliness and its present-day habit of knowing the price of everything and the true value of nothing?'