Saturday, October 10, 2009

Homily for Oct 11th; the rich young man

Very early yesterday morning I drove by our church hall and saw our Boy Scout troop setting up for their big garage sale. I hope their efforts met with good results. This brought back memories of the annual Abita Springs all-town garage sale every spring. Hundreds of visitors descend on our small community searching for treasures as hundreds of locals clear out the unwanted possessions cluttering their homes.

We all have gotten rid of our excessive possessions. We donate to Goodwill, we purchase storage space; one of the fastest growing businesses in recent years, we sacrifice a spare bedroom or we utilize every square inch of our attics to remove those excessive possessions from our lives.

Of course, almost every time we do this, we’re really making room for something new.

As people of faith, do we rid ourselves of our excessive possessions and make room for Jesus Christ in our lives?

St. Mark, in today’s Gospel gives us the story of the rich young man who has many possessions. With some degree of emotion and enthusiasm this rich young man seeks out Jesus and calls Him good. Then he asks Jesus what must I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus first takes the time to explain to him that no one is good but God alone and encourages him by listing six of the Ten Commandments. The young man is excited because he says he has kept all of these. Wow, I must have this eternal life. Not so fast. Jesus goes on to tell him he lacks one thing; sell your possessions, give the money to the poor and come follow me. Even though Jesus tells him his treasure will be in heaven, he went away sad.

Did Jesus really mean to sell his physical possessions? For this rich young man apparently so! Jesus called him to a radical response of getting rid of that which would hold him back from surrendering all to Jesus.

And then we hear Jesus explain to the disciples about wealth and how it can hold one back from Heaven. He even says it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for the rich to enter the kingdom of God. What does this mean? The analogy of the camel and the eye of a needle refers to a very narrow small gate in the wall surrounding Jerusalem. Only a small camel without any supplies would be able to pass through this narrow gate. But why does he use this to explain about the wealthy. Jesus here is simply correcting the belief of the day that personal riches and wealth are signs of God’s favor. Of course, this is the belief today by some who proclaim a prosperity only Gospel. Will we ever learn? Jesus clearly needs to make the point that one’s wealth is not all that God uses to bestow his favor, his love and his mercy. Rather, Jesus warns about wealth leading man to be possessed by this world, overly concerned about price and value and leading one to over exaggerated self worth and pride.

The disciples take all of this in and in exasperation ask: “then who can be saved”. Jesus responds; for man impossible with God all things are possible.

What is this Gospel saying to us? First, we should take comfort in the words, Jesus loved him. Jesus loves us too! When Jesus tells us how he loves us he calls us to radically follow him. And if necessary, he calls us to rid ourselves of the junk in our lives that hold us back from following him unreservedly. The riches in the Gospel prevent the rich young man from surrendering to the invitation of full communion with Jesus. What are our riches? What holds us back? Perhaps it is our wealth, or simply our desire to be wealthy? Maybe it can be our plans, our hopes, our pleasures, football, maybe even our personal relationships?

The key message in today’s Gospel is let nothing hold us back from the love of Jesus; from a deep intimate personal relationship with him. Even if the task seems insurmountable begin riding our lives of whatever the junk may be that holds us back from giving ourselves to Jesus.

In the week ahead, reread this Gospel several times. And when we do, let’s place ourselves in the position of the rich young man! But let’s not be so quick to go away sad. Instead we can ask Jesus to help us to understand what it is he is calling us to. Help us to hear your call, help us to be generous with our possessions and our lives, help us to see the love for us in your gaze in the brothers and sisters we meet along the way this week.

As we prepare now to approach the table of the Lord, can we come forward without all our junk leaving our excessive possessions behind? Can we come, bringing our all to receive the Lord of all who makes all things possible?

Next time you see a garage sale, remember this Gospel. While some are making room for new possessions, we can be making room for Jesus who loves us unconditionally. Nothing sad about that!!!

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