Twenty-eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time (B)
[Mk 10: 17-30]
13.10.2024
The Rich Man and the Danger of Riches
1. Theme in brief
Christian attitude towards wealth
2. Focus Statement
To
gain eternal life it is not enough only to avoid sin; we need to positively do
good also by sharing our possessions with the needy, and place our total
security not in wealth but in God alone.
3.
Explanation of the text
Today’s gospel text is
traditionally titled “the Story of the Rich Young
Man” because Matthew’s gospel calls him a “young man” (Mt 19:20).
But in today’s gospel, Mark calls him simply “a man”
(10:17) who had “many possessions”
(10:22). Hence we can assume that he was a rich man. The main themes of this Markan
story are these: (1) Jesus’ instructions on the wrong
attitude towards wealth that
becomes a great obstacle to Christian discipleship as well as entry into God’s
Kingdom; and (2) the greatly surpassing rewards
of sacrificing possessions for the sake
of God’s Kingdom (which is equated in
this text with eternal life). [Of
course, in the application we shall take only the first theme.]
Mark says that the
rich man ran up to Jesus (10:17),
probably to highlight his eagerness to
get some enlightenment and peace of mind from the Master as he was seemingly in
a confused state of mind. His gesture of kneeling before Jesus (10:17) and addressing his
as “Teacher” (10:17) shows his deepest respect
for Jesus and his earnest desire to be
taught by him. The question that troubled his mind was how to be happy for ever by inheriting eternal life (10:17). Surprisingly, in spite of
having enough wealth and leading a pious life, he was not happy, and was
seriously concerned about the way to attain lasting
peace and happiness.
At first Jesus showed
the way to eternal life by quoting mostly second part of the Decalogue (Ten
Commandments, 10:19). The commandments quoted here are mostly negative (except honouring one’s father and mother),
and deal with human or neighbourly relationships. Once again, there is a reminder
here, if religious observances do not
lead to genuine love-relationships with
neighbours, one cannot attain eternal life. Surely, the rich man was not
bluffing when he claimed to have observed all these commandments since his
youth (10:20). Actually, he had never
done any harm to anybody. His claim was
really genuine. But Jesus sternly told him, in spite of his faithfulness to
God’s commandments, he lacked one thing
(10:21). The question was whether he had done anything good. As a rich man he could have shared his wealth with the have-nots. Why he did
not? From the fact that he was shocked (10:22)
at Jesus’ advice to him to part with his wealth and share it with the poor
(10:21), we can understand that his greed for
wealth and total attachment to it was
indeed very deep. That is why his face became gloomy
and he went away grieving or sad (10:22).
He realized that he could not inherit eternal life on easy terms by holding on
to his possessions without any desire to share it with the needy.
Jesus, looking at him,
loved him because he was genuinely trying
to lead a virtuous life (10:21). Out of
love for him Jesus wanted to change him from his comfortable life to a life of
sacrificial sharing. But when he refused
that invitation, Jesus must have been sad at the sight of a man in search of
meaning in life but refusing to follow the path prescribed by him. This seems
to be the only person in Mark’s gospel who wanted to follow Jesus but went away sadly without becoming one. Christ never
forced or coaxed him to remain in his team against his will. Instead, he used
this occasion to instruct his disciples about their attitude
towards wealth.
The disciples were “perplexed” (10:24) and “astounded” (10:26) to hear Jesus’ views on wealth and found
them too hard. The reason could be his views were totally opposite to the accepted views of the Jews. For
them wealth and prosperity were a sign of
God’s favour and blessings and a reward for a good conduct. Jesus compared the
great obstacles the rich faced to enter God’s Kingdom – of course, in an
exaggerated manner – with the practical impossibility
of a camel going through the eye of a needle (10:25). When the disciples asked
him in that case who could be saved at all, Jesus replied that reliance on God alone (not on wealth) could make
impossible things possible (10:27). When
Peter asked him about the reward for
total renunciations, Jesus promised a hundredfold reward both in this life and
in the age to come (10:29-30). According to him, the greatest reward Christian
disciples would get in this life was the spiritual
kinship they enjoyed with one another within
their community, or their joy of becoming members of a universal (spiritual) family; and in the age to
come eternal life with God (10:30). At the
same time he forewarned them without mincing his words that they would have to
pay the bitter price of persecutions too
while on earth.
All of us have a
desire for happiness and security. In today’s gospel we see a man who
had enough wealth to make his life fully secure, but still was disturbed and unhappy. What was that “one thing” that he
lacked? He could not come to terms that money in itself could not buy lasting peace and happiness. He lacked peace
of mind precisely because he allowed his possession to possess him. He could not imagine accepting
Jesus’ challenge to give his wealth to the poor and make God as his greatest treasure or possession, or love him alone with
an undivided heart. As Christian disciples
we are called to take God himself as our greatest treasure on earth and in
heaven. We are called to “sell everything” joyfully
(that is, to renounce/ sacrifice our false securities placed in wealth alone)
to find this ‘greatest treasure’ or ‘precious pearl’ (cf. Mt 13:44). This rich man
was satisfied with avoiding all the sins of commission,
but did all the sins of omission,
that is, he just avoided doing evil, but did not do anything good. Especially, since he was rich, he could
have shared his riches (wealth) with the
needy. Though he had so much wealth, it never entered his head that his wealth
imposed on him a responsibility to be
generous in sharing something of it with the deprived.
Like him we claim to
be virtuous and religious by saying,
“I haven’t done any harm to anyone!” But the point is whether we have done any
good to anybody, especially by sharing our resources, talents and possessions
with those who are deprived. To gain eternal life it is not enough to avoid evil; we have to positively do good also by sharing our goods
with others. Former times when many of us were poorer than what we are now, and
had fewer conveniences of modern equipments and gadgets, we had more time for God and neighbours; our relationship with both was much better. Now we
are becoming strangers to one another
in our neighbourhood. We have become less inviting, less mixing and less
talking. If wealth and prosperity has spoiled our good and warm relationships,
and has led to the deterioration of our
service-mindedness or involvement in others’ welfare
and closer communication with them, then Jesus is right in saying that it is as
hard for such persons to enter the
Kingdom as for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle.
‘Selling all that we have’ could mean different things to different people. Of
course, this teaching of Christ had motivated the early Christians to literally
sell their lands and lay the money at the apostles’ feet which in turn was
distributed to the needy (Acts 4:34-35). Surely, now Jesus does not expect
from those who have social and family obligations to literally sell everything.
To some, it may mean total renunciation of private property to follow the Lord
(like those who join religious life), but to most of the disciples (having
families to take care of), it could mean one or more of the following things:
(1) a proper stewardship or
management of wealth as per the gospel principles; (2) renunciation of excessive greed and attachment towards wealth; (3) sacrificing unhealthy
friendships, bad influences, pompous entertainments, showy life-styles; (4) guarding against the danger of
allowing our possessions to possess
us; (5) following Jesus with an undivided
heart by making him our greatest treasure; and (6) sharing
not only our material goods, but also our time, talents, energies and wisdom.
Jesus tells us: “Go and give these things to the have-nots, then, come and
follow me.” Jesus offers us treasure which money cannot buy. It is up to us to
accept or reject his offer as the
rich man in today’s story did.
Wealth is not bad in
itself and is a necessity. Jesus is
not against wealth as such, nor is he against all the wealthy. He wants that we
renounce the security and power that
money and wealth provide in order to be free
to follow him. The rich man in today’s story must have thought that riches were
enough to make him happy and fulfilled.
Actually, he went away sad. His attachment to wealth prevented him from
following Jesus; he was not free to follow him. Jesus only precautions the rich to be on their guard
against an attitude that considers
wealth as everything. For the rich
wealth can become a dangerous snare.
They have to grapple with many temptations
regarding just ways of earning and using wealth which the poor do not have to.
If not on our guard
our greed for wealth (1) could make us think of life and value people in terms of money; (2) it may make
us think that there are no other valuable
things in life that money cannot buy; ( for instance, when a young boy falls in
love with a girl, he may think he can ‘buy’ that girl and vice versa, without
thinking true love in marriage requires mutual adjustments and forgiveness of
hurt feelings that even a billion dollars cannot buy); (3) it could make us arrogant and think everything in worldly terms
and make us put our trust entirely on our wealth that could generate a sense of
false security in us; (4) it could
make us depend on the security that
comes from money and forget to depend on God as the source our life and from
whom all wealth comes; (5) it could make us trust
more in our wealth than in God and regard it as the only source of happiness;
(6) it could make us think of everything in terms of price rather than value; and finally (5) it could make us yield
to a perpetual temptation to become
more rich by depriving/ defrauding/
exploiting the poor, and become heartless
towards their plight. Greed for money is like salt water: the more you drink,
the thirstier you become. When one is heartless, one is also godless. Just as it is practically impossible
for a camel to enter through the eye of a needle, so also too much attachment
to wealth makes it impossible for one to experience God’s total love for us and
block our entry to his divine life.
In
the world, a person’s value and worth comes from the number and the latest models of
cars, type of house, the amount of assets and shares, the amount of salary, the
type of dresses and apparel one wears. In many societies, just like in Jesus’
time even today wealth is considered to be an auspicious sign of blessing coming from God. For Jesus wealth
becomes a blessing only when it is shared with others; it becomes
an obstacle to eternal life or God’s Kingdom when selfishly and greedily used for oneself. Unchecked greed for wealth
is the cause of many troubles in families and in the world. We observe in some
families that brothers and sisters are not in talking terms for years due to property disputes.
Many children grow up with greediness sown into them by their
own parents. Since parents failed to implant the virtue of sharing (especially
in one-child families where children do not have other siblings to share with),
it is doubtful whether such children will share their earnings with their old/
sick parents when require higher treatment. Those of us who are quite happy
with faithfully observing all the commandments of God and all other religious
duties (thus considering ourselves “religious-minded”), Jesus looks
at with love, just as he looked at the
rich man in today’s text, and says, “You lack one thing”
(10:21). His gaze should touch our hearts and break the resistance we put to follow Christ’s way of thinking about right ways
of earning and using wealth. The rich man found it too hard and walked away. Jesus asks us: “Will you also go away?”
There is a strong warning in this text for priests and the
religious in developing countries: According to studies conducted, in
developing countries many of them come from economically weaker sections of
society. If they are not on their guard, priesthood and religious life could become a means
to climb the social ladder and reach at least the middle or upper middle class, if
not the highest class. Studies also show that many of those who join these states of life
from the economically weaker sections of society tend to show less
love for the poor. If this
is true, how hard it is to enter the Kingdom of God
even for those who have joined the consecrated life……... Jesus asks you and me:
Do you wish to go away with a gloomy face like that rich man?
5.
Response to God's Word
What are our ‘possessions’ to which we are attached so much or
even enslaved? Does this attachment lead us to love things more than persons?
Does it make us treat human relationships in terms of price (how much advantage
or benefit we can get from them) rather than their value? What is our attitude
to money and wealth? Do we put our full trust and security in wealth rather
than in God so that this attitude makes us go away sad like the rich man in
today’s gospel? Are we willing to part with anything that might keep us from
seeking true joy with Jesus?
6.
A prayer
Lord, you alone are our greatest treasure here on earth and in
heaven. Grant that our natural attachment and greed towards wealth may not
prevent us from giving our all to you. Free us from excessive greed for
wealth or money so that we may be free to follow you. Amen.
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