God is good

The Risen Young Man

"God is good". Mt. 19:17 (R. Knox translation)

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28^th Sunday (B) Homily, Fr. Aelred

Mark 10: 17-27

In today’s Gospel a man comes to Jesus and asks him what we must do to gain everlasting life. It is clearly a genuine and deeply felt question, because Jesus looks at him with love. Though it does not say so in the text, Jesus may be feeling sadness too, since he knows that the man is going to find what is asked of him extremely difficult.

Basically the man has kept all the rules that he has been taught from childhood outwardly, he has done what he feels has been asked of him. But Jesus knows that inwardly the man’s heart is set, not on God, but on money. And the man cannot give it up, not even for God. Jesus tells him that in order to follow him, it is necessary to make an incredibly difficult choice – either to see his money as his security, or to trust in God. Like in the parable of the fool and his barns, the man has not been able to see that everything he has is given to him as a gift from God. Instead of responding to God’s generosity by being generous himself, and sharing what he has, he holds on to what he has got. His treasure is a collection of material goods, not the true treasure of faith, love and wisdom.

Jesus gives us so many reminders of the dangers of wealth in his parables, because the call of money, status and security is so attractive and alluring that it can easily take our minds and hearts away from God and make us selfish and unloving, hoarding instead of generous.

Money in itself, is neither good not bad. It can be hoarded for selfish use, it can be spent excessively and showily for status reasons, or it can be shared with those who have less than we do. What we decide to do with what we have is one way of telling where our heart truly lies.

Archbishop Kaigarna of Jos, in Nigeria, recently said on a visit to the UK that there is a terrible poverty in Nigeria, but there is also great wealth. He said that this wealth is concentrated in the few who have benefited from Nigeria oil - the rich elite. But he went on: “There is also the wealth of those who live in poverty – the wealth that comes from living in solidarity with each other and acknowledging our dependence on God. People who are poor know what it means to depend on God and trust in one another”.

Whatever our material means, or lack of them, let us all pray that we may give God first place in our lives, not only during this Eucharist, but in all we say and do and are.