10/10/2015 - 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Mark 10:17-30

     We see this young man so open and eager and enthusiastic as he approaches Jesus in the Gospel, asking Jesus what he needs to do to inherit eternal life in God's kingdom. Yet, by the conclusion of today’s Gospel, his joy and enthusiasm are gone as he walks away in sadness.  What exactly is the point of this Gospel that brings up issues of wealth and poverty, of where we place our confidence and our priorities in life?

      As Christians, we're called to see the world through the lens of faith.  We also see life through the lens of our modern American world, which is very different indeed.  Our perspective influences everything.   Jesus told the young man that even though he follows God's commandments, he lacks one thing.  This rich young man has many possessions that he does not want to part with.   We hear this Gospel from our own perspective, but think of a person living in extreme poverty in rural Latin America or Africa, with a difficult time putting food on the table and supporting a family.   That person would hear this Gospel message very differently. 

       We can get so accustomed to the comforts and possessions of our modern American lifestyle.  As an accountant and as a priest, someone who is responsible for the budget and money flow of our parish, and all of you who have to manage your work and household budgets, we know that it is not easy.  In recent years, you have heard Pope Francis scold his priests, telling us that he doesn’t want to see priests driving facing cars or living in luxurious rectories, or living in a lifestyle that is beyond that of the people.  I believe the reason the Pope has taken such a stance is that he wants us priests to model Gospel simplicity and to model a lifestyle that identifies us as followers of Christ.   In my 8 years as a lay missionary, I did not own a car.  Try going a day or a week or a month without a car, and you’ll know what a challenge that is.  It is something we all take for granted.  As most of you know, on long trip, I would take the bus, and often across the country.  I was recently looking at a journal entry I wrote while taking the Greyhound bus from Jackson to Winnipeg, Canada round trip – not a short trip to be sure.  And while the average middle class American would not dream of taking a long trip on the Greyhound bus, I wrote in my journal entry about who I saw with me on the bus – an Amish family traveling to a wedding in Canada from their home in Pennsylvania, soldiers going home on leave, college students traveling back to school, immigrant laborers traveling to another part of the country to find work, and the man who sat next to me on the bus who had just found out that he was the father of a 9-year old son up in Canada whom he was traveling to meet for the very first time. Rather than looking at the negative and frustrating aspects of going on such a long bus journey, I let what I saw touch my heart and tried to take it all in.  And perhaps our emphasis on possessions and comfort would keep us from benefiting from such experiences in our lives.  In a similar way, our 2nd reading from the Letter to the Hebrews reminds us that God's word will go to the very depths of our hearts to change us only if we allow his word to work within us.   If we invite God’s word into our lives, it will bring change, conversion, and renewal in ways we could not imagine. 

       We are called to keep God's commandments, but the heart of our spiritual lives isn't just about keeping rules, just as our salvation is not the result of something we do on our own.  A. Today's Gospel tells us that we come closer to God's kingdom not by anything we do, but by who we are.  By not wanting to give away his riches to the poor, the young man in the Gospel is unwilling to place his trust in God, unwilling to be dependent upon God.  

        Pope Paul VI saw the increased materialism of the modern world, declaring in his encyclical Populorum Progressio that increased possessions certainly should not be the ultimate goal of nations or individuals.   Growth is essential in our development as human beings and as a society, but it imprisons us and restricts our vision if we see growth and economic development for their own sake as the supreme good.  If we're completely dependent upon possessions and wealth, our hearts can easily become hardened and our minds can easily become closed.  Exclusively pursuing our possessions above the love of God and not looking at how we can use them according to God’s will can form obstacles to our individual fulfillment and to humanity’s true greatness.  It takes imagination and passion to follow God's vision for us – and that was what the young man in the Gospel lacked.  But in the end, Jesus looked upon the young man with fraternal love and compassion.  God looks at us in love, too, as we struggle with the things that keep us from God, as we try to implement his will in our lives. 

        Today, we hear the Gospel story about the rich young man who walked away from Jesus in sadness.  We had our time and talent survey last spring, and we have implemented a lot of new programs here in our parish, and a lot of parishioners are involved in a lot of things.  It amazes me to see all the activity here at St James on a given night or weekend.  Now it is time to start thinking about financial stewardship as well – and the Gospel today gives us a good context in which we can approach it.  We are very, very blessed in our parish to have a lot of people who give very generously in a lot of ways.  But we all need to think about how God wants us to give of our gifts and our financial resources to support our church.  We will soon give out an annual report of where we are financially at St James, and I ask all of you to prayerful consider the contributions that you make to us.  Like this young man in today’s Gospel, let us all ask Jesus what we can to do to fully live out the Kingdom of God in our lives.