18th Sunday of the Year
Eccles 1:2, 2:21-23 Col 3:1-5, 9-11 Luke 12:13-21
Some years ago a lecturer, on the role of a priest, said that the priest is to be a ‘disturber’ and meant to make people feel uncomfortable at times. Today’s gospel reading would be a good resource for achieving that goal! The gospel itself starts off on a tetchy note. Jesus is being questioned by those hoping to justify their manner of living. The translation of our gospel today has Jesus responding by “My friend” but other translations have Jesus using the impersonal and abrupt “Man”. And then, Jesus ignores the actual question and puts forward the uncomfortable concept of poverty, being poor, avoiding avarice and riches.
Then Jesus tells a parable and it continues to disturb, make the listeners uncomfortable. This is the only one of the Parables of Jesus where he cites God; “and God said this ….” God’s first word was “Fool”! This very night the demand will be made for your soul”.
In our worldly way of looking at things we can be caught up with our material needs and providing for them, with planning for our future, with worry that we or those around us will have enough, that we will run out of personal or world resources. Fool, you can’t take it with you! Fool, there are no pockets in a shroud!
Saint Luke, the author of the Gospel, seems to understand the message very well. He came from a privileged background. He always uses larger sums of money than, for example, St Mark does. He seems to understand investment and interest rates. He continuously emphasises the teachings of Jesus concerning the poor and warning against the dangers of wealth.
As we see in the 2nd Reading today, Saint Paul continues the theme of the danger of relying on the things of the world; “You must look for the things that are in heaven … Let your thoughts be on heavenly things …. “ (Col 3:1-5). We listen to these words and so often try to convince ourselves that this is the ideal and that we can hardly we expected to measure up entirely. So we may ask ‘is it only the Poor who can feel comfortable reading the Scriptures?’ Can the Poor alone get inside the mind of the Bible? Other questions may occur to us as we ponder this Gospel passage. Was Jesus rich or poor? The answer to that is given to us by Saint Paul: “He was rich, divinely rich, but chose to be poor so as to make us rich” (2 Cor 8:9).
So, are we rich or poor? We might learn from Tobit the old man of 4th or 5th century BC who “Walked the paths of truth and in good works all the days of my life” (Tobit 1:3) and tells us to “Give your bread to those who are hungry, and your clothes to those who are naked. Whatever you own in plenty, devote a proportion to almsgiving and when you give alms, do not do it grudgingly. Be generous with bread and wine …..” (Tobit 4:16-19)
The Responsorial Psalm puts the words that we need into our mouths and hearts: “Make us know the shortness of our life that we may gain wisdom of heart” (Ps 89). Again, we find solace in the Psalms as we pray “only in God will my soul be at rest” (Ps 62) and “The Lord is my Shepherd, there is nothing I shall want” (Ps 23)