28th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2024
Wisdom 7:7-11 Hebrews 4:12-13 Mark 10:17-30
In the Reading from Hebrews of today’s Mass we are told that “the Word of God can judge secret emotions and thoughts”. We might wonder at what were the secret thoughts, emotions and ambitions of the man who approached Jesus and asked how he could inherit eternal life. He approaches the Lord with a flattering greeting – ‘Good Master’. This word ‘Good’ was reserved for God alone and Jesus is not impressed by this attempt at flattery. He rebukes the man ‘Why do you call me Good?’ – Only God is good!
The question that Jesus poses for him is basically ‘are you free and willing to be a disciple?’ He thinks that he is, and feels that his status and abilities and wealth will help him to be a successful disciple. But there is one thing that he lacks. It is the ability to put aside all these trappings of his life in order to dedicate himself to the Lord and to the Kingdom of God.
It would seem very harsh that Jesus would expect his disciples to be bereft of everything that they own in order to follow him. But, for this man,what he possessed held too much importance for him. The disciple of the Lord must be prepared to let go of material wealth and make room for spiritual wealth, inner wealth. The reading from the Book of Wisdom prays for understanding, from which the spirit of Wisdom will be given. This spiritual wisdom is worth more than gold or health or beauty.
The use of typical oriental exaggeration by Jesus, about a camel fitting through the eye of a needle, highlights for his disciples the gap that exists between human efforts and the divine gift of salvation. Our efforts, no matter how great, will not be sufficient to attain eternal life without the grace of God. “In that case, who can be saved?”
We all need material possessions to survive and to be able to support one another. It is when these possessions control us and determine how we live and interact with others that they become an obstacle to inheriting eternal life.
Two days ago, the 11th October was the Feast-day of Pope Saint John XXlll. He understood very well what Jesus is teaching in the Gospel today.In his life-long diary ‘Journal of Soul’ he wrote:
“When I reached my 60th birthday, I said ‘I am getting old. I must prepare for death. I should simplify my life. There was always with me a joyful attachment to simplicity of life. Material preoccupations are complex, spiritual ones tend to be simple”.“Complexity worries us. Simplicity cheers us. There are three great moments in life; we begin with the simplicity of the child, then we move to the complexity of adulthood and finally we return to the simplicity of old age, only now our whole life experience is integrated into it”
We pray for true Wisdom, which is the capacity to see life as God sees it.