The gospel today is about a rich young man who followed God’s commandments all his life, but he still had a question for Jesus. He asked him, “Teacher what good must I do to gain eternal life?” Jesus told him that he still lacked one thing. To give his possessions to the poor and then follow him. But, “When the young man heard this statement, he went away sad, for he had many possessions.”
Even though the gospel reading today seems very cut and dried, there is a lot more to the scriptures than what it seems like on the surface of things. If you noticed in the gospel reading it said that, after Jesus asked the young man to sell his belongings and give the money to the poor, he told him, “Then come, follow me.”
What does this remind you of? A devout young man that Jesus asks to let go of his possessions and follow him? Isn’t that exactly what our priests and religious do? Perhaps Jesus knew that this young man would make a good disciple, if he was able to let go of his possessions, in order to be free to follow him. The young man went away sad for he had many possessions though. Jesus respected his dilemma and let him go. It seems like Jesus understood the interior conflict this young man was going through was hard, so he let him walk away to come to terms with his inordinate love of possessions. It was his possessions that prevented him from following Jesus.
Have you ever noticed that poor people are often more friendly than people with a lot of wealth though? They are sometimes more genuine, and care about other people just as much, if not more than themselves. Poor people will sometimes even “give you the shirt off their back” if you need it more than they do. That might have something to do with the reason they are poor, but it may also be the reason they have a lot of family, friends and people that genuinely seem to care about them.
Poor people learn how to enjoy simple things in life, like cooking a homemade meal and playing a game of cards with their family and friends, compared to some of the wealthy couples that sit down to a meal in an expensive restaurant, but barely speak to one another. The company of family and friends are so much more important in the long run, than the quality of the meal we eat together.
But, it’s hard for us to give away what we feel like we have worked so hard to obtain. Most people work hard on their job to earn a living and do not have much left over after paying for their basic necessities. Most people also work at saving money on what they spend on food, clothing, medical care, etc.
It is hard to go against our natural inclination to keep what we earned for ourselves, instead of giving away some of it to other people. But, it doesn’t have to be that hard though. Mother Teresa gave some good advice to a well-to-do Indian woman once, that would be good advice for us as well. An Indian woman asked Mother Teresa how she could become more like her and serve the poor. Mother Teresa told her to simply buy a less expensive dress the next time she went shopping, and give the difference to the poor.
That’s something that almost all of us can do. We could look for ways to reduce what we spend on small things, in order to have some discretionary money left to help someone else who is in genuine need. When it comes to big purchases like a home, car, furniture, etc., then perhaps we could think about buying a little less expensive things than what we can afford to, so there will be a little extra left in the budget each month. What’s really more important? A designer suit, or dress? Or the joy you see on the face of a family member, friend, neighbor or coworker that is struggling and doing without something that they really need?
We shouldn’t help other people in order to gain their love and friendship, but that is often a side effect of helping others. It is in giving, that we receive. Genuine love, friendship, and joy is found in the things that we do for one another, rather than the things we do only for our own benefit. If you stop and think about it, who cares very much about people who only care about themselves? By the same token, the people that we love the most are often those who have shown us the most kindness, and shared what they had with us.
Daily Mass Readings:
Ezekiel 24: 15-24 / Psalm Dt. 32 / Matthew 19: 16-22
