28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 10, 2021, Cycle B
Sell what you have and follow me. (Mark 10:17-30)
Brothers and Sisters,
The end of life and our salvation should, at certain times, worry us as we think about them. It was in this same frame of mind that the man in today’s gospel was when he approached Jesus to ask Him what he had to do to inherit eternal life? To this, Jesus told him he had to keep the Commandments. To this the man replied that he had kept them since his youth. The gospel tells us that Jesus loved him for that but there was one more thing he lacked that had to be done. He had to sell all his possessions and give the money to the poor so as to have treasure in heaven. Then he could come and follow Jesus. At this statement, the man’s face fell and he was sad because he had many great possessions.
This was Jesus teaching here as He had been called a great teacher. He said this because He knew that some rich people would find it hard to enter the kingdom because of their great wealth. They would be so distracted and taken up by their wealth that they would find no time for God. Hence, Jesus spoke in this parable that “it is easier for the camel to pass through the eye of the needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” We are told this statement astonished the disciples and they asked, “who then can be saved?” “For man, it is impossible but for God all things are possible,“ Jesus told them. Jesus knew what He was saying and what He wanted to teach them. Rich people can be saved also if they are not grossly overtaken by their possessions and make them their own “god.”
Fr. Chris
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