In today’s Gospel we see the disciple’s reaction to Jesus’ encounter and dialog with the rich young man. The young man proclaims that he has good faith and a good practice of that faith. After Jesus calls him to give up his material goods and give them to the poor as a prerequisite to being a Christian, the young man goes away sad for he was rich and did not want to give up his possessions. Then Jesus says to the disciple that it is difficult for the rich to enter the kingdom of God. A true disciple of Christ must be willing to give up everything just as the first disciple and apostles did.
The disciples are shocked by Jesus’s statement. It seems they were close to despair and questioned: Who can be saved? Peter is impelled to question Jesus about their situation. Peter states very clearly: We have left everything for you. The New Testament is very clear about how the apostles and first disciple re-ordered their lives because of recognizing Jesus as the Savior. The Acts of the Apostles is full of stories about how the first disciples profoundly changed their lives by becoming itinerant preachers, supporters of the evangelizers, care givers for others in the faith community, some turned over their material goods to the apostles, and some even gave up their lives as martyrs. Jesus is very clear in saying that those who give up everything and become true Christians, receive much more in return – one hundred times more.
Many of us as modern Christians are like the young rich man. We organize our lives in a way that we believe is good based on our own thinking. But we do not really change from being good neighbors to being true Christians. Our hopes and our strengths are still based on our own power and the material goods we have. That is what we use to protect ourselves and provide for our lives. We are only nice, moral people, but not really Christians. We don’t believe what Jesus announces in the Gospel, and we continue to organize our lives based on power and material goods.
God can give us one hundred times more than what we can even imagine. The first apostles sacrificed their relationships with their families but became part of a family one hundred times larger in the Christian community. Take some time today to reflect on your life. Are you a good, moral person like the young rich man in the Gospel or have you truly centered your life on God, giving up all ties to material goods and people that separate you from God? Are you living a stingy, little life based on your plans or are you living in the abundance of God’s love, mercy, and providence?
Amen, I say to you,
there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters
or mother or father or children or lands
for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel
who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age.
Image: https://goodnewsshared.wordpress.com/tag/mark-1028-31/