Jesus and the rich young man
It is now the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time and today's gospel comes from Mark 10:17-30. When our Lord teaches his disciples, he usually teaches by using words written in the Torah, or with parables -- for they is easier for his disciples to learn.
17 As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.
20 “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy. 21 Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 22 And this man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth. 23 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God?”
24 The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God? 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?” 27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God, all things are possible.”
28 Then Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow you!” 29 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel 30 will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life.”
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I have no doubt that you have all heard this story of our Lord Jesus Christ and the rich young man. At the end of it, the rich man left the group of our Lord Jesus sad because he had a lot of wealth. Remember this story happened more than 2,000 years ago in ancient Palestine. I have a book that gave me an idea of what a rich man owned during the time of Jesus and it's totally different to the rich persons of today. In the time of our Lord, the rich usually had a lot of animals or beasts of burden. There were no rich realtors of today, if you know what I mean.
Compare the rich of today and you will see a huge difference in the man's wealth. The rich usually have beautiful homes, nice expensive cars, or own exotic restaurant or even a bank. In short, money, careers, businesses or even cars have become the gods of the rich of today, which is even scarier. But I do know of certain rich people who live in humble abodes and who act as if they don't have any riches and they contribute a lot to the church to help the poor. These are the rich who can earn a life of eternity.
But the real question people ask just like what Peter and his disciples asked the Lord: “Who can be saved? We have left everything to follow you!” 29 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel 30 will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life.” Indeed, for God, all things are possible, especially for the rich people who go out of their way to help those who have less in life.
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For email responses to this article, write to vsbobita@gmail.com. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.