EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
31 JULY 2016
As
Jesus continues his journey to Jerusalem in Saint Luke’s Gospel, he has been
speaking to thousands of people. In particular,
he has been addressing his disciples:
those who have left everything to follow him. He is honest with them, telling them that their
commitment to him and the Gospel will involve suffering and persecution. To balance his warning, Jesus also assures
his followers that those sufferings and persecutions will not last. Authentic followers will be richly rewarded
in the fullness of God’s Kingdom at the end of time.
All of a
sudden, someone in the crowd interrupts him.
Clearly, this person is not listening, because he wants Jesus to settle
a dispute about his father’s inheritance.
It is almost a first century version of Jesus taking on the role of
Judge Judy in The People’s Court. Instead
of allowing himself to be drawn into a dispute about issues of inheritance,
Jesus doubles down on his message of eternal life. He echoes the words of Qoheleth and warns
that all is vanity. In telling the
parable of the rich man, he reminds his listeners that death is the defining
moment for everyone. No matter how hard
we work or how carefully we plan, we cannot take the goods of this earth with
us when we die.
This is an
extremely important message for us who are disciples of Jesus Christ. As Saint Paul reminds us, we died with Christ
when we entered the waters of Baptism and have been raised with Christ when we
emerged from those waters. Saint Paul echoes the words of Jesus about suffering
for the sake of the Kingdom when he reminds us that we die to the vanities of
this life every time we keep our baptismal promises. That does not mean that we should not work
hard to support our families or make wise investments for our future or the
future of our children and grandchildren.
Nor does it mean that we should not work with estate planners to carefully
craft wills for those who succeed us after death.
Instead,
both Jesus and Saint Paul insist that we distinguish between enriching ourselves
now and making ourselves rich in those things that last beyond death. To put it in another way, being disciples
means that we distinguish between what we want and what we need. We may want fancy cars to grab the attention
of others. But we need safe vehicles to
transport us from one place to another.
We may want huge homes that impress the neighbors. But we need safe and clean places in which we
live and raise our families. We may want
to accumulate as much wealth as we possibly can. But we need to be mindful that our
possessions are ultimately gifts from God, allowing us to share a portion of those
gifts with the poor and those who do not have what they need to live. We may want to ensure that the money we leave
for our children will guarantee them success.
But we need to trust that God will take care of those we love, no matter
what happens to the market or any fluctuations in the economy beyond our control.
In one of
his letters, Saint Paul suggests where we need to place our energy in making
investments that last: the three theological virtues of faith, hope, and love. In making sure that our families have a sound
footing, we invest in the virtue of faith.
We may not leave our children millions, but they stand on the firm rock
of faith. In planning for their future
security, we can give them hope – hope that the love of Jesus Christ will never
abandon those who trust in him. In
giving them the best gifts money can buy, we remember that the greatest gifts
are the gifts of our self-sacrifice – the gifts of love which death cannot
destroy. Unlike the rude man in the
Gospel who is obsessed with the trivial, superficial jealousy of the money he
did not get in his inheritance, we keep our focus on the gifts given to us
through the Paschal Mystery: dying with
Christ to share in the fullness of his resurrection.
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