Readings: Judges 6:11-24; Psalm 85; Matthew 19:23-30
"It will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven." … “Then who can be saved?” … “For mortals it is impossible, but for God all things are possible.” - Matthew 19. We often conveniently forget Jesus’ warning of the dangers of being rich: “it is easier for a camel to go through an eye of a needle…" Like his first disciples we ask, "Then who can be saved?"
The consolation is this: what Jesus wants us to know is that "for God all things are possible." I think this really means: "yes, it is difficult, it will take conversion, but with God's help, since all things are possible, even this kind of conversion is possible." There is hope, if we hear God's word and realize the message is calling us to a new way of seeing ourselves in the world, a new way of seeing our relationships. We are called to be loving.
If the values around us shape our desires to want more in order to be more, and success is defined in these terms, we simply need to let God's grace bring about a conversion toward a different set of values, Jesus' values.
So, what's wrong with being rich? Experience teaches us the vicious circle: (1) the more we have, the more we want; (2) the more we have, the more energy it takes to maintain the wealth we have. (3) the more we have, the more we think we deserve it. Sure, there are many exceptions: there are wealthy people who are generous and who work hard to benefit others.
St. Augustine said that pride is, "the love of one's own excellence." Jesus attracts us to poverty, offering humility. Jesus, in Chapter 25 of Matthew's Gospel, says that our mission is to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, house the homeless and care for the sick. It is shocking to realize that much of what I think important, much of what takes up my time, has little to do with caring for "the least" of Jesus' brothers and sisters. Too often the "riches" of talents and energies and our place in society insulate us from the day-to-day life and struggle of the poor. We can be seduced into the path that leads to pride, rather than the simplifying path that leads to humility.