Scripture Readings: Wisdom 7:7-11; Hebrews 4:12-13; Mark 10:17-30
2015 is not unlike the world of Jesus…
But Father, the world of Jesus’ time did not have planes, trains and automobiles; instant communications; the internet; computers the size of a watch; supermarkets; fast food, or even selfie sticks.
Maybe, I should have said, people have not changed much since the time of Jesus.
When I reflected upon today’s Readings – I wrote down two things:
- We are all filled with good intentions
- Often our follow through is wanting
Like the young man of the Gospel, we have the opportunity to approach Jesus and ask Him, “Am I doing OK?”
In that encounter, hopefully the first thing we see, not hear from Jesus, but see, is Jesus looking at us with love. And then the conversation would continue.
We, like the young man in today’s Gospel, even the Disciples of Jesus, very often are focused on ourselves; focused on our obedience; focused on our accomplishments, instead of focusing on God and the grace of God. I can’t do this, I can’t and maybe of ourselves we can’t.
But with God, with God’s grace… maybe we can. (Maybe we can even go “can” crazy)
In today’s First Reading from Wisdom, the prayer we heard is traditionally attributed to King Solomon, who was not a perfect man or a perfect king. Yet he realized the importance of God and of Wisdom above all things in his life. King Solomon did not pray for wealth or health or a prosperous reign as king, rather King Solomon prayed for the gifts that would make him a better person.
Maybe that should be our prayer today – asking God to grace us, gift us in being a better person, a better family, a better spouse, a better parent, a better friend, a better employee, a better employer, a better student, a better citizen, a better person of faith…
But as Jesus speaks to us in our prayers, as Jesus speaks to us through our hearts, minds and soul, often a response asked of us is that we may need to put aside some of our wants and needs; we may need to reach out to others; we may need to get more involved; we may need to let God and others into our lives, a bit more.
We do not know what happened to the young rich man of today’s Gospel who walked away sad. Perhaps, the love of Jesus drew him back. Perhaps, he came to see the wisdom of what Jesus shared with him. Perhaps, St. Mark’s story is meant to encourage us to be firm in following Jesus, who always looks at us with love.