"Today's Gospel: "It will be hard for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of Heaven," Jesus says today. "Again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of Heaven."
"The more I've thought about this passage over the years, the more it seems that Jesus is not being condemnatory, as he is simply stating a fact. It's not that he hates rich people as much as he pities them. His ministry is always about compassion.
"Why does he pity them? Because he knows that the more someone is tied to wealth (or possessions or status or power) the less one is tied to God. In his classic text "The Spiritual Exercises." St. Ignatius Loyola talked about "disordered attachments." We can all become "attached" to something like the desire for wealth, or physical well-being, or advancing up the corporate ladder in a way that is not "ordered" towards God. How do we know when our attac
hments are "disordered"? When they prevent us from moving closer to God, from loving more and from being free. Anything that prevents us from following God, as Jesus tells the "rich young man," in another Gospel passage, needs to be relinquished. The rich young man knows this. That's why in the story, he "goes away sad."
"The disciples know that this is hard. They're not stupid. "Then who can be saved?" they ask. Jesus tells them that they will be able to do this with God's grace. Even the things that we think we cannot possibly live without, turn out to be not so important at all, in the light of God's love.
"Everyone needs some possessions and some money in order to live. Of course. Jesus worked for many years as a carpenter (or craftsman) in Nazareth. He wasn't stupid either. Jesus knew what it meant to earn your "daily bread." But most likely, he also had seen what happens when people cling to wealth. So in today's Gospel, in his typically blunt style, he's telling us what to do: Let go of stuff. Don't be attached to wealth. Be free."
"The disciples know that this is hard. They're not stupid. "Then who can be saved?" they ask. Jesus tells them that they will be able to do this with God's grace. Even the things that we think we cannot possibly live without, turn out to be not so important at all, in the light of God's love.
"Everyone needs some possessions and some money in order to live. Of course. Jesus worked for many years as a carpenter (or craftsman) in Nazareth. He wasn't stupid either. Jesus knew what it meant to earn your "daily bread." But most likely, he also had seen what happens when people cling to wealth. So in today's Gospel, in his typically blunt style, he's telling us what to do: Let go of stuff. Don't be attached to wealth. Be free."
