Homily for the Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

The Highest Adventure Of the Spiritual Life

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

Church of St. Bridget of Minneapolis, MN

Sunday, October 13, 2024

The great French Catholic philosopher Blaise Pascal, made a distinction between the goods of the body, the goods of the mind, and the goods of the heart. The goods of the body are those things that money can buy—a nice place to live, nice car to drive, nice clothes to wear, good and healthy food to eat. In themselves, they are good, but we are not meant to be stuck at that level. We must move towards the goods of the mind which transcend any of the goods of the body. And what are those? Blaise Pascal says they are philosophy, metaphysics, mathematics and higher sciences. Why are these important? He said they make you more refined and bring you to a more refined world. But Blaise Pascal said that beyond the goods of the body and the goods of the mind are the goods of the heart. What are they? They are those values, those things associated with God.

Today’s Gospel is the narrative of a rich young man. This story must have struck a strong cord for the authors of the Gospels because it appeared in all the synoptic Gospels. Matthew wrote about it. He says the man was young and rich. Luke wrote about it. He says the man was an official and rich. Mark also wrote about it. He says the man was rich. This unnamed man has four things to be admired of— money, political power, social power, the energy and enthusiasm of youth. These four things, in themselves are good, but without wisdom, knowledge from on high, they can be misused, abused, and idolized and can become addictions. In every way, this young man is a good man. Mark says that as soon as he sees Jesus, he runs to him, kneels before him and then asks the most important of all the questions anyone can ask in this life: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” I tell you, there is something absolutely right about this young man, something spiritually alive, something so powerful that it should never be ignored, and that is his profound desire to share in everlasting life. He is looking for what Blaise Pascal calls “goods of the heart,” those things associated with God. 

Look at it this way. He has the goods of the body. The Gospel says he is wealthy, which means he can afford all the pleasures of this world. He also has the goods of the mind. How do we know that? This is evident from the fact that he called Jesus “good” and “teacher.” Obviously he has been listening to Jesus’ teaching. He has been taking it all in. The Lord’s teachings have evidently refined his mind and thought. Now, he wants the goods of the heart, which are those things associated with God. And where can he get them? Not from the world. Not from his vast resources. Not from the company of fellow rich people, not from his social status, but from God himself. So, he comes to Jesus. Although he has all the goods of the body and the goods of the mind, he implicitly knows they are not enough. If they were enough, he would not bother an itinerant preacher. He knows that the goods of this world, no matter how great they are, are not eternal. They don’t and can’t satisfy the deepest longing of the heart. 

How does Jesus respond to his crucially important question? He takes him to the commandments. Jesus enumerates many of the commandments. The rich young man considers it, and then replies, “Teacher, all these I have observed from my youth.” He has covered the basis; he has eliminated the fundamental violations of love. This is a sign that this man is spiritually serious. Reading his heart, Jesus senses he is being honest, and with love he says to him, “You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have. Give it to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me.” Actually, this is the pivotal moment of this story. This is the rising or falling point of the story. The young man is a good man. He has good instincts. He has the goods of the body, but he is not stuck at that level. He is seeking for the highest goods, the goods of the heart. He comes to Jesus in search of the goods of the heart. Jesus looks at him and sees that although he is a spiritually serious young man, he is still too drawn, too attached to the goods of the body, the goods of the world. He still has the tendency to switch back to the goods of the body— power, wealth, honor and pleasure. So, Jesus invites him to set aside those things and to follow him to the height, to the height of spiritual life. He invites him to a great spiritual adventure. Jesus points to him what it would take for him to inherit eternal life. What does the rich young man do now? 

At this point, we hear one of the saddest lines in the whole Bible, “…his face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.” You know, it is so rare in the Gospel that Jesus calls someone and the person does not respond. When he called Matthew, Matthew got up and followed him. When Jesus called James and John to follow him, they left everything including their father and followed him. When Peter said to Jesus, “Depart from me for I am a sinful man,” Jesus did not depart from him, instead he called him to become a fisher of men. As for the rich young man, he went away sad. He is looking for eternal life, but at a decisive moment, he tragically balks. He decisively refuses to comply. He allows his many possessions to possess him. What is this young man lacking even though he keeps all the commandments? What is going to prevent him from entering eternal life? Two things! First, his attachment to his wealth. Second, his unwillingness to follow Jesus as a disciple. The Lord is basically saying that you not only have to keep the commandments, you also have to detach yourself from your possessions and then come and follow him as his disciple. Following Jesus, so to speak, is the eleventh commandment. Detachment is actually freedom. We are enslaved to whatever we cannot part with that is material. We need detachment from everything that is not God. My late mother used to say, “That which you think is greater than God, don’t give it to me. I don’t want it.” So, it is all about detachment from the goods of the body and then giving ourselves to our Lord Jesus Christ. The Buddha did not know of Jesus, but he knew the human race very well. He taught that the source of all human misery and suffering is attachment, “grasping” or greed, or selfishness. In Luke’s version of the Beatitude, Jesus says, “Blessed are you who are poor.” Is Jesus glorifying economic poverty? Not at all. He is basically saying, “How lucky you are if you are not addicted to material things.” Authentic freedom does not come from clinging to things, but by detaching from things. What is your attachment? Are you willing to let it go and to follow Jesus? 

God bless you!