A young ambitious door-to-door salesman, assigned to a rural area, happened upon a farmer sitting in a rocking chair on his front porch. The young man went up to the farmer and enthusiastically said, “Sir, I have a book that will tell you how to farm ten times better than you are doing now.” The farmer didn’t bother to look up. He kept rocking and then replied, “Son, I don’t need your book. I already know how to farm ten times better than I am doing now.”
That story illustrates the lesson in today’s gospel. The farmer knew how to farm better but he wasn’t inclined to do so. The rich man knew he needed to do more than keep the commandments, but he was unwilling to do what Jesus asked of him. And what was that?
Jesus is telling him that there is much more to life than simply keeping the 10 Commandments. Oh, yes, they are essential. Every Christian should know them for they serve as our blueprint for living well but we need more than this set of commands if we are to experience life fully with God now and hereafter.
The rich man was off to a good start. He didn’t kill. He didn’t commit adultery or lie. He didn’t disobey his parents or swindle. Jesus could see that something crucial was still missing so out of love he suggests a more profound way to live, telling the rich man to sell what he has and give the proceeds to the poor. This was much more than the rich man was willing to do so he went away sad.
His dilemma brings to mind a line I heard long ago: what do I own and what owns me? The rich man was owned by his possessions. As much as he wanted eternal life, that is, a closer relationship with God, he loved his possessions more and the thought of sharing his wealth was unthinkable.
With a roof over our heads, clothes to keep us warm, and being well fed, we could easily miss the point that Jesus is making here. He doesn’t expect us to literally sell our worldly goods and give the proceeds to the poor, thus becoming poor ourselves although some saints have done that. We don’t hear him giving that directive to other rich men he meets in the gospels.
Jesus uses outlandish language when he tells the rich man that it would be easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for him to enter the kingdom of God. He does so to prompt us to see that what we are holding on to can prevent us from living life fully. Jesus could see that the rich man’s real god was his own comfort and what he valued most were his own possessions. What do we value most? Or as I said earlier, what owns us?
What we cling to can be our barrier to loving God and eternal life. Jesus offers us a path to new life that begins with letting go of certain possessions. Not necessarily the things we own but also intangible possessions such as anger, fear, guilt, pride, prejudice, or busyness. These “possessions” can potentially harm our relationships, thus depriving us of the chance to experience life fully and grow close to God.
As I mentioned last week, October is “Respect Life Month” but there is more to that than caring about the unborn fetus. Now is a good time to ask ourselves if we are demonstrating respect for all life from conception to natural death. Not just the unborn, but also the elderly and the sick; those who are unable to fully care for themselves. Are we willing to go the extra mile to share our time and talent with them, instead of caring only for ourselves? Have we been reaching out to the needy, the hungry, the sick and those less fortunate than we are? We encounter Christ when we do.
If our hearts are like that of the rich man, can we change? Yes, according to the passage from Wisdom. “I prayed and prudence was given to me. I pleaded and the spirit of wisdom came to me.” With God at our side, we can do anything. When we ask, God will grant us this grace, love and wisdom to change our ways and let go of our “baggage” to become more caring, forgiving and loving, yet do we think to ask, clinging fiercely instead, as Linus does with his security blanket, to our “possessions”? Remember him from Peanuts?
Linus would hold on to his security blanket at any cost, even when Snoopy would run off with it. Dare we let go of the security blanket of our “possessions,” namely our anger, pride, fear, avarice or guilt and pick up God’s security blanket of prayer and love? When we share what we have, our time, treasure, talent and love, we will see the folly of clinging to the wrong blanket in this lifetime and come to experience the closeness of God by clinging to his blanket.