Fr. Rick Spicer

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.

The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a suitable partner for him.” From the start God has seen our need for us to be in meaningful relationships. It is not good for anyone to be alone. To be healthy, we need to be in touch with others, especially during this pandemic. We suffer emotionally when we lack touch and affection. Our need for affection and love is life long. Blessed are those couples and families who focus on nurturing relationships with that in mind.

Alas, that isn’t true for every marriage. Why else would the Pharisees ask Jesus, “Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?” Despite God’s intent that when a man leaves his parents and clings to his wife and they become one flesh, divorce has long been a reality, impacting us directly or indirectly.

Marriage is increasingly seen as a fragile institution and for this reason, many young adults shy away from doing so, choosing instead to live together. Ideally God intends every marriage to last “until death do they part” and most couples I have known have done so. Some marriages have not survived for reasons ranging from immaturity to abuse to infidelity or as Jesus said, “hardness of heart.”

Some couples stay together but their relationship is strained; filled with resentment, confrontation and colored by a “me-first” mindset. The love that once drew them together may still be there but hasn’t grown. God intended marriage to be a life-long journey but not if one or both spouses is unwilling to fulfill their commitment.

As a sacrament, marriage is unique. From the moment they exchange their vows, the couple commit to ministering this sacrament to one another until death do they part. When one or both fail to keep that commitment, the marriage falters and sometimes collapses, resulting in separation then divorce. In the eyes of the Church, that couple is still seen as being married to each other even if they are now civilly divorced.

When someone who is divorced wants to remarry, the question to be answered is “Was my marriage sacramental?” If not, the Church would say so in an annulment process. When a marriage is annulled, the Church asserts the marriage was never sacramental. Yes, it existed legally, thus the children are legitimate but the former spouses are no longer seen as being “one flesh” and are now free to marry and not be guilty of adultery.

Jesus told the Pharisees, “What God has joined together, no human being must separate.” The permanence of marriage is based on God’s will to destined this couple for one another. They are prompted to stay together by reflecting not just on their own will but also on God’s will for them.

Too often we fail to consider God’s will when things are not going smoothly. How different might the outcome be in moments of crises if we pause to see how far we may have deviated from the Lord’s will. How different might the outcome of any relationship be if we recall the words of the Lord’s Prayer: “thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

To better understand where Jesus is coming from, keep in mind the status of women and children back then. Women rarely owned property and had no independent means of earning a living. Divorce could leave them and their children destitute. For their sake and their children, marriage had to be stable. Jesus was critical of those who favored an easy divorce. He wasn’t condemning divorce itself; rather he was caring about the vulnerable.

October is regarded as “Respect Life Month” and is set aside to remind us that life is sacred from the womb to the tomb; not just the fetus in a mother’s womb, but at all stages of life, including respect and care for one’s spouse and children. We must care about those who are vulnerable.

The gospel passage ends with a note about children. They too were vulnerable and defenseless then and still are today. From the moment of conception, they are at the mercy of their parents. Fortunately, most children are blest to have caring loving parents in a healthy loving setting.

Jesus was radical for his time and still is for ours, encouraging husbands to view their wives not as possessions but as partners, just as Adam viewed Eve, inviting them to live out a total commitment to each other no matter what comes their way. Recently I made the point that for any disciple, God is first, you are second and I am third. The lover who lives that creed would never deny the dignity of the beloved nor be unfaithful. If that were the creed of every spouse, the seeds of divorce would not likely take root and their children would be well taught and cared for in the school of love.

“But they are not one of us!” John protested at the start of today’s gospel. Are we one of them? Being a follower of Jesus calls for making radical choices in our lives. This prompted Jesus to use some startling language. “if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed than with two hands to go into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire.” Anyone who takes those words literally is missing the point. Jesus doesn’t want us to hurt ourselves. He is using extravagant language, what we would call hyperbole, to get his lesson across.

Candidly, Jesus is emphasizing that nothing is more important than belonging to the kingdom of God. Any thing that jeopardizes our participation in the kingdom should be eliminated from our lives. When we look at our priorities, what matters most? Is it Jesus showing us the way to eternal life or is it the economy and politics, which distract us from listening to him? Have we spent much of our lives looking in all the wrong places, beguiled by the enticements of this world? Today’s readings urge us to remove such obstacles to our salvation.

James, for example, speaks about being oblivious to the needs of others, living in luxury, and straying from the Lord’s ways. He puts together a collage of images to haunt his readers to change their ways before it is too late. What we give up pales compared to what we gain.

Jesus tells us that he is the way, the truth and the life, but are we really letting him guide us? Years ago, I can’t recall where, I saw a painting that showed Jesus knocking on a door overgrown with ivy. Perhaps you have also seen it too. There was no way for him to enter unless someone would open the door and let him in. I read that the artist of that painting had written the words at the bottom, “Forgive me, Lord Jesus, that I kept you waiting so long!”

The readings invite us to open the door of our heart to Jesus once and for all. Actually, we need to open three: the door to our past, the door to the present, and the door to the future.

To open the door to the past is to face the reality that “what was done is done.” It’s water over the dam. That’s it. What we did, the hurtful things, the heart-breaking things, the arrogant things, the unjust things are done and we can’t undo them. The only way we can deal with past hurts and sins is to open the door to forgiveness.

Open the door to Jesus and ask to be forgiven and the grace to forgive. While we cannot undo what’s been done, no matter how much we are filled with regret and remorse, we can move on, no longer carrying the dead weight of past wrong doings and guilt. The sacrament of reconciliation provides us with the opportunity to let go. When we hear the words of absolution, we experience forgiveness.

The alternative is to keep that door closed and people do that, severing relationships because they choose not to forgive. Jesus is there knocking at the door, but if we don’t open the door to him, we wallow in our guilt. Some things in life can’t be fixed; they can only be forgiven.

Second, open the door to the present. Ask yourself, “What is going on in my life now? What has to be cut off?” The things that clutter our lives, which James speaks of, which separate us from God and our loved ones, need to be plucked out, not our eyes. We widen the gaps between others and us with accumulations, busy schedules, activities and self-fulfilling careers. Are there things between you and your loved ones and God that prevent you from being in touch?

Finally, open the door to the future. In other words, really give yourself over to Christ, who said, “Come to me all of you who labor and are burdened and I will give you rest.” This is the Christ who said, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” Are you letting him show you the way? The pandemic has kept so many people away from Mass and the Eucharist that I have to wonder if Jesus is still leading them or not.

Instead of being turned off by the gross images of plucked out eyeballs and lopped-off hands, remember that Jesus is knocking at the door to our hearts to be let in. Along with the artist, we too can cry, “Forgive me Lord Jesus that I kept you waiting so long!”

Open the door of your past and seek forgiveness. Open the door to your present and take a look at all the unnecessary and divisive things you have and let go of them. Then open the door to the future and hand over your life to Christ. He alone offers us the promise of eternal life as well as the chance to experience the kingdom of God even in this lifetime by showing us the way. On the other side of all these doors stands the most unconditional lover you’ll ever meet.

“Behold,” says that lover, “I stand at the door and knock. Will you open up?” In its own graphic way, the gospel demands a response and hopefully our answer would be, “Enter, Lord!”

Something very human happened on the way to Capernaum. The apostles got into an argument. Not about who caught the biggest fish or who had the longest beard. Rather, they were arguing a question as old as humankind: who among them was the greatest.

Mark gives us no details but I can imagine Andrew telling his brother, Peter, “I saw him before you did.” Like a typical brother not to be outdone, Peter snapped back, “Yeah, but he gave me the keys!”  Butting in, James piped up, “Maybe so, but he also took me up on the mountain with you to see Moses and Elijah. The rest of you ain’t seen anything yet!” Philip interceded, “All this may be nice, but remember when we had that catering problem in Galilee with so many people to feed? He turned to me for advice.” Not to be outdone, John chimed in with the reminder that he is the beloved disciple. Of course, Judas gets in the last word. “Argue all you want gentlemen, but he gave me the money and without money, you got nothing!”

We might be perplexed by the apostles’ show of jealousy and ambition. Jesus had just shared the news of his pending death. Instead of questioning him since they did not understand what he was saying, they bickered amongst themselves as to who was the greatest, still anticipating the rise of an earthly kingdom.

Jesus responded to their debate with advice that probably left them speechless. Instead of rebuking them for not listening to him, he told them, “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.” His rebuke brings to mind the image of a butler. I recall as a kid how my uncle often called me his butler whenever he asked me to do a favor for him.

Being a servant doesn’t sound like an important person’s job yet when you stop to think about it, countless jobs in our society are service related. People serve one another in any number of ways from waving us onboard the ferry to serving us a latte at an espresso stand. None may seem important but they do make a difference in our lives.

What defines importance for the apostles and many of us is nothing less than self-centered pride, yet as many spiritual masters have long noted, pride is the greatest sin. Pride leaves us focused on our own concerns, wishes and wants, at the expense of others. James tells us in his letter that conflicts and disputes result from our inner cravings, which move us to sin in our quest for what we want for ourselves.

Jesus quietly urges us to examine our criteria for greatness. He advises us that our greatness in the sight of God is found in our willingness to serve others. Servant is a very fitting synonym for Christian. Christians should set the needs of others ahead of their own wants. Every day we have to resist the temptation to selfishness, the temptation to put ourselves before others. How then might we translate that into our everyday lives in this time and place?

Years ago, while teaching on Guam, the principal showed a movie to the students about Gale Sayers, who played football for the Chicago Bears. He wore a medallion that was inscribed, “I am third.” When asked what that meant, Gale would reply, “God is first, you are second, and I am third.”

Imagine how different our world would be if everyone adopted that philosophy of life. Certainly that would make a difference in the quality of every marriage if husbands and wives lived their relationship with one another in that way or in every family if parents and their children related to one another in that way, replacing jealousy and selfish ambition with respect, gentleness, and genuine love. We could overcome racism and poverty if we treated everyone in that same way with respect, gentleness and genuine love.

The same can be said about our parish family. I have been impressed by the service given by many in the parish. I may be the presider and the homilist at Mass, but the quality of our worship depends on the involvement of many more people beside me. The greeters who welcome everybody; the musicians who enhance our worship; the lectors who proclaim the word of God; those who add beauty to our worship space from growing the flowers to arranging them; the team that strive to keep our facility clean and safe for everyone; the members who serve on our parish leadership teams; the volunteers who help with religious ed., visit the sick, or provide hospitality by serving coffee and treats. Parishioners doing these and other activities work together to make St. Hubert a vibrant faith community. They choose to serve generously and that has made a difference.

True greatness, as the apostles eventually discovered, comes not in positions of power or prestige, but in touching the lives of others, in the joy we bring into our world, in the holy and sacred we make real for our families and friends doing what we can to bring about the kingdom of God. We rarely remember most of the headliners from a decade ago. On the other hand, we do remember teachers and friends from long ago who made a difference in our lives because they cared.

When the day comes that we stand before God, will we be recognized as one who cared to serve or as one who expected to be served?