Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Homily)
October 11, 2015 5:00 pm · Father David Mbimadong
My brothers and sisters in Christ, today the passage from St. Mark speaks of a rich man who went to inquire from Jesus what he could do to inherit eternal life. When Jesus exhorted him to keep the commandments, his reply was “... all of these I have observed from my youth.” Then Jesus said to him “You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” At that statement his face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions. Whenever we hear this text read to us, we are moved to think that the rich man could have done better.
However, the rich man represents every one of us in many respects.
Like him, we hear of the wonders of God’s love and of His mercy and
we love to be part of such a wonderful experience. So we come out
confidently to enroll as members of His Church. Like the rich man,
We too ask what we could do to reach eternal life. When the truth is
told us, we either become turn away, become lukewarm or put on a
façade which makes it difficult for us to relate well with God.
We may say we are not rich in the ordinary sense of the word. Yet,
riches do not refer to material wealth alone. Every one of us here is
rich in the affairs of this world. There many things we feel strongly
attached to — these are our wealth. A good lot of these do us no good.
It is these that Jesus urges us to leave aside and come to follow Him.
Yet until we come to understand that without the wisdom that comes
from God we cannot turn to God with all our hearts, we shall resist
Jesus’ call to sell our possession. and come to follow Him.
It is in this light that the wisdom writer’s way of life has a lot to teach
us. He said “I prayed, and prudence was given me; I pleaded, and
the spirit of wisdom came to me.”
To this we are all called. For the spirit of wisdom is Jesus Himself.
And when we listen to him and keep His word we shall certainly
inherit eternal life
