Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time / Msgr. Owen F. Campion
The Sunday Readings
The Book of Wisdom provides the first reading for Mass this weekend. This book came to be many centuries ago as devout Jews, distant from their homeland and from their religious and cultural roots, attempted to confront the great pressure put upon them by the overwhelmingly pagan societies in which they lived.
Jewish parents worried about their children. It is easy to imagine Jewish youths of this time, rebellious and questioning as are adolescents in any time or place, finding the strict rules of their parents’ religion very binding. Whereas the pagans, who lived all around them, followed quite different codes of behavior—and the pagans flourished.
This book is part of a series of books that together compose the wisdom literature of the Old Testament. These writings concentrate upon the wisdom of human reasoning. But they insist living according to God’s revelation through Moses and the prophets shows true wisdom.
Often in these writings, as is the case in this selection, wisdom is mentioned as if wisdom was a person. It is a literary technique.
The reading this week maintains that true wisdom is a greater possession than the finest silver or gold.
As the second reading, the Church this weekend offers us a passage from the Epistle to the Hebrews.
Profound Jewish theological themes run throughout this epistle. God is wise. He is the Creator. All people must, therefore, render an account to God.
St. Mark’s Gospel provides the last reading. It is a familiar story. A man asks Jesus what is needed for salvation. Jesus tells him to obey the commandments.
The man says that he does this. Then, Jesus tells the man to sell his many possessions, give the proceeds to the poor and follow him. Sad, the man walks away from him.
Jesus sees in the man a deep need to find and be with God. So, Jesus offered the man the key to salvation, calling him to a radical obedience to God. The man should not just make contributions to the poor, as Jewish custom would have required of him since he was wealthy. He should go further and give everything in his possession to the poor.
As the story closes, St. Peter speaks. This is one of the 111 references to Peter in the Gospels. He always speaks for the Twelve. He insists that he and the other Apostles have put aside everything to follow the Lord. Jesus accepts this statement and blesses them.
Reflection
The message of the readings this weekend is fundamental to Christianity. They are intense, wide-ranging, even radical. The story of the rich man in the Gospel of Mark, traditionally seen as being young, is crucial to the lesson of this weekend’s Liturgy of the Word. He already obeys God’s commandments, but he wants to be with God completely.
Jesus calls him to absolute commitment. It is more than lip service, indeed more than obeying the commandments. It is the total imitation of Christ’s own sacrifice, an expression of total commitment to and trust in God.
The man rejects this blunt advice. He cannot forsake what he has of this world’s things. Sadly, he walks away from Christ.
In the first reading, true wisdom was seen as being in divine revelation, not in limited human judgment. All things of Earth, including human judgment, are subject to flaws.
The story has wider application if the “rich young man” becomes the “rich man,” or “the man.” Discipleship is limited to no age. It is not limited to any class of people. It is an invitation to all and a decision for all.
The Gospel reading again reaffirms the place of Peter himself as spokesman for the community of Apostles and reaffirms the Twelve. As the rich man was asked, they had been asked to leave everything and follow Christ. They chose to follow the Lord. †