Take A Hard Look At The Parable Of The Rich Young Man

    The parable of the rich young man (Mk. 10, 17) tends to make those who have wealth a bit uneasy.  In it, Jesus tells the rich young man to sell all of his possessions, give the proceeds to the poor and follow him.  At this the young man, who was by all other accounts a faithful follower, lowered his head and departed ‘for he had many possessions’.

    We tend to gloss over this passage or rationalize it, listing all of the ways we donate our time or treasure but we need to stop and take a very hard look at it because it speaks to who we are at the very core of each of us.

    At this point in our world’s history (and especially in this country), we live better than at any time before us.  We are constantly served by others in our daily lives and all or most of our needs are met and many of our wants are satisfied.

    It is here that our realities begin to skew.  We gradually stop seeing God as the pinnacle of our existence and begin to create our own kingdoms where we rule our own little pieces of land.

    Like glasses of water, as we gradually fill them with our life’s work, other items are displaced.  The more items we put in (work, house, car, leisure, collections, habits, health, etc.) the more items that need to be removed to keep the glass from overflowing.

    The rich young man had become so attached to all of the things that he had placed in his glass that he found he was unable to empty it all for Christ when asked to do so.

    Does Jesus state then that it is impossible for the wealthy to enter the kingdom of God?  No, He simply states the fact that it is hard for them to enter the kingdom of God.

    For those of us who have been given much, we would do well not to push this teaching aside but take a long look at our glasses to see if we have inadvertently displaced God in order to fill our lives with earthly comforts.

Reflection:  Where is God on my priority list?  How would others describe me?  Do I give God a large portion of the credit for my success or have I convinced myself that it is all my doing?