In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit, amen. Glory be to Jesus Christ.
Glory be to God. Every time I read this gospel
or hear it proclaimed in church, I am reminded
of an incident that happened in my life quite
a number of years ago. I was in conversation.
with a group of priests, most of whom were friends
of mine, and I don't even remember what in the
world we were talking about. But whatever it
was, I just sort of, maybe in frustration or
something, said, well, who wants to live forever?
And then this good friend of mine, who was a
priest, looked at me, and the smirk appeared
on his face, and I corrected myself. In this
world. Who wants to live forever in this world?
Of course, it illustrates the fact that no one
really wants to die. We all want to live. And
we as Christians believe that we will live forever.
We will live forever. Because Jesus has come,
suffered and died on the cross, rose from the
dead. and grants us forgiveness of sins and eternal
life. That's a question that appears. People
reach a certain stage in their life when they
think in sort of philosophical or theological
terms. Why am I here? Where did I come from?
Where am I going? Is there a purpose in my life?
And when we come to that, we have the answers
for us clearly laid out. Jesus' words. And the
words basically are the same as what he replied
to this young man in today's gospel. Keep the
commandments. And Jesus didn't give an exhaustive
list of the commandments, but... five of the
ten that are representative. He says, thou shalt
not murder or kill. Well, you know, we can murder
people not just with a knife or with a gun, but
we can slander them and murder them with our
words, spreading either... bad stories about
them, whether they're true or not. It's better
to say good things and to keep our mouth shut
than to say evil things about anyone. Do not
murder. Well, you look around in our society
at all the murders and the violence that takes
place. So it's so depressing if you watch the
news, which I try not to do, But it is a violent
society that we live in. And we are dulled to
the fact that the most dangerous place in America
for a person to live is in the womb. Because
our society has been dulled. by the fact that
when you kill a young baby in abortion, that's
murder. There's no way around it. Sure, there
can be unfortunate circumstances that brought
about that conception, but still, that is a human
life which has been given by God to that person.
Other things. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Well, adultery is a tent word for many types
of behavior. It can be immoral thoughts, words,
activities, whatever it might be. The only sexual
activity which is permitted is blessed by God
in the sacrament and state of matrimony. But
that, again, is something that is not taken very
seriously by this society. Neither respect for
life at every stage, nor biblical Judeo -Christian
morality. So many temptations and so many people
that don't take seriously what was very serious
in our society. two generations ago even. Thou
shalt not steal. Well, you know, we should be
honest people, but doesn't it ever enter into
temptation in our mind or in other people's minds?
Well, I don't want to steal, but it's okay if
I can get away with it. Nope, that's not right
either. Same thing about bearing false witness
and lying. We should always tell the truth. Unless
it's a truth that hurts someone or injures someone,
then it's better to be quiet about that. Jesus
also brings up the commandment, honor thy father
and thy mother. For children, That means when
your parents ask you to do something, you do
it willingly and happily. Honor thy father and
thy mother. Obey them. Don't speak evil about
them. Don't say bad words about them under your
breath if they tend to ask you to do something
that you're not happy about doing. That's a two
-way street. Honor thy father and thy mother.
Parents have an obligation to their children
to say that they are raised correctly, that they
pray, that they learn about God, that they go
to church as a family, to bring up your children
in the fear of God and in the love of God. That's
a corollary of the commandment to children to
honor their father and their mother. Teaching
them what is true and honest and Christian and
biblical behavior. They have temptations nowadays
because the atmosphere in our school system condones
all kinds of activity or wants at least to make
them aware of all kinds of activity and maybe
tries to convince them to follow something that
is trendy rather than biblical Christian morality.
So the commandments, all ten of them, apply to
us. The rich young man says, well, I've kept
all of these from my youth up. I really doubt
if he did, because I know quite well I haven't
kept all of them. I've sinned against all the
commandments in thought, word, if not in deed.
So all of the commandments are there for us to
follow God's way, not our own way. Then Jesus
says that saying, which is so familiar to us
Christians, it sparked one of the sayings of
Jesus that sparked the monastic movement. If
you wish to be perfect, be perfect. Go, sell
what you have, give to the poor, and you will
have treasure in heaven. A saying of Jesus so
familiar to us, but I don't think we realize
how paradoxical this was to his Jewish audience.
Because remember, in Jewish popular piety, and
I think also in popular attitudes and piety in
general, that to have a lot of wealth is a sign
of blessing from God. Not necessarily. St. Clement
of Alexandria gave us that Christian concept
of the use of wealth, to use that wealth for
the good of others as well. But to the Jewish
people, again, it's a concept to keep your money,
and that's a sign of a blessing from God. I remind
you of an incident in the Old Testament that's
found right at the beginning of the book of Chronicles,
chapter 1. Something you don't hear about, Chronicles,
very often in sermons. But it's a story of Solomon,
who was legendary in Christian, in the Jewish
life after, you know, for a thousand years before
Jesus was born. Solomon, in a dream, Solomon,
God appeared to Solomon. And God said to him,
what do you want? What can I give you? And Solomon
said, Lord, give me wisdom and knowledge so I
can rule these people which have been given to
me. that are as numerous as the stars. Give me
wisdom and knowledge to be a good king, to be
a good ruler. And God's response was, ah, because
you have not asked for riches and wealth and
even victories over your enemies, but you have
asked for wisdom and knowledge to rule well.
That I will give you. And I will also give you
wealth and riches and victory. So that's probably
how that attitude developed of wealth being a
sign of God's favor, but not necessarily. Other
aspects of scripture show that God has particular
love for the poor, the needy, the disenfranchised.
This comes out. It's one of the themes in St.
Luke's Gospel especially, how God loves the weak,
the needy, the powerless. So I think this is
an example for us. What do we do with our wealth?
Do we use it just for good things, material possessions?
These are not bad in themselves, but we should
share what we have with the poor, the needy,
with not only church and share our wealth with
the church, but also with legitimate charities
to give to, for example, St. Jude's that treats
children with... cancer and other diseases. To
give to charities. To use our wealth wisely.
Because that's what St. Clement of Alexandria
says. Wealth is an indifferent thing in and of
itself. It's how you use what you have. To share
what we have. To give to the needy. And though
so by keeping the commandments and sharing what
we have with others. This is how we will inherit
eternal life and indeed live forever. Amen.