Glory to Jesus Christ. Glory to the Father. In
the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of
the Holy Spirit. Amen. We've all been in those
situations in which someone was trying to get
our attention, and we were sort of oblivious
to it. It's happened to me so many times as a
priest. Someone's trying to get a hold of me,
tell me something, and I'm just off somewhere
else. The Lord, our God, is continually, continually
looking for our attention. So, we in the church,
we have these gospel readings every week. They're
meant for each one of us. The Lord is speaking
to each of you, to you and me personally. Before
we read the gospel, We sing Alleluia. That's
a song of praise. That's a song of glorification
of God. That means the Lord is present. Before
you receive communion, we sing the communion
verse. The choir is singing Alleluia. Again,
it's to remind us, to tell us, the Lord is here.
Wisdom, stand aright. You hear these Gospels,
it's... Christ speaking to us. God's not silent.
Not only is he speaking to us in nature and through
other people, but here, especially in the liturgy,
he's speaking to us. He's trying to get our attention.
So it occurs to me to ask myself, why over the
last month or so did we hear a reading about
Lazarus and the rich man? The rich man who abused
his riches. And that's all he could see. Not
this poor man. Why do we have the foolish rich
man who didn't bother building the temple in
his heart but thought he was going to build bigger
and bigger barns to put all his things in and
eat and drink and be merry. But his soul was
required of him that very night. He abused his
wealth. And today we have... A rich young leader
of the community who comes and his wealth prevents
him from drawing near to God. Now, I ask myself,
are these readings for wealthy people? Because
the Lord is giving these teachings not to wealthy
people. Not then and not there. And here, in
our context, he's speaking to me. But how? How
am I supposed to respond to this? He's trying
to get my attention. Well, let's look at this
story very briefly. Rich young leader of the
community. Sincere. One of the saints says, he's
sincere. He comes to Christ. He wants advice
from this particular rabbi, from that particular
rabbi, and then from Jesus. He's heard things.
He's looking for advice. You know, people might
come to me in confession for spiritual advice.
And I'll say, well, let's think of this. Have
you tried this? What about this? Well, try these
prayers. Do these prayers. Whatever. You know,
prepare yourself in this way. Is that what Jesus
does? The man comes to Jesus and he says, oh,
good master. And immediately Jesus tries to change
the approach from, I'm not your local rabbi giving
you advice. What should I do to inherit eternal
life? And Jesus says, well, you know. You know.
You're a pious young man. Why are you asking
me? That's really what's in between the lines
here. Why are you asking me? And he says, these
five of the Ten Commandments, Jesus says, all
having to do with behavior and interaction with
other people. Do not commit adultery. Well, that's
good. Do not murder. Do not steal. Do not bear
false witness. Honor your father and your mother.
And you know what the man says. Oh, I've done
those. Done those from my youth. Well, first
off, he was a teenager at one point, so probably
he's not telling the entire truth. He couldn't
have done them all all the time. No slam to our
teenagers. Jesus heard these things. You lack
one more thing. Jesus isn't saying, try this.
This might be the way forward for you. He says
something completely without any kind of confusion
at all. You know, in our church, we hear so many
things. We hear wonderful words. We hear the
story of the prodigal son and the loving father
who receives him back. No comment. He just takes
him and embraces him. He's waiting for him. He
runs to meet him. The love of God is there. That's
the truth of things. We hear about Christ and
the sinful woman who comes and pours out the
precious myrrh upon him and shows her deep love
for the Lord. We hear about the woman caught
in adultery and Christ says, I don't judge you
either. We hear about the healings and God's
compassion over and over. And how Jesus, it says
in St. Luke says, Jesus felt deep compassion.
He wept when he saw the grave of his friend Lazarus.
But we also have things that leave us without
any doubt. The separation of the sheep and the
goats. We have no doubt about... That if we judge
someone, we will be judged with the same measure
that we judge them. And then we have these teachings.
You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have.
Distribute to the poor. And you will have treasure
in heaven. And come, follow me. And he was sad
because he was very rich. He could not give up
any of his things. He, imagine now, imagine.
So he goes away. Now, the scriptures don't psychologize.
They don't go into these details. But we might.
He goes away. And his friend says, well, what
did the rabbi say? Well, he said, for me to sell
everything, follow him, just give it all away.
And obviously, I can't do that. I have responsibilities.
I have things I need to take care of, you know.
And then, this is chapter 18 of the Gospel of
Luke. Pretty soon, next day almost, Jesus comes
into Jerusalem on the donkey. And the crowds
acclaim him. And the man... that decided not
to follow Jesus, what's he thinking? Oh, I made
a mistake. And then a few days later, he sees
this rabbi arrested, put on trial, and crucified,
and die, and buried. And he thinks, I guess I
didn't make a mistake. Did the right thing there.
Dodged a bullet. And then the Lord rises from
the dead. And he comes to the upper room where
his disciples are afraid. And he says, peace
be to you. What this man missed is beyond anything
you can think of. To have the Lord Jesus Christ
come to you and say, peace be to you. Be not
afraid. Even as the Father sent me, even so send
I you. And his disciples become apostles, though
sent out. This man asked the question, what do
I do to inherit eternal life? What does Jesus
say in that prayer that the apostles heard on
the night he was betrayed and arrested? Jesus
is praying to the Father. He says, And this is
eternal life. To know thee, the only true God,
and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. We could
read this gospel in two ways. We could say, well,
Jesus is just telling this particular man what
to do. Because his riches got in the way of his
life. Or we could say, Jesus is talking to me.
I can't meet that bar. I can't jump over that
bar. I can't meet that standard. I can't give
everything away. I can't just follow you, Lord.
What does Jesus say? Well, the apostles say first,
who can be saved then? We can't do that either.
And they say, we've left everything, but who
can be saved? Let's remember this, brothers and
sisters. Whatever Jesus is calling you to specifically,
brother and sister in Christ, it may be not possible,
but with God it is. So we repent. We repent that
we cannot keep this rule of the Lord. He's not
speaking to just rich people. This isn't a slam
on the rich. This is telling us, if we're wealthy,
how to be stewards of our wealth and not slaves
of our wealth. So we repent. We try our best.
We say, with God, it's possible. I want to be
with the Lord. The Lord is inviting this man.
to be in love with him, to love God, to experience
the glory, the grace, the peace. Yes, the crucifixion,
but also the transfiguration and the resurrection.
And so we follow the Lord. We know that according
to the standards of the world, what Christ is
calling us to is not possible because of our
sins and our fear. Shame or hesitation. So we
repent. We say, Lord, with you, I'm coming. To
our Lord be glory, now and ever, to ages of ages.
Amen.