Tuesday of Week 20 of Ordinary Time – Gospel

Commentary on Matthew 19:23-30

After hearing the sad story of the rich young man who could not accept his invitation to be a disciple, Jesus gives some comments on the effects of wealth. Jesus says:

Truly I tell you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.

It could be that Jesus was referring to a narrow entrance in the city wall of Jerusalem called the ‘eye of the needle’. In either case, Jesus is indicating something which is extremely difficult, in fact, next to impossible.

Some of us may likely feel discomfort about this. Even if we are not rich ourselves, we might like to see our children get rich some day, or we admire people who have, by their hard work, become wealthy. What is wrong with having a lot of money which one has earned by one’s own sweat and labour?

What does the Gospel mean by being rich? To be rich here means to have a large surplus of money and possessions while around one are people who do not have what they need to live a life of dignity. How can I continue to hold on to ‘my’ possessions when such a situation prevails? How can I claim to belong to the Kingdom, the reign of God, which is a kingdom of love and justice? Jesus said that “you” did not give me to eat or drink; “you” did not visit me or show any compassion when I was:

…hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison… (Matt 25:44)

Instead, “you” piled up all that money in the bank or on the stock exchange or you splurged it on fancy cars, restaurants and expensive clothes.

In the Gospel, to be rich means refusing to share what you have with those who have not. As long as you behave like that, you cannot be eligible for the Kingdom. It really is like trying to get a camel through the eye of a needle. There is a radical incompatibility.

The disciples were quite amazed at Jesus’ words. They were thinking along lines traditional to their culture and their religion. Wealth was a sign of God’s blessings—poverty and sickness a sign of his punishment. But Jesus is turning their traditions on their head.

It was something the young man could not understand either. He was under the impression that his wealth was a grace, a sign of God’s favour. The idea of giving alms was to be highly commended, but to share his wealth with the poor and create a more just playing field was something for which he felt no obligation and which made no sense.

Then Peter, the optimist, begins to see the bright side:

Look, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?

Jesus gives a twofold reply. As the leaders of the new community and people who have generously put their whole security in Jesus, his disciples will be especially rewarded. And indeed everyone who leaves family and goods for Jesus’ sake will be rewarded many times over with father, mother, brothers, sisters, goods. This is not just a pie-in-the-sky promise. It is one that can be realised and, in many parts of the world, is being realised. When everyone works for the good of the other, everyone benefits.

The wealth-is-good world believes that it is every man for himself. There is only a limited amount of the cake and it is up to each one to get as big a piece as he can—too bad about the losers.

In the world of Jesus, everyone gets because everyone gives; because everyone gives, everyone receives. It is not a ‘gimme’ world; it is a ‘reaching out to others’ world. And when everyone reaches out, everyone is benefiting. In such a world, I do not have to worry about a roof over my head, or about brothers and sisters, or property or security. It is where love and justice meet. For too many people in our world, there is neither love nor justice.

If the rich man had liberated himself from his wealth and shared it with the poor and become a follower of Jesus in the new community, he might never have been rich again, but he would have had all his needs attended to.

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Tuesday of Week 20 of Ordinary Time – First Reading

Commentary on Ezekiel 28:1-10

The message of today’s reading is very clear and as relevant now as it was then. Tyre was a Phoenician city on the coast of the Mediterranean in what is now Lebanon. The Phoenicians were famous in ancient times as traders and for their skill in seafaring. It is not fully clear whether Ezekiel is personally attacking King Ittobaal, ruler of Tyre at the time, or the whole city for placing itself on the same level as God.

The city bases this claim on its collective wisdom. Says the prophet rather mockingly:

You are indeed wiser than Daniel…

This claimed wisdom was, as believed, the source of the city’s enormous wealth and power. Daniel, like Solomon, was a byword for wisdom in the Old Testament. This does not so much allude to the Daniel who is the hero of Daniel chapters 1-12, but rather to the Daniel of chapter 13 (in many translations), who solved the case of the alleged adultery of Susanna (see Sus 1:47-64 in the NRSVue Bible).

However, the prophet says, with growing wealth and power has come increasing pride and arrogance, a sense of omnipotence. The empty base of this sense of security will soon be shattered when the city is attacked by foreigners who are even more powerful—referring to the Babylonians. They will bring death and destruction. Then, what will become of the claims to divine power?

Says God through his prophet:

…you are but a mortal and no god,
[helpless] in the hands of those who pierce you…

They will die the same death as the “uncircumcised”, the most uncivilised of barbarians. (Note that the Phoenicians, like the Israelites and the Egyptians, practised circumcision.)

Times and attitudes have not changed very much. There are still people in our own time and in our own society who believe that a high level of education, wealth and power give a kind of invincibility. It includes those who have such great wealth and power and those who struggle all their lives to get some of it. With money, anything can be bought—everyone has their price.

Yet, the lives of all, rich and poor, educated and illiterate, powerful and marginalised, can be snuffed out in the twinkling of an eye. But our destiny is in other hands, and the sooner we realise that the better for our happiness and peace of mind.

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