Episode Transcript
[00:00:06] Speaker A: This is Sundays with Bishop Ken.
Thanks for sharing some quiet time with the Lord.
This week on Sundays with Bishop Ken, our guest, Father Pete Gaspini, shares today's gospel with us, followed by one of Bishop Ken's homilies.
[00:00:34] Speaker B: A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark.
As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up, knelt down before him, and asked him, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?
Jesus answered him, why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.
You know the commandments. You shall not kill. You shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, you shall not defraud.
Honor your father and your mother.
He replied and said to him, teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth.
Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, you are lacking in one thing.
Go sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.
At that statement, his face fell and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.
Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, how hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God.
The disciples were amazed at his words. So Jesus again said to them in reply, children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God. It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.
They were exceedingly astonished and said among themselves, then who can be saved?
Jesus looked at them and said, for human beings it is impossible, but not for God. All things are possible for God.
Peter began to say to him, we have given up everything and followed you. Jesus said, amen. I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the gospel, who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands with persecutions and eternal life in the age to come.
The gospel of the Lord there are two ways of looking at this gospel. The first way is usually the result of not looking carefully at this particular passage or reading things into it that are not there. The result is that Jesus appears to be harsh with the young man. He places extraordinary demands on him and then rejects him.
Further. He goes on to tell Peter and the other disciples that they too have to make great sacrifices if they are to be his followers.
That is not the case at all.
Lets look at the gospel more carefully and see it in a second perspective, it was the young man who approached Jesus and asked for help so that he might live out gods will in his life.
Jesus, while on the one hand asking him to let go of his possessions, was also cordially welcoming him to become one of his close followers. It was a personal invitation and the gospel tells us that it was because Jesus loved the man.
Jesus did not send the man away. He continued to look upon him lovingly and the man himself walked away. It probably hurt Jesus very much, and his subsequent remarks to the disciples reflect pain, not harshness. How hard it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.
When Peter steps up and points out that the disciples have put aside everything to follow him, Jesus is reassuring and promises them that he will take good care of them in this life and of course, give them the gift of everlasting life.
The tone of the gospel, far from being harsh, is one of warmth, care, invitation, welcome it costs dearly to be a follower of Jesus, and he knows that. But he wants to do something about it and make it worth the cost. Even in this life, Jesus takes care of those who love him.
If we only open ourselves up to him halfway, no one in the world will get better love and care than we will.
If we would only place ourselves in his care like a little child and stop trying to do everything apart from him our own way, then we will be taken care of in ways that we never dreamed.
In that perspective, some of the conclusions from this gospel would be the it's hard to be a Christian and you have to let go of some things to do it. But Jesus isn't trying to make it hard for us. It isn't hard because he laid out a tough test track.
It's hard because the world is sinful and we are sinful. And when we try to live out the good life that Jesus calls us to, we experience pain because our sinfulness pulls us in other directions, and also because the sinfulness of others and of this world itself rubs against us.
Jesus knows it's hard and is very honest about it.
Jesus promises to take care of us as only a good friend can do.
This is a beautiful gospel.
It's too bad we so often skim over it and miss the whole point.
[00:06:42] Speaker A: Thanks for joining us today. If you like this week's reflection, subscribe on your favorite podcast platform for daily reflections. During the seasons of Advent, Christmas, Lent and Easter, subscribe to the Little Books app found on the Apple or Google Play stores. The podcast is brought to you free of charge from little books to help support our ministry, please consider donating by clicking on the donate button now. And of course, why not tell a friend about this podcast?
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