Walking with Jesus: Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

For Sunday, July 31, 2022

Ecclesiastes 1:2, 2:21-23; Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11; Luke 12:13-21

What do I live for? What is important to me each day? Do I trust more in the world or in God? Do I feel that an accumulation of possessions is a sign of God’s love? Do I feel it is important to have? Or is it more important to give? The world Americans live in is one of wealth, control and power. Msgr Chet Michael preached extensively that the evils in our society are power, possession and pleasure; Fr. Richard Rohr adds prestige. How often am I caught up in the attitude of getting more? In what areas do I crave for more? Do I even ask for the grace to live my life in the love of God and to show that love in all I do?

Consider these “eccentric” stories:

• John Paul Getty led the world’s wealthiest family. The film All the Money in the World tells of the kidnapping of one of his grandsons for whom Mr. Getty refuses to pay the demanded ransom. A reporter asks him, “Why not? You have all the money in the world. What more could you possibly want?” Mr Getty responds: “More money.”
• The son of a southern hemisphere drug lord is arrested and incarcerated in a maximum-security prison. The drug lord offers to pay the entire debt of the country in exchange for the release of his son.

These two tales seem shocking, but we can almost recognize ourselves in them. We may want more money, more security, more health, and so on. Quoheleth, Paul and Jesus challenge us today in our craving for “more.” Is more really better? Do I struggle with where my priorities and energies lie? Do I believe that a relationship with God lasts forever, is eternal? Am I living with this in mind?  

The book of Ecclesiastes challenges readers to reconsider the things that occupy their (and our) daily time and energy and asks a simple question: What really matters? The author explains his many pursuits and gives insight into what he has discovered. His opening lines summarizes it all: “The words of David’s son, Qoheleth, king in Jerusalem: ‘Vanity of vanities,’ says Qoheleth, ‘vanity of vanities! All things are vanity!’”  [Ecclesiastes 11:1-2] What happens when one’s obsessions absorb them? Emptiness and dissatisfaction. Striving after “things” can be good and worthwhile because much wisdom and understanding is obtained. But they tend to made one overlook what is valuable. The author uses the phrase “under the sun” more than 30 times in his short book, capturing the truth that everything in this world is limited by time. So much time can be used fashioning our own world that the world God created with its many gifts is overlooked and not appreciated.

Paul is telling the Colossians that because of baptism, they and we live a new life in Christ … we have become part of his “body.” Nothing outside seems changed, but Christ is now within us and needs to be lived … shown … so that all can see Christ in you and me. This can only be seen in how we live … love … forgive … care ... and respond to all we see in need. How am I doing with this?

In the gospel, a person in the crowd asks Jesus to interpret Jewish inheritance laws. Jesus says he is not a lawyer and has no intention of becoming one. He is a teacher of wisdom, as seen in His parable. In Luke’s Gospel, possessions are often used as a metaphor for power. So how much power is enough? How many possessions do I need? The parable's principal character asks the right question: “What shall I do?” He comes up with an immediate answer concerning only himself. He never considers that he might have enough and needs no more, or even that he could share his abundance with those in need. The other man is planning for what he has been seeking all his life:  security. Yet security is challenged by death. No one escapes death and no one knows when it will come. Jesus is cautioning us to hold on to treasures that evaporate. He tells everyone to be rich in what matters to God. So our meditation today is: What matters to God in the way I live my life this day?

So I reflect on:

• Jesus is not warning me about pursuing material security, but is that my only goal in life? How does my trust in God relate to that?
• At the end of my life my stuff will be gone. But the love that I have given will remain. What treasures would I like to leave to those who come after me? What matters most to me?
  

Sacred Space 2022 states:

“This is certainly a parable for our own times, where seeking money and more money often turns us into fools who prepare our own downfall. Jesus tells us, ‘A man’s life is not made secure by what he owns, even when he has more than he needs.’ I pray that our world may grow in wisdom and choose solidarity and respect for one another and for the earth, our common home.”