Reflection on the Daily Gospel - Mt 19: 23-30
Jesus said to his disciples: “Amen, I say to you, it will be hard for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of heaven. Again, I say to you, 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.” When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and said, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “For men this is impossible, but for God all things are possible.” Then Peter said to him in reply, “We have given up everything and followed you. What will there be for us?” Jesus said to them, “Amen, I say to you that you who have followed me, in the new age, when the Son of Man is seated on his throne of glory, will yourselves sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for the sake of my name will receive a hundred times more, and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.” (Mt 19: 23-30)
These words are not directed against the possession of material goods. The Lord Jesus warns us not to make the goods of this world our goal in life, and not to seek confirmation of our value in them.
After all, we need material goods. And it is the Lord God who made us so that we need them. We need them every day. We need to eat and drink every day, get dressed, we must have somewhere to stay. We also need money to satisfy our spiritual needs, for example to buy a book or help the needy. But these are only means - not the end or basis of the meaning of our human life.
It is a great poverty if someone sees all his worth in what he has: that someone is a businessman or a minister or director, that it is in favorable arrangements, that he/she has a large bank account. After all, the true value of a person is in his/her heart.
The eye of a needle through which a humpbacked and loaded camel wants to pass, reminds me of a certain image given by Origen of Alexandria about liberation after death would be. Namely, on the way before God's face - Origen imagined- we will pass through customs chambers, where the evil spirits will take away everything that belongs to them.
And sometimes what is in us that is not of God - our faults, unwise attachments, internal disorder, these have grown up with us, and have become a part of ourselves. Taking them away from us can be very painful. But liberating.
It is more important that this liberation should take place now, in this life. Because this way even a rich man will be able to pass through the eye of the needle.
"For men this is impossible”, said the Lord Jesus, “but for God all things are possible".
until Tomorrow
fr. george