Homily for the 28th Sunday B, 13th September 2024
Money is fascinating. It makes so many things possible. The more money you have, the more you can do. Money is the real power, behind all other powers. If you like power, if you need power to assert yourself, you need money. And so, you try to get more money. If you are honest, you work very hard. If you are less honest, there are other possibilities, although generally a bit risky.
Money is fascinating, but it is also terrible. It is a hard lord and master. At first, it presents itself as your servant, as someone who will help you and make your life easy. Soon, it transforms itself into an exacting master, a master who is never satisfied. There is never a time when you have enough money. Money is a tyrant which leads you where you would not go with the false promise that tomorrow everything will be fine.
Nevertheless, money is so attractive, we may sometimes feel so destitute, we are in such need of safety, that money too often entices us. Not a few religious men and women have been tempted to baptise money. Are not money and riches the sign of divine blessing? The good God who knows your needs and how well you serve Him will certainly bless you. Your riches will the sign that you that you are a good person whom God loves and blesses.
Jesus must work very hard to persuade His disciples that money and holiness do not go together. With His word sharper than any double-edged sword, Jesus penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, judging the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Riches are an obstacle on the way to salvation, freedom and happiness. The Kingdom Jesus proclaims is not at all based on money. Riches are a hindrance, not a sign of blessing. The camel cannot pass through the eye of a needle. A person or a society aiming primarily at money cannot enter the Kingdom of God. You cannot put your trust in money. You cannot serve God and money. You have to make money a servant, not a Lord, a means, not an aim.
All along the history of the Church, great saints remind us of the dangers of riches and money. From St James in his epistle to Mother Teresa, from John Chrysostomus to Francis of Assisi who became an iconic figure with his mystical alliance with Lady Poverty, these holy men and women invite us to love the poor, the serve the poor, to share with the poor. One of these prophets, St Vincent de Paul famously taught the rich Parisians ladies of the 17th Century that “the poor are our masters”.
The rich man who approaches Jesus in the Gospel is good, generous, godly, pious, but unconsciously enslaved to his possessions. His love for money seems to him reasonable, controlled and justified. But it proves a veil on his heart which makes him unable to encounter Jesus’ loving gaze and the promise of life it brings. Even when Jesus looks at him with love, He is unable to get rid of his possessions.
Peter and the apostles, in contrast, have not resisted Jesus’ calling. They have indeed left everything and followed Him. Theirs is not a rich life, but they have their daily bread and the freedom to love and be loved. Can we feel the warmth of loving admiration in Jesus’ answer to Peter: “In truth, I tell you, there is no one who has left house, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children, or land for my sake and for the sake of the gospel, who will not receive a hundred times as much.”
Shall we choose the fascination for money? Or shall we let Jesus’ gaze fascinate our hearts and free us for love.