{"id":2657,"date":"2018-10-14T13:11:12","date_gmt":"2018-10-14T17:11:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=2657"},"modified":"2018-10-14T13:11:12","modified_gmt":"2018-10-14T17:11:12","slug":"28th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-b-homily-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/28th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-b-homily-2\/","title":{"rendered":"28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"

28th<\/sup> Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B<\/a>
\nWisdom 7:7-11
\nPsalm 90:12-13, 14-15, 16-17 (14)
\nHebrews 4:12-13
\nMark 10:17-30
\nOctober 14, 2018<\/p>\n

A man came to Jesus and \u201cknelt down before him<\/em>\u201d to ask him a question.\u00a0 His act of kneeling indicates that he recognized the greatness of Jesus in the same way we kneel during the Eucharistic Prayer as Jesus becomes present in the bread and wine.<\/p>\n

The man asked a question that we all want to know the answer to, \u201cWhat must I do to inherit eternal life?<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 We want to spend eternity with God in Heaven.<\/p>\n

Jesus began his answer by listing some of the Ten Commandments.\u00a0 God first delivered the commandments through Moses during the Exodus.\u00a0 Some 1,500 years later, Jesus repeats these commandments throughout the gospels and helps us understand what they mean.\u00a0 \u201cIndeed the word of God is living and effective.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 The Commandments were written not just for the people at the time of the Exodus but for all people.\u00a0 They still hold true even today.\u00a0 We just need for the wisdom and prudence to apply them to our lives today.\u00a0 For example, the Commandment \u201cYou shall not kill<\/em>\u201d has added relevance today in choices we face about life that didn\u2019t exist at the time of the Exodus.\u00a0 Or we might ask ourselves what it means to \u201chonor your father and your mother<\/em>\u201d in a world where people live longer and might live far apart.<\/p>\n

To Jesus listing of the Commandments, the man replied, \u201cTeacher, all of these I have observed from my youth<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 Impressive!\u00a0 When we don\u2019t observe the Commandments, we call it sin.<\/p>\n

Jesus then told him there is one more thing the man needed to do, \u201cGo, sell what you have, and give to the poor.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 We are told the man \u201cwent away sad, for he had many possessions<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 Here, the biblical scholars say that the man was not willing to give up his possessions.\u00a0 The passage doesn\u2019t literally say that.\u00a0 I like to think the man went away sad because, while his possessions were important to him, he was willingly to give them all up yet it was difficult.<\/p>\n

This is not the only time Jesus refers to not holding onto our possessions.\u00a0 For instance, when he sends his disciples out on mission, he told them to take no money bag or walking stick.\u00a0 Here, the poverty is to show their trust in God to take care of them.<\/p>\n

Today Jesus says, \u201cHow hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 How does \u201cwealth<\/em>\u201d make it hard for us to enter the Kingdom of Heaven?<\/p>\n

\u201cWealth<\/em>,\u201d aka material things are neither good or bad.\u00a0 It is our attachment to them that gets in the way of our salvation.\u00a0 That\u2019s why we need to pay attention to what Jesus is saying here whether we are wealthy or not.\u00a0 In the same way we can become too attached to material things, we can become attached to power, prestige, or just needing to be right.<\/p>\n

The things of this world along with earthly power, prestige, or just what we like to do don\u2019t mean anything in the world to come.<\/p>\n

This is why Jesus then said, \u201cIt 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.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

To understand what Jesus is talking about here, we need to know what He means by the \u201ceye of the needle.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 It might seem obvious that He is not talking about a sewing needle.\u00a0 I have a hard time getting thread through the eye of a sewing needle.\u00a0 There is no way for a camel to pass through it.<\/p>\n

In Jesus\u2019 day, cities were often surrounded by walls for protection.\u00a0 There would be main gate that would be wide and easy to pass through when it was open.\u00a0 When the main gate was shut, people could enter through a smaller entrance known as the eye of the needle.\u00a0 This was a small opening in the wall, just wide enough for a person to pass through.\u00a0 If the person had a camel with them, it would be carrying their possessions.\u00a0 With the possessions, there was no way for the camel to pass through.<\/p>\n

When we talk about Heaven, sometimes we refer to the \u201cpearly gates.\u201d\u00a0 The Bible itself refers to the gates of Heaven.\u00a0 If we want to pass through these gates, we need to be willing to let go not just of our possessions but our attachments.<\/p>\n

What possessions do you have that hold too much importance to you?<\/p>\n

Do you hold a position that gives you power that you cling to?\u00a0 It might be being the boss at work, government position, captain of the team, or just being in charge of your home.\u00a0 There is nothing wrong with holding these positions.\u00a0 Just don\u2019t let it control you.<\/p>\n

Maybe your attachment is to your ego, having to be the best at something (or everything).\u00a0 Do you do something just to get an award to look good?<\/p>\n

Parents and teens sometimes give too much importance to sports or other activities, hoping they lead to a college scholarship and a great job.\u00a0 The scholarship and great job can be important.\u00a0 Just make sure you aren\u2019t motivated for earthly things and power and lose your soul in the process.<\/p>\n

Again, things are neither good or bad on their own.\u00a0 It is our attachment to them that can lead us away from God.\u00a0 What attachments do you have that you should give up?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B Wisdom 7:7-11 Psalm 90:12-13, 14-15, 16-17 (14) Hebrews 4:12-13 Mark 10:17-30 October 14, 2018 A man came to Jesus and \u201cknelt down before him\u201d to ask him a question.\u00a0 His act of kneeling indicates that he recognized the greatness of Jesus in the same way we kneel during …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B – Homily’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[82],"tags":[507,508],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-GR","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2657"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2657"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2657\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2659,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2657\/revisions\/2659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}