October 22, 2018
Monday of the 29th Week in the Ordinary Time
Eph 2: 1-10
Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me.” He replied to him, “Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?” Then he said to the crowd, “Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.”
Then he told them a parable. “There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest. He asked himself, ‘What shall I do, for I do not have space to store my harvest?’
And he said, ‘This is what I shall do: I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones.There I shall store all my grain and other goods and I shall say to myself, “Now as for you,you have so many good things stored up for many years, rest, eat, drink, be merry!”’ But God said to him, ‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?’ Thus will it be for the one who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich in what matters to God.”
Your Life or Your Money
It is our experience that in many good families there is bitter quarrel at the time of partition of the property. The brothers and sisters who were very friendly and caring for each other from the childhood turn bitter enemies at the time of partition because of the perceived shortage or injustice in the distribution of wealth at the partition. Is money so powerful that brothers and sisters who were so loving and caring towards each other for so long can turn to be bitter enemies of each other? In today’s gospel we get reference to such a situation when one person asks Jesus to intervene in the partition of wealth expecting that he may get justice with the intervention of Jesus.
It is also our experience that the wealth gives power and prestige to people in the world. Nobody wants to give up these by forsaking or sharing wealth with others. We have the Forbes’ list of richest people in the world and this is given top most importance and coverage in today’s media.
We should look at Jesus’s suggestion of earning riches in heaven in this backdrop. We find that there is little eagerness to get on to the list of good people put out by God.
We have heard about Steve Jobs who was the founder of apple computers, imac, and iphone. He died of cancer in his fifties. He was one of the billionaires. But what happens to his wealth after his death. Jesus has a similar question in the parable of rich fool. What happens to his riches if dies that night. We all know this fact still we do not make efforts to get on to God’s list of good people.
We should ask: are we interested only making money for the power and prestige that comes along with it. Do we also want to live in peace and happiness which lasts longer? Jesus assures us that if we give first priority to God and his Kingdom then all the rest will be ours. May be it is a very daunting proposition.
Fr. Paulson Muthipeedika CMI
