Mt 19: 23-30
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astounded and said, “Then who can be saved?” But Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but for God all things are possible.”
Then Peter said in reply, “Look, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man is seated on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold, and will inherit eternal life.
But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
Our Ultimate Concern
Talking about our salaries, what we do with our money, or how we use our financial resources can make us queasy. Jesus has no qualms about it apparently.
Today, Jesus says that “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.” That can sound like a harsh judgment. But part of the etymological origins of the word “judgment” is “diagnosis.”
Jesus is offering his disciples an important lesson, a diagnosis of sorts: Money can help or hurt; it is a good that can assist or become an “ultimate concern,” a religion of its own.
Jesus makes his “camel” comment immediately after the parable of the rich young man. Scripture says this man declined Jesus’ invitation to follow. As it turns out, the man’s ultimate concern was his wealth; his religion was money. Thus he didn’t so much grasp his money as he was, ultimately, grasped by it. The result: he goes away sad.
—Christopher Alt, SJ, is a Jesuit scholastic of the Midwest Province. He is a psychotherapist now studying theology at the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University.
Prayer
Lord, help me to see the role money plays in my experiences of consolation and desolation.
Are there moments I am frivolous with my resources?
Are there moments I am protective of my wealth, not giving as generously as I could?
Are there patterns where I place more security in my salary than in the God who offers salvation?
Conversely, are there moments when I have given without counting the cost?
Do I believe I am sharing my wealth in way the way Jesus has called me?
Are there moments when I have felt the thrill of not grasping,
Of putting myself at the service of Jesus the Lord, who “made himself poor that we might become rich?”
—Adaptation from Lisa Kelly’s “The Money Examen,”