Gospel reading: Matthew 19.23-26 [27-end]
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.’
Reflection
The disciples have got the wrong end of the stick again, stuck in the view of the old covenant that God’s blessing equates to acquiring riches.
In this new covenant that Jesus is teaching, the meek and poor in spirit are blessed, a child is greater than John the Baptist, the rich man goes to hell while the beggar at his gate goes to heaven, the first shall be last and the last shall be first. And now he is saying that ‘it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven.’ In their astonishment, their question bursts out: ‘Then who can be saved?’
But Jesus doesn’t answer their question with ‘not the rich but the poor will be saved’. The Kingdom of God is topsy-turvier than that, and Jesus up-ends expectations once again with his answer: ‘For mortals it is impossible, but for God all things are possible.’
All things. Here is an absolute truth. In this way, all are alike before God. We each of us have to let go of everything that is doing and being and trying to be in control and attempting to determine our own salvation or destiny. Maybe it is easier for poor people to let go in this way, but… still… everything comes back to God and God alone.
Oh, and we don’t have to wait, nor should we put it off till after death. All things are possible for God even before we die. The Kingdom of God is very near (Mark 1.15), indeed among us. (Luke 17.21).
-oOo-
Since April 2020, I have been jointly hosting a shared Lectio Divina group on Tuesday or Wednesday evenings. These are my reflections only, during the prayer session and as I wrote them up. Please see my separate commentary and leaflet for more information about shared Lectio.
