28th Sunday in Ordinary Time (“B”)
Q. 706: Why couldn’t Jesus accept a simple compliment from the rich man? (Return to INDEX page of "Didja Know?" series)
October 14, 2012
A. 706: Two great virtues are being modeled for us by Jesus in today’s gospel (Mark 10:17-30), humility and modesty. He exhibits humility when he deflects a compliment (“good” teacher, v.17), and then rightly points to God the Father as the source of all goodness. He also exhibits modesty – a virtue that protects our humility – by not grasping or clinging to his well-deserved praise. (We can rightly define modesty as any and all behavior that is unassuming and unpretentious.)
Jesus urges us to imitate him. As he said (see Matthew 11:29-30), “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart...for my yoke is easy and my burden light.” He could claim to be meek and humble, because he actually was meek and humble of heart; he was always giving his Father the praise and glory, pointing to him as the way to perfection. Modesty does not reject compliments; it simply points to and acknowledges the source of all virtues: the Father.
Jesus did the same urging with the rich young man in today’s gospel, identifying the only thing that was lacking in the man’s spiritual journey: a detachment from his wealth. His wealth was a heavy yoke on the man’s shoulders – evoking the image of the difficulty a rich man could have by using the analogy of the camel trying to squeeze through the eye of the needle. The rich man was presumably sincere, but he could not get out from under the threat of the deadly vice of greed. I suspect that the man was not even aware that his tendencies were toward avarice, until Jesus pointed out this gap in his spirituality. The solution was simple: all he had to do was accept Jesus’ invitation to become “detached” and then become “discipled.” One must precede the other; discipleship inevitably calls for sacrifice, necessary because of our selfishness.
KNOW YOUR CATECHISM! The tempter always tries to turn us away from union with God, so our life is a “battle of prayer” against ourselves and against the tempter (CCC 2725). If we are sad (like the rich young man) because we have “many possessions” and have not made them all available to the Lord, then this is really a failure in prayer (CCC 2728).
Deacon Paul Rooney
Mary Our Queen Parish, Omaha
(Go back to Deacon Paul's HOME PAGE)
