Patrick Comerford
We are still in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar. Yesterday was the Sunday before Lent (2 March 2025), and Lent begins the day after tomorrow, Ash Wednesday (5 March 2025).
Before this day begins though, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:
1, today’s Gospel reading;
2, a short reflection;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;
4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.
Mark 10: 17-27 (NRSVA):
17 As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ 18 Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. 19 You know the commandments: “You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honour your father and mother”.’ 20 He said to him, ‘Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.’ 21 Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, ‘You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ 22 When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.
23 Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, ‘How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!’ 24 And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, ‘Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 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.’ 26 They were greatly astounded and said to one another, ‘Then who can be saved?’ 27 Jesus looked at them and said, ‘For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.’
Today’s Reflection:
In today’s Gospel reading (Mark 10: 17-27), Christ continues to teach what it means to follow him. A man runs up to Jesus, and falls on his kneels as if in adoration, or like a servant before a master. It is an unusual act of piety, for people stood to pray at the time. But we came across a similar posture a few weeks ago when the Syro-Phoenician woman approached Jesus in Tyre (Mark 7: 24-30, 11 February 2025).
Christ’s response is cautious. Rabbis were not usually addressed as good, for only God is good.
When Christ puts some of the Ten Commandments to this man, the man insists that since his youth he has observed those commandments dealing with our relationships with others, those commandments that prohibit murder, adultery, theft, lying and fraud, and that call on us to honour parents, the elderly. From calling Christ ‘Good Teacher,’ the man has moved quickly to asserting that he himself is good, and a good example.
The decalogue is often divided into the four ‘theological’ commandments, which are not a matter for debate or interpretation among right-thinking Jews at that time, and the six ‘ethical’ commandments (see Exodus 20), which become matters for interpretation.
However, as Ched Myers points out in one of his commentaries on Saint Mark’s Gospel (Say to this Mountain, St Paul’s), a closer look at the list of the second grouping of commandments shows that Jesus replaces the last commandment – ‘You shall not covet your neighbour’s house; you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour’ (Exodus 20: 17) – with the words ‘You shall not defraud.’
This Levitical censure appears in a part of the Torah that is concerned with socio-economic behaviour: ‘You shall not defraud your neighbour; you shall not steal; and you shall not keep for yourself the wages of a labourer until morning’ (Leviticus 19: 13).
With this fresh listing of the commandments, is Jesus (a) challenging the man to see whether he really knows the Ten Commandments; or (b) showing he is more interested in understanding how this man has acquired his riches and wealth than in accepting his claims to piety at face value?
Why did the man slink away? Because he had much property (verse 22).
What acts as a ball and chain that holds us back in our lives today, leaving us not fully free to follow Jesus? I may not have much property. But is there something else that I need to shed, in my attitudes, values, habits, behaviour, priorities, use of time, commitment or lack of commitment?
In his compassion, Christ sees this man’s weakness. He has emphasised his relationship with others. But is this founded on his desire for personal salvation, some sort of personal version of the concept of ‘karma.’
What about his relationship with God? Does he trust in God because God is God, rather than because of what God can do for him?
The man asks how he may inherit eternal life. Is eternal life something to be inherited, like wealth and social status or place in society? In that society, religion was inherited rather than a matter of personal choice – one was born a Jew, but few people ever became Jews. Is eternal life to be inherited, like religious identity and social class?
Are we in danger at times in thinking that we are entitled to our place in the Kingdom of God? And, in our behaviour, as well as in our prayers, do we let God know, and others know, this?
Christ comes to the quick when he points out that this young man puts his trust in his own piety and wealth, in his achievements, but wealth stands in the way of his relationship with God.
So, Christ tests the man. If he truly loves the poor, he will make a connection between loving God and loving others. The man is shocked and makes quick his departure. In that time, and even for many people today, wealth and prosperity are seen as a blessing and signs of God’s favour. But, without them, could this man truly trust in God?
Christ does not say that the rich and the wealthy cannot find salvation. He says that money and riches can hold us back and make it difficult to be true disciples, to enter the kingdom of God. It can be so difficult that, ‘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’ (verse 25). We cannot save ourselves, but God can save us.
Today’s Prayers (Monday 3 March 2025):
The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘The World’s Greatest Leader: Jesus Christ.’ This theme was introduced yesterday with a Programme Update by the Right Revd Filomena Tete Estevão, Bishop of Angola.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (Monday 3 March 2025) invites us to pray:
Father, we thank you for the example of Jesus, the greatest leader of all, who served with love, humility, and self-sacrifice. Help leaders to follow in his footsteps, seeking not power or prestige, but the wellbeing and flourishing of those they serve.
The Collect:
Almighty Father,
whose Son was revealed in majesty
before he suffered death upon the cross:
give us grace to perceive his glory,
that we may be strengthened to suffer with him
and be changed into his likeness, from glory to glory;
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Post-Communion Prayer:
Holy God, we see your glory in the face of Jesus Christ:
may we who are partakers at his table
reflect his life in word and deed,
that all the world may know his power to change and save.
This we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Additional Collect:
Holy God,
you know the disorder of our sinful lives:
set straight our crooked hearts,
and bend our wills to love your goodness and your glory
in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Yesterday’s Reflection
Continued Tomorrow
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
No comments:
Post a Comment