Every week, Father Daniel sends a parish-wide email. If you’d like to receive his Blast from the Pastor, email pastor@olmcboonton.org.
Dear Saints,
We've got a lot to think through and pray with in our Gospel passage this weekend, so let's get right to it. Check out this exchange between Jesus and a rich man:
[The rich man] replied and said to [Jesus], "Teacher, all of these [commandments] I have observed from my youth."
Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, "You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me."
At that statement his face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.
The rich man went away sad, but what upsets me is that we don't know his name.
In the New Testament we meet any number of minor characters whose names we know. Presumably, this is because these people were known members of the early Church. Their eye-witness accounts - the testimony of their personal encounters with Jesus - were faithfully repeated and recorded with proper attribution.
As an example, we know that Simon of Cyrene helped Jesus to carry his cross. The best explanation we have for our knowing his name (and that anyone at all helped Jesus to carry his cross) is that people knew Simon and his story.
But this character, no. We don't know his name, and this suggests he never came back to Jesus. It's unbelievably sad!
The rich man was so caught up in his ego-inflating pursuits that he could not heed the call of Christ to go the way of self-gift. For all time he will be defined by what he had, but a man's greatness is found in what he gives away in God's service.
In the end, no amount of worldly riches is worth our repeating this man's miserly and miserable mistake. Trusting and following Jesus in all things and at all times, we become rich in what matters most (Love) and discover wealth that endures forever.
I love you, my friends, and I look forward to seeing you soon.
Christ’s Peace,
Father Daniel
δοῦλος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ