WISDOM AND THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP.
October 13, 2024.
Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time – B.
“You are lacking in one thing…” Mark 10:21
A Portuguese proverb says: “If a rich man ate a snake, they
would say it was because of his wisdom.” A Dutch proverb adds: “Wisdom is a
good purchase, though we pay dear for it.”
Wisdom, in one simple word, is the capacity of discernment
and the ability to make the right choice. I asked Uncle Google, our uncle who
knows all things, and he gave me this beautiful answer: "Wisdom is the
quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment; the quality of
being wise." He went further to add that it is the ability to discern
inner qualities and relationships, an insight or good sense, a judgment, and a
generally accepted belief.
Today's readings, especially the Gospel and the first
reading, invite us to invest in wisdom in our decisions and choices of life. As
Christians, this means for us to prefer God over any else things.
The Catechism meets us in this saying when it states in
article 2544: "Jesus enjoins his disciples to prefer him to everything and
everyone, and bids them "renounce all that [they have]" for his sake
and that of the Gospel. Shortly before his passion, he gave them the example of
the poor widow of Jerusalem, who, out of her poverty, gave all that she had to
live on. The precept of detachment from riches is obligatory for entrance into
the Kingdom of heaven."
The examples are King Solomon in the first reading and the
hard decision of the young man in the Gospel.
Solomon speaks of his own experience, the choice he made of
God and wisdom. This extract of the Book of Wisdom is a narrative of what took
place a Gibeon after the young Solomon was anointed King. At Gibeon, the Lord
appeared to him during the night in a dream, and said, "Ask for whatever
you want me to give you." 1 kg 3:5 At this, the answer of the young King
was: "give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to
distinguish between right and wrong." And his choice pleased God and the
Lord gave him a pearl of wisdom beyond compare, and besides, he blessed him
with riches. For, he who chooses wisely, he who chooses wisdom and God, lacks
nothing.
The Gospel passage teaches us the cost of discipleship and
wisdom. In our daily and ordinary lives, we are oftentimes required to make
choices, to choose something, and to let go of other things. We are surrounded
by many things that attract us, but we can not have them all. Choices are
necessary. But what to choose, and how to choose?
The episode of the young man who dreamed of obtaining
eternal life is appealing. The young man sees Jesus as the model of perfection.
Even though his personal life has always been about fulfilling the law, he
scents that something is lacking. “What should I do?” To this question, Jesus
opens him to the radical choice: “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.”
The synoptic gospels speak of the experience of the man who
runs to Jesus to inquire about eternal life. In Mark, it was just a young man
as we hear today. In Matthew, it is a skilled doctor of the law, one who knows
the prescriptions of the Law of Moses, the Law of perfection. The nice thing is
in their expression. In Mark and Luke, the Man sees Jesus as the model of
goodness: "Good teacher..." In Matthew, he asks about good:
"What good must I do?" Mt 19,16 It is all about discernment, wisdom,
and rectitude of choice. And Jesus stands as the incarnate wisdom, the one who
can help us reach the true perfection we long for because he is the perfection
par excellence.
Brethren, let’s examine ourselves. May each one ask from the
depth of his heart: what am I holding on to that could prevent me from
following freely Jesus? What am I ready to let go of so as to get the greater
good? Sometimes, material possessions and earthly goods blind us and prevent us
from making the right choice... Wisdom is needed in all decisions we make. We
need a degree of discernment in our choices.
One thing must we get clear, material possessions in se and
money are not evil. But when they become a hindrance to the Sequela Christi,
they turn into bad. Besides, though we may have everything, we feel always that
our hearts are lacking something. We lack God, we lack good. As would say St.
Augustine, our hearts will always be restless if they have no God. We should
let the Word of God penetrate even between our soul and spirit, joints and
marrow, and be able to discern our reflections and thoughts of the heart.
Unless the word abides fully in us and makes in us its dwelling, our choices
will always lack their essence and our hearts will remain restless.
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