Daily Meditation - Monday 26May 2008 - WRONG DOERS SOMETIMES PROSPER

[BarbaraTherese]

Memorial*
Philip Neri*

READINGS

MEDITATION

Mark 10:17-27

This rich young man must have been used to having people treat him deferentially.

• Knowing he was in a position to benefit them,

many must have tried to flatter him,
agreeing with everything he said.
But here we see this fellow humbly kneeling before Jesus.

And in another reversal, we see Jesus challenging this man instead of coddling him: “What do you mean by calling me good?"

• Do you know that God the Father sent me?
• Do you recognize how radical my claims are?
• Are you ready to have your cherished assumptions challenged?”

If Jesus loved this young man, why was he so harsh with him?

• Very simply, he loved him enough to want the very best for him.
• He saw that riches were standing in the way of God’s best for this fellow,
• so he invited him to take some specific actions
• that would remedy the situation.

After the young man left, Jesus was also quite confrontational with his disciples.

• Like good Old Testament Jews,
• they considered riches a sure sign of God’s blessing.
• If a person is virtuous,
• he will be materially successful;
• and, if he is blessed in this way, that proves he’s virtuous.

The Wisdom writers, notably the author of Job, saw that this doesn’t fully square with human experience.

• Evildoers sometimes prosper;
• the righteous sometimes suffer.
• Only when God fully reveals the reality of life after death
• can believers resolve this puzzle
• without compromising divine power or justice.

Like the disciples, we too may take many false assumptions for granted.

• We may subtly believe that hardships in our lives
• are payback for our sins and shortcomings.
• We may think that people in more comfortable circumstances have an easier time serving God.

Moreover, like the rich young man, something in our lives may have compromised our decision to follow Jesus wholeheartedly.

• It may be the labor required to keep up the lifestyle we desire.
• It may be a way we think about ourselves,
• limiting what God can do with us.
• We may be attached to a certain way of praying,
• conversing
• or scheduling our lives.

Let’s not go away sad. Just as he did for this young man, Jesus offers us a real opportunity to change and enter into a new life.

“Jesus, how you look at me with love!

Put your finger on the one thing I need to do right now
in order to follow you.”