A HUNDREDFOLD REWARD

May 25, Tuesday

 

EIGHTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

 

          “Honor the Lord with generosity… Add a smiling face to all your gifts” says the first reading. The advice of Ben Sirach is for honest persons to thank God by offering sacrifices, but God will not accept sacrifices from dishonest people, for he accepts no bribes.

         What about those who give up everything for the sake of the kingdom of heaven? They will not only “inherit heaven” but find happiness on earth in the freedom from worries about losing material goods and the inner freedom of belonging to all, in the joy of winning many brothers and sisters in the community. And curiously enough but realistically, Mark adds that they will retain their happiness and reward even in the contradictions and persecutions they encounter in their endeavors for the kingdom. One must remain free and poor within oneself.

 

First Reading: Sir 35:1-12

Keep God’s word, and you’ll be making a peace offering; follow his life-maps, and you’ll reach your destination sooner. Being thankful is like offering God fine flour; being generous is equivalent to giving him high praise. When the number of misdemeanors is down, the Lord is pleased; when the number of felonies declines, he receives that  as a prayer. When you appear before the Lord, don’t come empty-handed;  by following God’s life-maps, you are bringing a gift. The altars of the just groan under their many offerings; their sacrifices give off a heavenly aroma. The good deeds of the just are welcomed by the Lord; he won’t forget who gave what.

Open your good eye if you want to give glory to the Lord. Don’t downsize your offerings; they should be the first fruits from your land. Every time you give a gift, do it with a smile; don’t be a grouch when you turn in your tithes. Give to the Most High a good portion of what he’s given you; open your heart and give what you can afford. Do the Lord a favor and give him the gifts he deserves; he’ll return the favor seven times over. Don’t offer God gifts of questionable origin; he won’t accept them. Don’t offer money you’ve received from bribes or extortion, for example. Why? Because the Lord is the God of Justice.

The poor who’ve been wronged shouldn’t complain when the prayers of the rich-but-wronged are also heard. On the other hand, the rich shouldn’t think poorly of the wails of an orphan or the cries of a widow. Don’t the tears running down their faces cry out against the killer of their father and husband? Their prayers of grief rise all the way to the heavens.

 

Gospel: Mark 10:28-31

Peter tried another angle: “We left everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “Mark my words, no one who sacrifices house, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children, land—whatever—because of me and the Message will lose out. They’ll get it all back, but multiplied many times in homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and land—but also in troubles. And then the bonus of eternal life! This is once again the Great Reversal: Many who are first will end up last, and the last first.”

 

Prayer

Lord our God,
we hold you to your promise
to those who have left everything
for the sake of your kingdom
and for the gospel of Jesus Christ your Son.
Let them be men and women
poor in the things that count on this earth
but rich with your love and your grace
and with a wealth of friends
to whom they can bring
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

 

Reflection:

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Life has not been given to us to make money, to be successful or to achieve personal well-being but to become brothers and sisters to one another. Hence, sharing what is ours with those in need is the only force for growth, the only thing that makes humanity decisively advance towards salvation.

“Look at us. We left everything and followed you.”
Really? Perhaps it reflects a lack of clear self-knowledge in Peter’s claim. He had not yet left behind his own self-reliance or his need for prestige and position. Jesus promised them a hundredfold would be the result of leaving all for his sake and the sake of the gospel. But Peter’s observation indicates that the experience of the hundredfold had not become his own experience. Why had he apparently missed out on the experience of the hundredfold?
Perhaps, the attempt of the evangelist was to remind the catechumens, for whom he wrote his Gospel, that commitment they were about to make by receiving baptism and the sacrifices that would be asked of them in the process, will not go in vain; will never be futile.

In his conversation with the rich young man who wanted to know what should be done to inherit eternal life, the demand was to sell all that he had and give to the poor. Now, the same demand is repeated but as a statement. “Whoever has given up anything for the Gospel, will receive a hundred-fold” and “eternal life in the age to come.” The young man in yesterday’s Gospel and Peter in today’s passage share the same misconception: they think of Eternal life as a reward. What shall we do so that God would reward us with eternal life!

Jesus rectifies this misconception: Eternal life is not a reward for our acts of charity and prayers. Instead, It is purely a gift of God, given freely to us. It begins when a person lets go of one’s personal choices, interests and possessions and surrenders oneself to the life-giving God. Such a living begins very much in this world.

Today’s gospel invites us to experience the joy of sharing in the eternal life, that Jesus has promised us. It is not a life that we wait for, to begin after our death. Rather, it is a life that God shares with us here and now. The very phrase “Eternal Life”, implies that it has neither a beginning nor an end – that is the life of God. Jesus promises a share in that life when we surrender our will, interests, possessions and positions to God.

 

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