As our brethren in the Eastern Churches announce before they proclaim the holy Gospel...
“Wisdom! Be attentive!”
Today is a time to be attentive...
Because my friends, today’s readings are all about Wisdom.
They are about how precious wisdom is.
They are about where we may to find it.
They are also about its cost...
The readings all point to one beautiful but disconcerting fact – that Christ is the wisdom of God!
And the question therefore posed to us this morning, is just how precious is Christ- is God’s wisdom - to us?
As the reading from the Book of Wisdom says…
I pleaded, and the spirit of wisdom came to me.
I preferred her to scepter and throne,
and deemed riches nothing in comparison with her...
Wisdom is priceless …and so, in our responsorial we prayed to God …
Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain wisdom of heart.
We plead ...we pray... “Lord! Grant us your holy wisdom.”
The first reading goes on to say if we have wisdom, everything else will be ours...but it’s a bit deceptive because what the book does not say is that with true wisdom, our values change and the “everything” we thought we had wanted, we will no longer want.
That’s because this wisdom is as the author of the letter to the Hebrews says...
“... living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword...”
It cuts you no matter how you hold it ...and it is
“...penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow,
and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.”
Wisdom gets into our guts ...into our marrow...into our soul ...and it reveals our true heart …
…then challenges us – dares us - to convert that heart and become a child of God. Simple. Authentic. Single-minded. Focused ONLY on its Heavenly Parent.
And by what means will we become a focused...single-minded...simple child? ...as Jesus says to the young man…get rid of everything that fog your brain, that will distract your thinking ...that will make judgment complex...
“Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”
Did you feel the stabbing of the two-edged sword? ...I did...
That rich young man – who is a proxy for all of us - with all his wealth and comforts and possessions– well that’s how Matthew and Mark describe him – in Luke he is described as a ”ruler” so not only wealthy but with fame and status and titles and position and self-images too - when Jesus says to him – give up all these things that will distract you from God, then care for those less fortunate, and come follow me. It shakes us up deep ...into the marrow of our bones…
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Jesus says in St Matthew. “What possesses your heart?” “What do you value the most?”
Jesus says to us today, “Do you really want true life? Do you really want a life of holiness? …a Godly life that will propel you into eternity? That’s fantastic…all you have to do is divest of everything you have – give it all away – so that you focus totally on me.” That is the penetrating Wisdom of God.
And if you don’t do this, then your chances to obtaining eternal life are almost nil…
“Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God."
That got me right here - in my gut. Did you feel the same thing? Peter and the disciples certainly felt it.
“Then who can be saved?”
I find myself equally incredulous. “Wait what was that??” “Sell everything?” “Leave all that I’ve worked for?” “Are you crazy?” “If that’s the price…then do I have any chance of being saved?”
I heard a little analogy that put this bit of wisdom in context... …imagine if a mugger came up to us and said “Your money or your life? And we said, “Please take my life…I need my money to pay my bills, to plan for retirement, to send the kids to camp and pay for groceries and medical bills….
So how seriously should we take this radical extreme standard?
There has been much effort to “explain away” what Jesus meant in this passage about the camel passing through the eye of a needle. You may have heard that the “eye of the needle” was a small portal gate in the walls of Jerusalem and that wealthy drivers had to dismount their camels, and that the camels themselves had to stoop very low to get into it…all symbolizing that we need to live with riches humbly. Unfortunately, there is no evidence of a small gate in Jerusalem’s walls… But that is actually not a bad analogy for the lesson. There is another “explanation” that the Greek word KAMILOS – which means camel - was copied incorrectly and that it should have been KAMELOS – which means rope. Well rope in those days came from camel hair and since trying to get a rope through a needle is not possible either, it doesn’t not quite ease the extremeness of the Lord’s challenge to the young man ...and to us.
What we most likely have here is a classic example of Jewish hyperbole – Jewish exaggeration. Remember the example of Jesus that it is better to take the log out of your eye before being concerned with the speck in another’s. Phrases like this – in fact this very analogy – occurs are all over the Talmudic tradition except in some parts of the Jewish world the camel becomes and elephant because there, elephants are the biggest animals around.
The other issue we have in trying to soften the intense standard Jesus is setting is how so many early Christians did in fact, take him verbatim. Although we have no indication of how Jesus’s band got by, and it’s is clear they are not living I luxury, they also did seem to be starving. So, money had to be coming from somewhere to sustain them.
But we do have a window into the early church how the early church understood this standard:
“Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. ... There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.” Acts 4:32-35
If that is not bad enough, following this passage, we meet Ananias and Sapphira. Ananias sells a piece of property, so to fill the expectations of the church, he brings the proceeds to the community. But he keeps a little for himself (with his wife’s full knowledge as Luke is careful to note). Peter finds out, and the Holy Spirit fries them both on the spot. (Really. It’s right there in the Bible.) The reason is not because Ananias and Sapphira chose to give less than everything to the church, but because they lied to God about what they had to give. The sinned against the Holy Spirit (Don’t ever do that!). But again - what they specifically lied about, was cutting corners on this very extreme standard.
The Church has had so many other examples of men and woman who literally gave up everything for the Gospel. Look at Francis of Assisi and Clare, Mother Katherine Drexel, Peter Claver, Theresa of Calcutta and so many others…and then there is whole notion of monastic and religious life… I must say that when I was in religious most of my confreres were truly detached from wealth and possessions. It was an amazingly free time.
But baring that kind of radical dedication, for most of us, I suspect we’d be more like the young man. Although we’d run up to Jesus and kneel at his feet, knowing we were doing our best to keep God’s law but seeking his counsel about how to attain heaven ……then having heard Christ’s wisdom about possessions - would we not also be tempted to turn away with our face downcast because we in fact have much?
Let me suggest that instead of turning away, we keep our gaze on Jesus, who as he did to the young man, would be looking at us lovingly. And then like the disciples, let us also be amazed at his words.
"For human beings it is impossible, but not for God. All things are possible for God."
Including our obtaining eternal life. The wisdom to the young man and to us is….
• Don’t be possessed by our possessions. Enjoy them - but as Christ says in the Sermon on the Mount, be "… poor in spirit” for then we will possess the kingdom of heaven. (Mat 5:3)
• Use things and love people -- not the other way around
• Embrace the primacy of Christ and his Kingdom. “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and God will give you everything you need.” (Mat 6:33)
That big gem of wisdom here is that kingdom is within us...and it is available to us now. But to experience it we must rid our hearts of the distractions of this world and instead focus on serving others and striving to become better disciples each day through study, prayer and sacraments and practicing the Acts of Mercy.
For it’s not the possessions and preoccupations of life themselves, that keep us from God. It’s when they possess our spirit and preoccupy our attention that they leave no room for Christ. So then, let us pray in this Eucharist that the wisdom of Christ will inspire us and ultimately bring us through the eye of the needle.
