A Scripture Reflection

I should keep my laptop right next to my bed, because it seems that I get my greatest blog ideas when I'm getting ready to go to sleep.

Each night I try to read a chapter of the Bible. I'm reading the book of Mark in the Navarre Bible series. I love this series because it has commentary mostly consisting of Church Fathers, popes, and other saints. It really helps me to understand Scripture in a way that is more consistent with how the writers of the Gospels wanted their writings to be understood.

Last night I read Chapter 10 of St. Mark's Gospel. In this chapter is a story we've all heard in other Gospel readings and has been explained in sermons and other devotional material. It's the story of the rich young man. Here is the passage:

And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and

knelt before him, and asked him,

"Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.

You know the commandments: 'Do not kill, Do not commit adultery,

Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud,

Honour your father and mother.'"

And he said to him, "Teacher, all these I have observed from my youth."

And Jesus looking upon him loved him and said to him,

"You lack one thing; go, sell what you have, and give to the poor,

and you will have treasure in heaven;

and come, follow me.

At that saying his countenance fell, and he went away sorrowful;

for he had great possessions.

-Mark 10: 17-22

Like I've said, I've heard this scripture reading before and heard many Homilies about it. However last night my mind started to wander and reflect on this passage. This may sound corny but I felt a strong pull to put my thoughts into words. But I could barely keep my eyes open and sleep won over my itching to write. I prayed to God to please help me remember what I wanted to write about. I'm sure I'll forget some things, but I'll try my best to clearly explain my thoughts.

My first thought is how Jesus mentions keeping the commandments. The rich man informs Jesus that he does keep the commandments. One thing that caught my attention is that after the rich man said that Scripture reads, "Jesus looked upon him and loved him." I think this shows us that the commandments from the Old Testament were not wiped out by Jesus. Christ says in Matthew 5:17: "Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them, but to fulfil them." I have a small pillow that has an embroidered message: "The Ten Commandments Are Not Multiple Choice". God, who is not a fickle human being, but who is all powerful and all knowing, did not create the Ten Commandments and other commandments found in the Old Testament only say later, "Eh, these rules don't matter anymore. Just forget them."

We still have to follow the commandments of the Old Testament. Keeping holy the Sabbath is still a rule (and "keeping holy" doesn't mean sleep in and laze around.) It is easy for us to just sigh and complain, "Why did God make all these rules?! Why do we have to go to Church on Sundays?" God didn't make these rules to make us little puppets in his play- they are for our benefit.

Jesus did build on the commandments by adding the Great Commandment. You can find it in Matthew 22: And he said to them, "you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind." I don't feel that it is enough to just say "I love God." and leave it at that. We have to show how we love God with our actions. For example, we say "I love my parents." But is just saying we love them enough? Don't we show our love by going to visit them, talk with them frequently, care for them, give thanks to them for giving us life? Well what about God, our Father? Shouldn't we visit him ? (during Church or Adoration) Shouldn't we talk to him through prayer? Shouldn't we be giving him thanks for our lives and for all the goodness He has given us?

I am guilty of keeping my faith bottled inside. However we don't have to stand on street corners handing out brochures on how to be saved to show our faith. But I believe that showing our faith means more than just being a good person.

The main lesson we hear from this Bible passage is that material things can get in the way of getting to heaven. Money and great possessions can become a "god" that we worship instead of God. We see money as a god in the news- all these greedy Wall Street executives, Bernie Madoff, scam artists, burglars. I feel grateful that I am not surrounded by people like that. Most of my loved ones know that money doesn't buy you happiness. And it's important to note that Jesus does not condemn wealth as long as it was earned in a moral way and it doesn't get in the way of proper devotion to God.

I don't know any high powered executives who struggle to find God because of all their material baggage is in their way. However, I think it's safe to say for all of us that we have "spiritual baggage" that gets in the way of finding God. The ways our families and schools raised us, resentment for God for taking away a loved one, and even steadfast political or economic ideals can get in the way of seeking God. Our overly-secular culture is definitely an obstacle for getting closer to God. But I think perhaps most of all our own stubbornness and pride gets in the way of getting closer to God.

We take our own opinions and warp them into truth. We think we are masters of our own universe. We put God on the back burner when it comes to living our daily lives. We often forget that it is God who gave us our being, our life. He gave us this world, our family and friends.

Without Him, we are nothing.