The Twenty-eighth Sunday Ordinary Time (Cycle B)

The tie in between today’s readings:  God’s Wisdom is priceless

Wisdom 7:7-11, Psalm 90:12-17,Hebrews 4:12-13, Mark 10:17-30

Knowledge is the thing that you stuff between your ears in the attic of your brain. In and of itself it will win you an Amazon gift card after round seven on Quizzo night, but not much else. You need to know how to use all this “head stuff” that you have. You need wisdom. There are two kinds of wisdom. One is earthly wisdom, which comes from observations along with, social experiences and personality. From these you knit a world view together in order to keep yourself on the road to happily ever after. The failing of this “best guess” approach to life lies in the all too familiar lament: “If I only knew then what I know now.”  What we need is to get a helicopter view of what lies ahead of us and find out where the twists and turns are. Avoid the chutes. Climb the ladders. What we lack is the beginning to end perspective that can only come from the Lord. In today’s reading in the book of Wisdom, God comes to Solomon like the genie in the lamp and offers him one wish.  Solomon says, “Your understanding is more precious than anything I could ask for.” God is pleased. He grants Solomon wisdom to go along with all of his “head stuff” and, as a consequence, our king gains riches and honor to boot.

Now, being wise in your life decisions and acquiring wealth along the way as you pick up a headline or two is great for this world, but it’s not the whole story. Psalm 90:12-17 acknowledges our difficult and brief lifespan. What is life’s purpose, anyway? Even God given blessings have to be tempered with an eye toward the grave. How should we look at death and the hereafter? Again, we need to seek God for the answer because our perspective is limited. In Mark 10:17-31, our gospel for today, we see a rich young ruler, perhaps struggling with these very questions himself, coming to Jesus and seeking wisdom for the next life.

“What must I do to inherit eternal life?” he asks.

“Obey the commandments.” Jesus replies.

“No worries, Jesus, I’ve been a good person all my life,” he asserts.

Jesus tests his statement by challenging him with the first of the ten commandment: no other gods before Me.  “Go! Sell everything. Give it to the poor and follow me. Your treasure will be in heaven.”

“Oh no, sorry, Jesus, I can’t do that. You see I’ve got a lot of stuff. Couldn’t I just…”

“Treasure in heaven…!”

The man grieves as he walks away. The rich young ruler not only loses his opportunity to be the thirteenth apostle, but foolishly fails to see, that in the end, he has to give it away anyhow. You can’t take it with you, after all. “How hard it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God,” Jesus remarks.  Everyone stands around in drop jaw astonishment.

“Who, then, can be saved?” they ask.

“It’s only possible with God,” Jesus answers.

Our reading in Hebrews, it tells us that God knows you inside and out. He is wise to you. Amazingly, He loves you anyway. God encourages you to respect what He says. He gives instructions in the Bible. In these instructions God holds a mirror to your soul, shows you your sin; life’s most formidable obstacle, and gives you the solution. What must you do to be saved? With man it’s impossible. God in His wisdom has provided a savior for you: Jesus Christ.

²² For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; ²³ but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, ²⁴ but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 22-24).

Settle the question. Wise up! Get serious! Embrace Jesus as your Savior. Then pick up your cross and live for Him. You will have the peace and blessings of God on earth as well as in heaven.  This is life’s ultimate purpose. Don’t delay…it’s the smart move.