THEME: SEEK YE FIRST ETERNAL LIFE
READINGS: WISDOM 7:7-11/ HEBREWS 4:12-13/ MARK 10:17-30
28TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
INTRODUCTION
- The young King Solomon made the gift of wisdom his priority and with it, God blessed him with long life, riches and peace.
- Similarly, we should seek first eternal life and God will grant us other blessings.
- SEEKING WISDOM FIRST
Wisdom could be defined as the ability to make right decisions or to give good advice on account of one’s insightful experiences and knowledge.
Today’s first reading recalls the fact that Solomon prayed for wisdom (cf. Wisdom 7:7-11). When the young King Solomon succeeded his father as the king of Israel, he had available to him the great human resources of God’s people and the material wealth of the nation. However, he had to deal with threats within his family as well as external threats from other nations. To harness the great resources while overcoming the threats, Solomon got his priority right by asking God for wisdom. Because this request pleased God, the king was blessed with not only wisdom, but wealth and honour as well (1 Kings 3:5-12).
Thus, wisdom is like a magnet. It attracts other blessings. Hence, the first re-echoes the experience of King Solomon: “I prayed… and the spirit of wisdom came to me. … All good things came to me along with her, and in her hands uncounted wealth” (Wisdom 7:7, 11).
- SEEKING FIRST ETERNAL LIFE
Like the young King Solomon who sought for wisdom, the rich young man mentioned in today’s gospel reading sought for eternal life (cf. Mark 10:17-22).
However, unlike Solomon who placed wisdom above wealth, the rich young man valued riches more than eternal life. He was not prepared to make the sacrifices necessary for eternal life and so he returned home sad.
On the one hand, like Solomon, St. Peter and some other apostles willingly sacrificed “house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields” (Mark 10:29) for the sake of eternal life. On the other hand, Judas who was an exception among the apostles placed wealth above eternal life and his end was worse than that of the rich young man.
Beloved, let us not be like Judas but like St. Peter and the other apostles, and place the highest premium on eternal life.
- ETERNAL LIFE MAY BE PRECEDED BY EARTHLY BLESSINGS
Now as wisdom attracts other blessings, so when we seek eternal life first, God may grant us other blessings. Thus, Jesus assured St. Peter: “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life” (Mark 10:29-30).
- GOD’S WORD LIGHTS THE PATH TO ETERNAL LIFE
In promising the apostles eternal life, Jesus added that they would experience persecution. In other words, the path to eternal life is narrow and winding. In the darkness of the world, therefore, we need a light which constantly shines on the path. And, according to the second reading, God’s Word is that constant light.
Let’s, therefore, read and meditate daily on God’s Word and then persevere in practicing its lessons.
CONCLUSION
Like the desire for wisdom, let us, with the light of God’s Word, always seek first eternal life and all other good things shall be added unto it. Amen!
By Most Rev. John Kobina Louis
