Seek?

Today’s Gospel Text: And Jesus said to his disciples, "Truly, I say to you, it will be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." 25 When the disciples heard this they were greatly astonished, saying, "Who then can be saved?" 26 But Jesus looked at them and said to them, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." 27 Then Peter said in reply, "Lo, we have left everything and followed you. What then shall we have?" 28 Jesus said to them, "Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of man shall sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And every one who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life. 30 But many that are first will be last, and the last first. Matt 19:23-30

Reflection: If, according to Jesus, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven, then will it be easy for a poor man to enter the kingdom of heaven, for that matter any poor man?

In order to understand the truth of this statement we need to understand the rich man first? Why is it hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven? Why does Jesus not say that it is impossible for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven but only “hard”?

That makes one thing clear; it is hard but not impossible for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. It means that a rich man can continue to remain rich and yet enter the kingdom of heaven, though it would be hard for him to do so. 

Having made this point clear, let us move to the next step of analyzing the rich man: The rich man is normally rich because he has chosen to make riches his goal in life, riches as the buyer of his happiness and trusts it more than anything to give him what he wants.

If it is so, then does such a person require God or feel the need for God in their lives? It is a clear sign of living in a state of sin whereby the first commandment is clearly broken and love of riches take the place of God. 

Not that a poor man may not have such avaricious ambitions in life, even he is capable of seeking to achieve that goal of getting rich and seek riches in  order to achieve their targeted happiness based on greed.

But a rich man, who has not inherited his riches and has achieved riches, normally has worked his way with riches as his goal in life to achieve the many pleasures of life. In the process he may have even treated his neighbor with disdain and ill-treated those who have been under them- further adding to his guilt.  

Prayer: “… let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice! Seek the Lord and his strength, seek his presence continually!” 1 Chron 16:10-11

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