Then
Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it will be hard for a rich
person to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again, I tell you, it is easier for a
camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter
the kingdom of God.” When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astounded
and said, “And then who can be saved?” But Jesus looked at them and said, “For
mortals it is impossible, but for God all things are possible.”
The
Peter said in reply, “Look, we have left everything and followed you. What then
will we have?” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all
things, when the Son of Man is seated on the throne of his glory, you who have
followed me will also sit not twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of
Israel. And everyone who has left houses of brothers or sisters or father or
mother or children or fields, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold,
and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the
last will be first.”
Father Damian McPherson mentioned that
the gospel spoke about rich people with material possessions. He explained that
the eye of the needle pertains to the gate around Jerusalem while the camel refers
to the baggage or belongings, which one carries. This means that many of us
have excess baggage or suffer a “sickness of materialism” which we need to get
rid of in order to draw near to Christ. Let us overcome temptation to continue
to live our religious commitment. Let us not allow ourselves to be distracted
by the material world by creating our own “value system.”
No comments:
Post a Comment