XXVIII Sunday in Ordinary Time (B): The Gospel of Gazes

THE GOSPEL OF GAZES

“You lack only one thing!”
Mark 10:17-30

This Sunday’s gospel narrates the episode of the so-called rich young man, which we all know well. After the theme of marriage, the Word of God invites us today to address another sensitive topic: that of wealth.

The passage is structured in three moments. First, the encounter between Jesus and a rich man who asks Him: “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”. Then, the famous comment by Jesus on the danger of attachment to wealth: “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God,” shortly after that, at Jesus’ proposal, the young man “darkened his face and went away sorrowful.” “For he had many possessions,” adds the evangelist. Finally, the promise of a hundredfold to those who leave everything “for His sake and the Gospel’s sake.”

Three gazes from Jesus punctuate this gospel: the gaze of sympathy and love toward the rich young man; the sad and reflective gaze toward those around Him, after the young man’s departure; and finally, the deep and reassuring gaze toward His closest followers, the twelve. Today, Jesus’ gaze is directed at us. Listening to this gospel must be done with the eyes of the heart.

The text begins with the account of Jesus’ encounter with “a man,” unnamed, wealthy, a young man according to Matthew (19:16-29), and a ruler according to Luke (18:18-30). This person could be each one of us. We are all rich, for the Lord “though He was rich, became poor for us, so that we might become rich through His poverty” (2 Corinthians 8:9). At the same time, we are all poor, poor in love, generosity, and courage. This gospel reveals our deep reality, exposing our false riches and securities. “You say: I am rich, I have become wealthy, I need nothing. But you do not realize that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked” (Revelation 3:17).

“Jesus looked at him and loved him.” This is undoubtedly the most beautiful, profound, and unique gaze of Jesus. Yet, we find many references to Jesus’ gaze in the gospels. His gaze is never indifferent, apathetic, or cold. It is a clear, bright, and warm gaze, engaging with reality and people. It is a curious gaze that moves around, observes, and questions. A gaze that reveals the deep feelings of His heart. A gaze that feels compassion for the crowds and intuits their needs. A gaze attentive to every single person He encounters along the way. A gaze that evokes miracles, as in the case of the widow of Nain. A gaze that nourishes deep feelings of friendship and tenderness, even to the point of making Him weep for His friend Lazarus and for the holy city of Jerusalem, the apple of every Israelite’s eye.

His is also a penetrating gaze, like His word, “sharper than any double-edged sword”. “Everything is naked and laid bare” to His eyes, as the second reading says (Hebrews 4:12-13). His is also a flaming gaze (Revelation 2:18), which becomes angry in the face of hardness of heart, neglect toward the little ones, and injustice toward the poor.

Jesus’ eyes are the protagonists, the forerunners of His words and actions. We usually consider the gospel as a narrative of Jesus’ words and actions. However, we could say that there is also a gospel of Jesus’ gazes. It is especially the artists who tell it.

The most famous painting depicting Jesus’ gaze directed at the rich young man is probably that of “Christ and the Rich Young Ruler” by the German painter Heinrich Hofmann (1889). Jesus’ deep and intense gaze is directed toward the young man, while His hands are extended toward the sad and languid gaze of the poor. The young man has a lost, uncertain, and evasive gaze, directed downward, toward the earth. It is an iconic representation of the missed vocation of the “thirteenth apostle,” we could say. In contrast, the painting illustrates well the Christian vocation: to welcome Christ’s gaze and then direct it toward the poor. Without uniting these two gazes, there is no faith, only alienating religiosity.

“One thing you lack!” What is it? To welcome Jesus’ gaze upon you, whatever it may be, and let it penetrate deep into your heart and transform it. Then, we will discover, with wonder, joy, and gratitude, that truly “everything is possible with God!”

Fr. Manuel João Pereira Correia, mccj

How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! 

Mark 10: 17-30
Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa

A preliminary observation is necessary to clarify any possible ambiguities when reading what this Sunday’s Gospel says about wealth. Jesus never condemns wealth or earthly goods in themselves. Among his friends is, also, Joseph of Arimathea, a “rich man”; Zaccheus is declared “saved,” though he kept half his goods for himself which, given his office of tax collector, must have been considerable.

What Jesus condemns is exaggerated attachment to money and property; to make one’s life depend on these and to accumulate riches only for oneself (Luke 12:13-21).

The word which God uses for excessive attachment to money is “idolatry” (Colossians 3:5; Ephesians 5:5). Money is not one of many idols; it is the idol par excellence, literally, “molten gods” (Exodus 34:17).

It is the anti-God because it creates a sort of alternative world, it changes the object of the theological virtues. Faith, hope and charity are no longer placed in God, but in money. Effected is a sinister inversion of all values.

“Nothing is impossible for God”, says Scripture, and also: “Everything is possible for the one who believes.” But the world says: “Everything is possible for the one who has money.”

Avarice, in addition to being idolatry, is also the source of unhappiness. The avaricious is an unhappy man. Distrusting everyone, he isolates himself. He has not affection, not even for those of his own flesh, whom he always sees as taking advantage and who, in turn, really nourish only one desire in regard to him: That he die soon to inherit his wealth.

Tense to the point of breaking to save money, he denies himself everything in life and so does not enjoy either this world or God, as his self-denial is not for him.

Instead of having security and tranquility, he is an eternal hostage of his money. However, Jesus does not leave any one without the hope of salvation, including the rich man. The question is not “whether the rich man is saved” (this has never been in discussion in Christian tradition), but “What rich man is saved?”

Jesus points out to the rich a way out of their dangerous situation: “Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes” (Matthew 6:20); “make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous mammon, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal habitations” (Luke 16:9).

It might be said that Jesus was advising the rich to transfer their capital abroad! But not to Switzerland — to heaven! Many, says St. Augustine, exert themselves to put their money under earth, depriving themselves of the pleasure of seeing it, at times all their life, just to be sure it is safe.

Why not put it no less than in heaven, where it would be much safer, and where it will be found again one day forever? And how to do this? It is simple, continues St. Augustine: God offers you the carriers in the poor. They are going there where you hope to go one day. God’s need is here, in the poor, and he will give it back to you when you go there.

However, it is clear that today almsgiving and charity is no longer the only way to use wealth for the common good, or perhaps the most advisable.

There is also honesty in paying one’s taxes, to create new jobs, to give a more generous salary to workers when the situation allows it, to initiate local enterprises in developing countries.

In sum, when one makes money yield, makes it flow, they are channels for the water to circulate, not artificial lakes that keep it for themselves.
[Translation by ZENIT]