08/19/2025
Matthew 19:23-30 Jesus said
to his disciples: “Amen, I say to you, it will be hard for one who is rich to
enter the Kingdom of heaven. Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to
pass through the eye of needle than
for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God.” When the disciples heard
this, they were greatly astonished and said, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus
looked at them and said, “For men this is impossible, but for God all things
are possible.” Then Peter said to him in reply, “We have given up everything
and followed you. What will there be for us?” Jesus said to them, “Amen, say to
you that you who have followed me, in the new age, when the Son of Man is
seated on his throne of glory, will yourselves sit on twelve thrones, judging
the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has given up houses or brothers
or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for the sake of my name
will receive a hundred times more, and will inherit eternal life. But many who
are first will be last, and the last will be first.”
You have heard the old
expression, “Have your cake and eat it too.” That means we are eager to have
the best of both worlds, even though those worlds are incompatible, or even
diametrically opposed, like heaven and hell. C. S. Lewis put this dichotomy
memorably: “You cannot take all luggage with you on all journeys; on one
journey even you right hand and your right eye might be among the things you
have to leave behind.” You remember Jesus saying that if your right hand causes
you to sin, cut it off.
Yesterday, I went to visit
Lorraine Tate who seems to have successfully defied this truism. Today is her
birthday and she turns 103 years old. When I walked into her house, she covered
her eyes to play a game that I was surprising her by my visit. In every respect
she seemed full of life: physically, mentally, and now receiving Holy
Communion, most importantly, spiritually. For 103 years Lorraine has managed to
keep her right hand and her right eye, and everything else, intact.
In the gospel today, Jesus
teaches that one of the opposites incompatible with heaven is worldly wealth.
He states solemnly: “Amen, I say to you, it will be hard for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of heaven.” And
later he adds emphatically: “For men this [being saved by relinquishing riches]
is impossible, but for God all things are possible.” In other words, in the end
you cannot have your cake and eat it too, not even sweet Lorraine Tate.
Where, then, does this stern
teaching leave us today? Are we obliged to choose between the polar opposites
of worldly riches and abject poverty? That seems to be the solution St. Peter
strikes upon, offering: “We have given up everything and followed you. What
will there be for us?”
And Jesus acknowledges that such
sacrifice will be duly rewarded because those who do so will receive: “a
hundred times more [of these goods], and will inherit eternal life.” So, such
sacrifice and pursuing poverty is laudable and will be blessed.
Still, I don’t think these two
poles are our only choices. Perhaps we can learn a lesson from Lorraine Tate
and, in a very circumscribed sense, have our cake and eat it too. How so? Well,
we must learn the meaning of detachment. That is, we should appreciate the
goods of this world but not become overly attached to them.
Put differently, don’t let
worldly wealth, affluence, material prosperity, become your “summum bonum” as
the Medievals said, your “highest good.” When God is our highest priority, by
contrast, everything (and everyone) else ultimately find their proper place on
the ladder of importance.
Here are two tests to determine
whether you are adequately detached or adamantly attached to this world, or as
C. S. Lewis said, “to taking our right hand and right eye on every journey.”
First, make regular donations to church and charity. (You knew I was going to
go there.)
When we recognize and respond to
the needs of the Church and the poor, we might also discover that these goods
belong to them even more than they belong to us as private property. Church and
charity have a certain claim on our possessions, and we gladly give them not
out of a spirit of generosity but even out of justice. And that understanding
develops due detachment.
A second test of detachment is
how we react when some disaster or loss occurs destroying or diminishing our
possessions. When the stock market crashed in 1929, on so-called Black Monday,
some people despaired and committed suicide. Why? They were overly attached to
their wealth, and felt they lost their greatest possession.
How do you react when hail or a
tornado damage your property, or the stock market takes a downturn, or you
spill ketchup on your favorite white dress? Or how do you react when you get
cut off in traffic or deal with your spouse’s idiosyncrasies that irritate you?
Can you keep your cool or do you lose your mind? Keeping your cool is a good
sign of detachment.
So, can you have your cake and
eat it, too? Well, yes and no. Yes, we can use these world’s goods for our
benefit and to bless those in need. But at the end of the day, our hearts
should not be here on earth, but in heaven. And if I had to guess based on
visiting Lorraine Tate yesterday, that is exactly where her 103 year-old heart
is today on her birthday.
Praised be Jesus
Christ!
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