By Patrick Schmadeke
Evangelization in the world today
Awareness came over me like a flash, it was as if I heard the story for the first time in my life. I’ve encountered the story of the rich man, our Gospel reading for Oct. 13 (Mark 10:17-30), countless times. Since childhood, I have understood the passage to be about giving up worldly possessions. In our consumer-driven society, this is probably a common understanding of the passage and it’s not a bad understanding. Letting go of stuff, giving to the poor and following Jesus is a worthy path. But I realized recently, sitting in the parish hall in group conversation, that it isn’t the central point of the story at all.
To hone in on Jesus’ message, it’s helpful to remember just how scandalous he was. Sometimes the Jesus I hear about is a domesticated, sanitized, de-radicalized figure. Recalling that he claimed to be “Lord of the Sabbath,” made the Passover celebration about himself by instituting the Eucharist, expressed authority to forgive sins and claimed that he and the Father are one helps us resist the tendency to reduce him to non-scandalous status. The story of the rich man is no different. If we think all Jesus was saying was to sell one’s possessions, give to the poor and follow him, then we’ve neglected the essential element that made Jesus so offensive to his hearers that some of his contemporaries wanted him killed.
The downright shocking content of Jesus’ interaction hinges on how wealth was understood at the time of Jesus. Worldly possessions were not a barrier between oneself and God, as is commonly understood today. An abundance of possessions was a sign of one’s positive relationship with God. The rich man understood himself to be greatly blessed by God. Figures from Abraham (Genesis 13:15-17) to Job (Job 1:1-5) were blessed in the form of land, possessions and descendants and everyone in Jesus’ presence understood this. What Jesus says pulls the rug out from under everyone’s expectations.
Jesus tells the man, known to be blessed by God, to give away the visible, God-ordained social signs of his blessing. Everything the man thought he knew to be true about God is called into question. The social and cosmic order of relationships is now in doubt (this is also reflected in the disciples’ response in verses 24 and 26). Jesus turns the divine paradigm on its head. What was a sign of blessed relationship is no longer. Now, the blessing is to let go of those “blessings” and to “come, follow me” (10:21). Jesus’ assertion is nothing short of scandalous.
This realization had me wondering what an analogous scene would look like in our own time if Jesus came today. It might be something like this:
An adult Catholic has practiced the faith his or her whole life. They were baptized as an infant, raised in the faith and attended Catholic school since kindergarten. They can count on one hand the number of times they’ve missed Sunday Mass and often attend daily Mass. In junior high, this person was an altar server, choir member and even helped at the funeral luncheons when school was not in session. They go to adoration, pray the rosary and have an emerging interest in the Liturgy of the Hours. They attend Catholic conferences and go to Bible study on occasion. They wear a saint bracelet and a brown scapular and cross necklace under their shirt. They also have a Bible verse bumper sticker and wear T-shirts with quotes from saints.
Many of these practices resonate with my own faith journey. However, Scripture pushes me to imagine Jesus showing up today and saying to leave them all behind. They are not the sign of positive relationship with God that I necessarily think they are, I have to check my motivations at the door.
In his own time, Jesus took the outward signs that indicated a blessed relationship and turned them on their head. We cannot sanitize Jesus for our own convenience by supposing he would not be equally scandalous today. Jesus stripped everything down to the core by asking the rich man to follow him. Our personal discernment must have the cross and resurrection at its core. Jesus invites each of us to walk the purifying path to and beyond Golgotha. The question is the degree to which each individual faith practices helps or hinders that walking.
(Patrick Schmadeke is director of evangelization for the Diocese of Davenport.)
