Breaking the Word

20^th Week in Ord. Time, Monday – 19^th August 2024 – Ezekiel 24,15-23; Mt 19,16-22

Need for One’s Own Perfection

Jesus continues to teach his followers about the cost of discipleship. Jesus’ conversation with the wealthy young man is evocative of Mic 6,6-8, in which God’s people ask three questions about God’s requirement of them. The three requirements that are “good” for his people are: “to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.” Here the young man asks three questions to Jesus, each of which is followed by Jesus’ response, leading him to a fuller understanding of what God requires of him. To the first question about what “good” deed he must do to have eternal life, Jesus responds by shifting the man’s focus from his own goodness to God’s goodness. To his second question concerning which commandments to obey, Jesus lists five of the Ten Commandments from Mount Sinai and the command to “love your neighbour as yourself” from Lev 19,18. To his third question concerning his incompleteness, Jesus exhorts him to be perfect in his response to God. As Jesus tells the young man to sell his possessions, give them to the poor, and then follow him, he is attempting to move the man to the level of genuine discipleship. In this way, Jesus directs the young man towards his own specific needs and towards his own perfection.

19^th Week in Ord. Time, Saturday – 17^th August 2024 – Ezekiel 18, 1-10. 13.30-32; Mt 19,13-15

A New Inclusive Kingdom

Jesus preached a kingdom which was so different from the traditional understanding of power and might. The disciples’ desire to dismiss the children from the scope of Jesus’ concern to welcome them is obvious in this context. Jesus’ approach emphasizes that the kingdom of God belongs to them. During Jesus’ time, the children below the age of twelve had no place in the meeting place of the Jewish elders. Jesus sets a new precedent by associating with them and by asserting the need to be childlike to enter this kingdom. He delighted in the presence of the children and demonstrated that God’s love has ample room for everyone. No doubt the disciples wanted to shield Jesus from the nuisance of noisy children but Jesus believed that they exemplify the central values of the kingdom. The values about this kingdom that Jesus taught were known to his disciples yet they failed to grasp the full significance. The disciples need to be open to the demands of the new kingdom proclaimed by Jesus that have different sets of requirements and values.