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Reflection on this Sunday's scripture readings
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Wisdom 7:7-11 Psalm 89 Hebrews 4:12-13 Mark 10:17-30
This week's readings confront us with the question of riches. In the Ancient Near East, riches were believed to be a blessing from God. But the book of Wisdom, written in 1st Century BCE, extolled the spirit of Wisdom and put it on a higher plane than riches, gold, silver or any precious stone. Wisdom "never sleeps"; it is a lasting quality.
Jesus told his disciples how hard it is for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. A young man had approached Jesus to ask him what he had to do to inherit eternal life. He told Jesus he had always kept all the commandments, but Jesus, realising that the young man was also very rich, invited him to go further - sell all his possessions, give the money to the poor and follow him. The young man turned away. He could not do what Jesus asked of him.
Possessions are always hard to let go of even when we are not exactly rich, but today's gospel invites us to allow Jesus to look at each of us lovingly and call us to let go. Our response may not be radical but a little letting go of what is dear to us will, over time, bring us ever nearer to the kingdom of God.