In yesterday’s Gospel, Jesus showed us the dangers of riches and the difficulty involved in not becoming attached to wealth. Today’s Gospel further cautions us against inventing an easy temporal explanation for how things will be. For Peter and the Apostles who “gave up everything to follow Christ,” Christ tells them that they will receive even more back already in this life. How absurdly paradoxical! Giving up everything then receiving one hundredfold back. Jesus doesn’t say, “become poor so that you can remain poor.” It isn’t that simple. Nor does He say, “Give up your material possessions and wealth so that you will have a spiritual one instead.” Here Jesus says, “Whoever gives up possessions in this life will receive one hundredfold in this life and eternal life in the next.” You almost want to call the rich young man back and tell him, “Hey! If you give it all up you will receive it all back one hundredfold!” Since the point is not about whether or not we have wealth (though having it is more difficult than not) it is better for those who have given all to follow Christ to learn how to use wealth well when it returns a hundredfold. This is what stewardship is all about: we must begin to see everything we have, all our resources and relationships, as gifts from God to be used according to His good will and pleasure as opposed to our own selfish desires.
Fr. Francis Therese Krautter csj