Monday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time
I recently helped with a retreat and for one of the activities we played "Get to Know You Jenga." It is just like Jenga, but there are questions printed on the blocks. As you draw a piece you have to answer the question or respond to a phrase before replacing it. One block that was drawn was an interesting one and the answer offered was clever. The bock read, "There are only two types of people in the world, what are the two categories?" The respondent quickly replied, "Me and everybody else." It was quick, light-hearted, and in some ways very accurate. In today's gospel though we see that reality played out too far.
Today's gospel is kind of a two for one and in the first half, we see the real-world example of when the world is me and everyone else. One disgruntled brother says to Jesus, "Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me." He does not ask Jesus (whom he calls teacher) advice about this dispute. He does not speak of the deceased relative, the brother or anyone else involved. He comes to Jesus and tells him what to do because he sees the situation as me and everyone else. When I exist in a me and everyone else world, I know what is best for me and the rest of you can figure it out for you. I am no longer a part of a communion that has a commonality that needs to be fostered. I no longer see a common good to be pursued.
This all gets put on radical display in the parable Jesus tells. In the parable, we see a man who has divided reality so firmly between me and everybody else that not even God is allowed into the scene until the very end. Prior to the ending, the man talks only to himself. He has a surplus and he does not look outside to his neighbors, nor does he consult the Lord God. He merely consults himself.
Do we invite God into our discernment, unlike the rich man who built the barns? Do we know how to handle surplus in a way pleasing to God? Do we tell Jesus how to intervene in our lives and relationships or do we invite him into them?
- Spencer Hargadon