Come now, you rich!

Are earthly possessions bad?

Our Second reading for this Sunday seems to talk about equality on wages we give to people who work for us. On the middle part, James inserts the picture of the wages we fail to give to the people who serve our needs. In James 5 : 4, it says ” Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud.”

It is found in the midst of the enumeration of human vanities beginning with clothes, wealth, gold and the overall picture of luxury. James 5 : 5 then sums these human activities with the statement poking to our consciences. “You have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; you have nourished your hearts for the day of slaughter.

In truth, this reading this Sunday speaks about human thirst for fame, power and pleasure which sparks human pride and will end to pride in itself. The Second reading enumerates the material wants and yearnings of our earthly flesh. It loudly speaks of the urge for vain and the fame and power that comes along with it. It speaks of the human urge to hoard and the deep desire for material security, for material wealth offers security to our ego. It is not a question wether wealth is good or bad, but rather what is in our hearts and to what we use them for.

Be that as it may, I believed too that it speaks of Christian Charity. Equality sounds more of social scale, while Christian Charity speaks of human choice with the Christian value of self-less giving in relation to Christian justice and mercy.

On the first reading, Joshua, the son of Nun felt a deep envy towards Eldad and Medad who were also prophesying and were filled with the Spirit. Joshua was feeling envious or jealous that someone else were also prophesying apart from the group or apart from Moses himself. It could be that for Joshua, the ministry of prophesying to the people is an exclusive work for his circle, his group. Nevertheless, Moses pops the insecurity of Joshua in the last part of the second reading. His response literally is that all people had the obligation for prophetic dialogue, and that all people can be blest by the Spirit. The ministry of Moses, and thus of the Church, is a ministry for all people. The proclamation of the Gospel is a work for everyone, and nobody should be left behind or shouldered aside.

This is also true in the Gospel. In the first part, Jesus was shown on a similar situation to that of Moses. Someone else who are not into the circle of the disciples are driving out demons “in his name.” The important requirement of Jesus and of the situation could be that he is doing this in his name.

The question was raised by the disciples who were more or less feeling the same sentiment to that of Joshua in the first reading. They are being consumed by the feeling of insecurity that others are capable of doing what they do and that sounds extremely threatening to them. But in the midst of their insecurities, Jesus assured them and enumerated the blessings that they receive in his name. Jesus shifts their focus from insecurities of others to assurance that HE Himself is their security.

Jesus goes on teaching them that the requirement of the Kingdom is not found the material or even bodily properties, but on the heart. It is not about externalities but what is deep within. It is not about rituals, but the Spirit. It’s not about the fame and power but our character in the name of Christ.

Pope Francis says in Laudato Si 204: The emptier the person’s heart is, the more he or she needs things to buy, own and consume.

Why do we nourish ourselves with earthly vanities? Why do we invest on things that will fade? Why do were struggle for fame, power and riches? The readings today answers: because we feel insecure because we do not have Christ.

The message for us today is to invest in Christ. Material things alone will never make us whole and full. We will find the meaning of our Christian Calling if our material possessions, our fame, our ministry, our power is used in the name of Christ.

In Christ, the ultimate possession is the Kingdom of God.

In Christ, the true fame or limelight is the Cross.

In Christ, the genuine ministry is love.

In Christ, luxury and pleasure is in inclusiveness.

In Christ, the real power is service.