Homily

Over the course of these Sundays when little by little many of us have left our cities on vacation, the Gospel of Luke has weekly involved us in the heart of another journey, Jesus’ journey. With him we have passed through cities and villages and we have seen the praise of a pagan centurion who passionately prayed for the healing of his servant (it is not his son or other family member, but - and here is the consoling incongruity - his servant!) Immediately afterwards we saw Jesus’ compassion for the widow who was carrying her only son to the cemetery and how he gave the son back to her alive. Later we were given an example of love in the affection that the famous prostitute cultivated for Jesus as she kept kissing and perfuming the Teacher’s feet, to the great scandal of all present.
Then comes the moment in which Jesus tells his friends that he will be put to death and then rise again. This is the final horizon that was already present at the beginning of his journey towards Jerusalem. A horizon marked by drama. Nonetheless, Jesus does not flee. Instead we hear the evangelist say that he “set his face towards the holy city.” This is the path set out in front of every disciple: a path of peace, but also of struggle; a road on which we can defeat loneliness, where we can help the half dead man on the side of the road, and where we can stop with Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, at Jesus’ feet. And then Jesus draws us so deeply into his relationship with God that he upsets the tradition of Jewish piety and has us call God “Father”.
It is good to go over the Gospel passages offered to us over the last few Sundays, even if we just mention each one briefly. Remembering means loving and understanding the wisdom of following Jesus. The Gospel of this eighteenth Sunday drops us right into the middle of one of the knots of daily life. It opens with a question asked by two brothers; they ask Jesus to intervene in a dispute about inheritance. When it comes to interpreting wills, how many relatives look at each other with hostility, ready to trample on other people’s rights in order to get their hands on the best part! Jesus refuses to intervene on this level. He is not a teacher of dividing up property. He intervenes in people’s hearts, not their inheritance. For the two brothers, the real problem is not in their possessions, but in their hearts, which are full of greed. Jesus turns to everyone present and says, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” It is as if to say that peace of mind does not come from possessions, even if abundant. Jesus does not want people to despise the things of the earth, because he knows how useful they are.
But those who look for happiness only in themselves are making a big mistake and investing in the wrong place. The parable that follows is an illustration of this. The protagonist is a rich landowner whose business has gone very well. He is even thinking about building more barns in which to store his crops. The problem is obviously not the production of wealth in itself, but the landowner’s attitude. For him the accumulation of material possessions for himself, or at most for his family, equals peace and happiness. But there is a certain foolishness in his calculations: he has taken into account everything except the most important thing: the hour of his death. He thought about his days, but not his last day. And we all know that when we die we take nothing with us except the love and the good we have done. In his letter to the Colossians the apostle Paul says, “Set your minds on things that are above, not on the things that are on earth” (3:2). The things that are above are not abstract; they are love and the good works we do on earth. They are the true riches that are neither consumed nor stolen. Earthly possessions can be useful for heaven if they are subjected to the rule of love and compassion. If we make our possessions available to the poor and weak then they will become true wealth in heaven. One could say that giving our possessions to the poor is like putting them in the bank at the highest interest rate. Those who store up for others and not for themselves grow rich in God’s eyes, Jesus assures us. In a world where amassing wealth for oneself has become the only rule, this Gospel is a scandal. But in truth the path that it offers is the only way to overcome division and conflict and build greater solidarity and a happier life.