First Reading - Ephesians 2:1-0
Gospel - Luke 12:13-21
We all struggle with two problems viz. pride and selfishness. The gravity of the sense of pride and selfishness may vary from person to person but we do have them. The readings of today warn us that our pride and selfish attitude should not deprive us of the generous gift of God i.e. salvation.
In the first reading, Paul reminds the Christians in Ephesus that they have received the grace of being saved in Christ through their faith. He demonstrates the spiritual state of life of the Christians before recognising Jesus as the state of damnation or life of flesh and sin but it's through God's generous love that they have been saved in Christ. It's God's gratuitous gift to them. Hence, Paul reminds the Christians that their salvation in Christ is a gift from God and not their merit. In fact, this passage evokes the disposition of humility in the presence of God who bestows his generous love on people therefore everyone should acknowledge God's gift in humility.
The gospel passage introduces an account unique to the gospel; a question from the crowd that leads to Jesus' teaching regarding possessions and in particular on inheritance rights. Jesus rejected the role of arbiter between brothers because of two reasons; firstly, in order to manifest that he didn't come to reconcile the family disputes. Secondly, he opposed it because it arose from greed. Jesus illustrates that greed is to be avoided through the parable. The parable shows the rich man had surplus and more but he thought only of himself by accumulation of possession for his personal enjoyment. Jesus shows through the parable that material possessions are not permanent as the rich man discovers when he encounters the last alarming call of his life. He understands that what is 'invested' with God is only permanent. When God takes his life, his temporary possessions are left behind. Instead of being rich toward God, who never entered his thoughts, he lost all he ever worked for and far more besides. Hence, Jesus exhorts through the parable to reject greed for accumulation of wealth and possessions because they don't give purpose or meaning of life.
Dear friends, greed is a serious threat that has given rise to many tragic phenomenons in the world such as natural calamities (exploitation of the nature for the selfish purpose), poverty, disparity in society etc. Today's readings remind us of two things; Firstly, if our life is based on greed, it cannot achieve anything for the life hereafter. Therefore, we should have a right disposition towards material possessions of the world. The greed for accumulation of wealth and possession can't guarantee our security of our future life because the accumulation of wealth or possession can only give us sense of pride but can't buy a future life from the hands of God. Secondly, we should always wear the virtue of humility before God because He lavishes His gratituous love us. The human pride is against the virtue of humility. The rich man in the gospel depicts the mentality of selfishness and pride without any humility before God. The rich man is addressed as 'a fool' because human pride is indeed foolishness before God. Therefore, let's live our lives realising the free gift of God bestowed upon us. Let's walk before the Lord humbly, however wealth and possession we may have, because it's humility before the Lord can take us close to Him but pride and selfishness can distance us from God and from one another as well.
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