Don’t Let Greed Become Your Religion.

Homily for May 28, 2018.


“By his great mercy we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and to an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.” 1 Peter 1:3-4.

We might not all agree about this but the truth is that we live in a world where money is a god; we live in a world where the only value people still believe in is riches. As one musician puts it, the Creed of today’s world is: *“If it is not making money, it is not making sense.”* So, whatever does not make me richer, make me drive that nice car or wear those designer clothes is not worth it.

Sadly, the only reason why religion still appeals to many today is that people still believe that religion holds the key to satisfying that greed. I saw a short video on social media: a pastor having received a tithe donation from one of his female church members gave his wedding invitation card to her and introduced the girl he was about to marry. The female church member became extremely furious as to why he decided to pick a girl who wasn’t even a member of the church after all the “investment” he had been receiving from the congregation.

She even went on to say that she was pregnant with the pastor. He asked: “How? By the spirit?” She answered: “through my seeds, I have been sowing, through the gifts, I have been giving, I put food on your table, I ensure you get everything you need. Instead of you to notice me, you have brought another person to come and reap what I have suffered to sow… don’t allow your ministry to fall oh, you went to bring Jezebel that you don’t know and left us; we that you know.”

Although the video was funny, I couldn’t help asking myself questions afterwards. Do people still go to church to worship God or is it the case that we now see the church as some investment centre? Something like a bank?

As I was reflecting on this, I came across another video, a social experiment conducted by the Joey Salads group. Four guys set up surveillance cameras to find out if people valued money more than human life. The results were quite shocking. Those who are well to do by society standards chose money over the life of a baby but those who were by all standards poor and had nothing to live on saw the money but preferred to save the life of baby than enrich themselves.

Dear friends, the questions I want to ask myself now is: “Is making money important to me?” “Has money become my god?” “Do I nurse this belief or fear that if I lose money, it would reduce my chances of survival?” “Do I find it difficult to give money away because I feel what I have will not be enough for me?”

In today’s Gospel passage, a young man walked away from Jesus sad because he could not bring himself to the point of selling all he had and giving that to the poor in other to follow Jesus. This young man had come to Jesus seeking for the key to inheriting eternal life. Why did he come to Jesus when up until that moment he had lived a rather good life keeping all God’s commandments? The young man came to Jesus because deep within him, he knew something was lacking, but could not place it; he sure felt a sense of emptiness within him but he didn’t know why.

Jesus knew what he lacked and sensed his deepest insecurities and fears. Jesus could see that this young man worshipped his riches, he believed in his riches, he placed all his trust in his riches and his greatest fear was losing even a dime. Jesus then gave him a very had pill, one that was going to make the young man transfer his trust in riches to a solid trust in God, one that was going to cure him of his inner emptiness, one that was going to puncture the wall he had built around himself keeping him away from the cries of the hungry, homeless and less privileged.

The young man walked away sad. He couldn’t let go. He didn’t realize that that for those who put their trust in God, there are great riches, true riches awaiting them in heaven. These are the riches St. Peter speaks about in today’s first reading, these riches are imperishable, undefiled and unfading. Dear friends, be prepared to lose everything you have now knowing that true wealth awaits you in heaven. Let not your pursuit of worldly riches prevent you from that which is kept for you in heaven.

Let us pray: Lord Jesus, give me the wisdom to re-order my priorities, to work not only for worldly wealth but more importantly for eternal life. Amen.

Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. (Monday of the 8th Week in Ordinary Time. Bible Study: 1st Peter 1:3-9 and Mark 10:17-27).

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