Keeping the Commandments Fr. James Jorgenson

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and

of the Holy Spirit, amen. Glory be to Jesus Christ.

Glory be to God. Every time I read this gospel

or hear it proclaimed in church, I am reminded

of an incident that happened in my life quite

a number of years ago. I was in conversation.

with a group of priests, most of whom were friends

of mine, and I don't even remember what in the

world we were talking about. But whatever it

was, I just sort of, maybe in frustration or

something, said, well, who wants to live forever?

And then this good friend of mine, who was a

priest, looked at me, and the smirk appeared

on his face, and I corrected myself. In this

world. Who wants to live forever in this world?

Of course, it illustrates the fact that no one

really wants to die. We all want to live. And

we as Christians believe that we will live forever.

We will live forever. Because Jesus has come,

suffered and died on the cross, rose from the

dead. and grants us forgiveness of sins and eternal

life. That's a question that appears. People

reach a certain stage in their life when they

think in sort of philosophical or theological

terms. Why am I here? Where did I come from?

Where am I going? Is there a purpose in my life?

And when we come to that, we have the answers

for us clearly laid out. Jesus' words. And the

words basically are the same as what he replied

to this young man in today's gospel. Keep the

commandments. And Jesus didn't give an exhaustive

list of the commandments, but... five of the

ten that are representative. He says, thou shalt

not murder or kill. Well, you know, we can murder

people not just with a knife or with a gun, but

we can slander them and murder them with our

words, spreading either... bad stories about

them, whether they're true or not. It's better

to say good things and to keep our mouth shut

than to say evil things about anyone. Do not

murder. Well, you look around in our society

at all the murders and the violence that takes

place. So it's so depressing if you watch the

news, which I try not to do, But it is a violent

society that we live in. And we are dulled to

the fact that the most dangerous place in America

for a person to live is in the womb. Because

our society has been dulled. by the fact that

when you kill a young baby in abortion, that's

murder. There's no way around it. Sure, there

can be unfortunate circumstances that brought

about that conception, but still, that is a human

life which has been given by God to that person.

Other things. Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Well, adultery is a tent word for many types

of behavior. It can be immoral thoughts, words,

activities, whatever it might be. The only sexual

activity which is permitted is blessed by God

in the sacrament and state of matrimony. But

that, again, is something that is not taken very

seriously by this society. Neither respect for

life at every stage, nor biblical Judeo -Christian

morality. So many temptations and so many people

that don't take seriously what was very serious

in our society. two generations ago even. Thou

shalt not steal. Well, you know, we should be

honest people, but doesn't it ever enter into

temptation in our mind or in other people's minds?

Well, I don't want to steal, but it's okay if

I can get away with it. Nope, that's not right

either. Same thing about bearing false witness

and lying. We should always tell the truth. Unless

it's a truth that hurts someone or injures someone,

then it's better to be quiet about that. Jesus

also brings up the commandment, honor thy father

and thy mother. For children, That means when

your parents ask you to do something, you do

it willingly and happily. Honor thy father and

thy mother. Obey them. Don't speak evil about

them. Don't say bad words about them under your

breath if they tend to ask you to do something

that you're not happy about doing. That's a two

-way street. Honor thy father and thy mother.

Parents have an obligation to their children

to say that they are raised correctly, that they

pray, that they learn about God, that they go

to church as a family, to bring up your children

in the fear of God and in the love of God. That's

a corollary of the commandment to children to

honor their father and their mother. Teaching

them what is true and honest and Christian and

biblical behavior. They have temptations nowadays

because the atmosphere in our school system condones

all kinds of activity or wants at least to make

them aware of all kinds of activity and maybe

tries to convince them to follow something that

is trendy rather than biblical Christian morality.

So the commandments, all ten of them, apply to

us. The rich young man says, well, I've kept

all of these from my youth up. I really doubt

if he did, because I know quite well I haven't

kept all of them. I've sinned against all the

commandments in thought, word, if not in deed.

So all of the commandments are there for us to

follow God's way, not our own way. Then Jesus

says that saying, which is so familiar to us

Christians, it sparked one of the sayings of

Jesus that sparked the monastic movement. If

you wish to be perfect, be perfect. Go, sell

what you have, give to the poor, and you will

have treasure in heaven. A saying of Jesus so

familiar to us, but I don't think we realize

how paradoxical this was to his Jewish audience.

Because remember, in Jewish popular piety, and

I think also in popular attitudes and piety in

general, that to have a lot of wealth is a sign

of blessing from God. Not necessarily. St. Clement

of Alexandria gave us that Christian concept

of the use of wealth, to use that wealth for

the good of others as well. But to the Jewish

people, again, it's a concept to keep your money,

and that's a sign of a blessing from God. I remind

you of an incident in the Old Testament that's

found right at the beginning of the book of Chronicles,

chapter 1. Something you don't hear about, Chronicles,

very often in sermons. But it's a story of Solomon,

who was legendary in Christian, in the Jewish

life after, you know, for a thousand years before

Jesus was born. Solomon, in a dream, Solomon,

God appeared to Solomon. And God said to him,

what do you want? What can I give you? And Solomon

said, Lord, give me wisdom and knowledge so I

can rule these people which have been given to

me. that are as numerous as the stars. Give me

wisdom and knowledge to be a good king, to be

a good ruler. And God's response was, ah, because

you have not asked for riches and wealth and

even victories over your enemies, but you have

asked for wisdom and knowledge to rule well.

That I will give you. And I will also give you

wealth and riches and victory. So that's probably

how that attitude developed of wealth being a

sign of God's favor, but not necessarily. Other

aspects of scripture show that God has particular

love for the poor, the needy, the disenfranchised.

This comes out. It's one of the themes in St.

Luke's Gospel especially, how God loves the weak,

the needy, the powerless. So I think this is

an example for us. What do we do with our wealth?

Do we use it just for good things, material possessions?

These are not bad in themselves, but we should

share what we have with the poor, the needy,

with not only church and share our wealth with

the church, but also with legitimate charities

to give to, for example, St. Jude's that treats

children with... cancer and other diseases. To

give to charities. To use our wealth wisely.

Because that's what St. Clement of Alexandria

says. Wealth is an indifferent thing in and of

itself. It's how you use what you have. To share

what we have. To give to the needy. And though

so by keeping the commandments and sharing what

we have with others. This is how we will inherit

eternal life and indeed live forever. Amen.