There are signs in many stores and many commercials on television that display three bold letters. D-I-Y. There is even a channel devoted to D-I-Y. It means do it yourself. The idea that these signs and those advertisements and this channel promote is that with the right instructions and the right materials even I could fix something in my house that was broken or make something of value. I could do it myself. You could do it yourself. With the right instructions and the right materials, you could do it yourself.
The rich man in the gospel
was a man who could do it himself. He was a man of virtue who had kept all of
the commandments from his youth. He was probably successful in business and he
was faithful in his religious observance. This man was probably one of the top
ten donors in his local synagogue and the rabbis probably knew his name. If the
rich man in the gospel were to come to our parish, we would probably invite him
to teach faith formation. We might invite him to work with the youth group or
join the choir if he could sing. I might even ask him to join the parish
finance council, because he is a man who can accomplish things. With the right
instructions and the right materials he can do it himself. He is a do it yourself
kind of guy.
But then this man met
the Lord Jesus. Well, he didn’t just meet him. He ran up to him, knelt down
before him, and said, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What must I do?” This do it yourself kind of guy was looking for the right
instructions and the right materials so that he could build a little retirement
home near the river in the city of God. The first instructions were pretty
simple: Keep the commandments. Step two was a little more difficult, especially
for this rich man: Go, sell what you have, and give it to the poor. Then come
follow me. Step two was pretty expensive, and we don’t really know if the rich
man kept working on this project. We only know that the man who had run up to
Jesus now walked away sad, because he had many possessions. This was one do it yourself
project that just might have been too difficult. It might require more than the
right instructions and the right materials.
Or, it might not be a
do it yourself project. It might be something different. It might just be that
building the retirement home near the river in the city of the living God
requires more that the right instructions and the right materials and an amateur
carpenter with shiny new tools. It might just require a carpenter from Galilee.
The retirement home
near the river in the city of God is not a do it yourself project. We need more
that the right instructions and the right materials. We need Jesus. We need
Jesus because salvation is impossible for us but all things are possible for
God. The Lord Jesus is the one who does the work. Jesus is the one who builds
the kingdom. He not only gives the right instructions and provides the right
materials. Jesus does the work of building our eternal home with him.
But this is not a do it
yourself project. Jesus invites us to be part of the building crew. He asks us
to join the team that makes the world holy and brings the world to the Father.
We don’t have shirts with the company logo, but we do have a mark on our souls from
the waters of baptism. Jesus called us and he claimed us, and he marked us and
he gave us a place on his team. And the team is pretty big. The team is pretty
big, and we have hundreds upon thousands of brothers and sisters, mothers and children
throughout the world. We have a home in every Church with the lighted lamp of
the tabernacle. Jesus looked upon us with love and picked us for his team.
Salvation is not a do
it yourself project. It’s the work of Jesus and his building crew. Through him
and with him and in him we build up our little section of the work of the
kingdom. And now, at the table of the Eucharist, Jesus himself gathers his
building crew and feeds us for the work ahead. Amen.
Preached
at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, Monroe, NC
