Homily     Oct 13, 2024   Mark 10:17-30

“As Jesus was setting out on a journey…” We’ve all been there, setting out on our journeys. And we do this time and time again. Like the man in today’s Gospel, asking about how to continue his journey, his attempt to inherit eternal life.  Well, says Jesus, “sell what you have and come with me.”

 The thought of possessions stayed with me as I considered what I would share with you today. What do I have that would challenge me to come to make a change in how I think I would inherit eternal life?

That would have something to do with the God of eternal life. The God of my childhood theology was the “Sky God.”  The all-knowing, up there figure of authority, a loving creator. You better be good or….  As my life moved on, God was more real in the life and teaching of Jesus.

I hear God speaking to me, giving me counsel as Jesus did to the man in today’s Gospel.

All that has gone before, hopefully, creates the openings for what comes next. I have said before how much I appreciate our gathering in book review circles.  At present we are reading “The Not-Yet God” by Ilia Delio.  Reading and reflections on the content of the book have presented that challenge that I mentioned earlier.  The challenge is breaking away from the dualism that has been, to me, influential in my faith life. God/creature, me/you, spirit/flesh.

I’ve become aware of how “fixed” God has been to me.  Stable and identifiable.  Ilia writes about the insights of Jung and Chardin as they, in their respective areas of investigation come to an appreciation of relationships, of the “fundamental order of unbroken wholeness as the integral unity of consciousness and matter explored as a helpful model for a new theology.”

“As God is fulfilled in us and we are fulfilled in God, we are made whole together and thus ‘saved’ by the energies of love.”  (The Not-Yet God)   The words of Jesus have new meaning in a new theology.  “Love one another as I have loved you.”

Divine love is the energetic lure; it is both alluring and affected by that which is lured.  Authentic love preserves the freedom and integrity of the other by offering possibilities the other without forcing the choice to act.  Love is always persuasive and never coercive: God’s power is God’s love.

Maria Visse