Time and time again we see those big billboards or we hear on the television the latest lottery jackpot, millions of dollars and numbers that go up on those advertisements certainly capture the hearts and imaginations of many who begin to go to that little happy place and think about what would they do, what would they do if that had all that … besides, of course, donating to Mercy Home for Boys and Girls, right … But everyone knows that there’s much more than that, isn’t there, than possessions and wealth? That’s really not the key that unlocks happiness. God desires for us truly a better way, doesn’t he. A better path for us. I think of that because today in our first reading we hear about Solomon who, kind of, in the sense hits the jackpot, he could have everything he wants, essentially. In the sense he could … God promises him master over his enemies, gems and jewels, whatever kind of wealth, even eternal life.

But Solomon wants an understanding heart. He wants wisdom, he desires wisdom over all these things, possessions and gems. He says this is truly beyond riches. I chose to have her wisdom, rather than light, to be in her company. So Solomon is, in a sense, looking for something that is beyond anything we can ever imagine and that is to know wisdom, to know God’s plan, and to treasure that plan and to know God’s love and desire for him throughout his life. Now, we have the opposite of that, don’t we, in today’s gospel as Jesus is on a journey and encounters somebody who has many possessions but yet makes a request for another thing. He wants to inherit eternal life. And Jesus, of course, recites all the commandments that the law has taught him but he said, well all these commandments, I’ve kept from my youth. Jesus says, ah, but there’s one thing lacking for you. Go sell what you have and give to the poor and then, come and follow me.

You see, the path of the kingdom of God requires of us that we’re not clinging to things that are pushing us down, clinging to earthly things. And so the man who had to go away from Jesus was sad because things were holding him down. What do we cling to? What is it that we need to refocus our attention on in order to reflect on that wisdom that God wants us to have and to journey to that kingdom of God, and to possess that kingdom of God and have it, treasure it beyond anything we can ever imagine?