James Tissot: Jesus preaching
"Blessed are you . . ."
Luke 6: 17, 20-26
The Word: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/021625.cfm
If we were given a choice between being rich or poor, I have no doubt that the majority of us would choose to be rich. It just seems to bring fewer worries in life and having unlimited wealth would create a kind of fairy tale existence. I mean, who needs to drive when someone else can take you where you want to go? Who needs to live simply rather than surrounded by expensive and beautiful things? Why sit home all the while, rather than travel to beautiful and exotic destinations, flying first class and staying in 5-star hotels. For some, it appears to be the purpose of life, or at least the norm when they travel. No wonder that the television show “Lifestyles of the rich and famous,” was popular back in the 1980 ‘s and 90’s. Does money make you happy? Well, it does make life easier, as someone said.
We are saturated with the mantra that wealth is a kind
of blessing that everyone should pursue. If someone wins a large lottery
jackpot, often they will interpret their win to divine intervention: “Thank you
Jesus!”
Our culture is becoming more and more secular as
sacrifice, simplicity, humility and sharing for the good of the whole give way
to wealth, power, independence and subjective truth. We find multiple
substitutes for God and assume all will be well, “if only . . .”
In the time of Jesus the tags of poor and rich were
quite different than today. The poor
were powerless to do anything about their lot like orphans and widows. They lived weighed down by their socially
unfortunate fate. There was no hope for
a better future and no opportunity for advancement. If you father was a
fisherman, you will be a fisherman and will pass that on to your offspring.
Meanwhile the rich became rich because they had the
power to take wealth away from those who were not able to defend
themselves. In the ancient world power
was the means of attaining wealth. Imagine
the impact on society. In ancient Israel
and particularly around the Galilee region where Jesus spent so much time, he taught
crowds that were living on merely a hand to mouth existence, while the
religious leaders looked on from a distance.
Our Gospel this Sunday challenges us on much of this. But
is it wrong to be wealthy? Money is just
money it’s we who make choices that affect others for either good or ill. That
power of free will is what Jesus may indirectly be addressing in the Gospel. Unlike Matthew, Luke has Jesus more specific in
his accounting of the Beatitudes. The “poor in spirit” become the “poor.”
Blessed are the poor and “woe” to the rich!
Jesus comes down from the heights and addresses the crowd on a level
stretch. In Matthew, Jesus goes up and
so it becomes the sermon on the “mount.” Luke’s concern for the poor and their
condition is one Jesus identifies with.
So, here Jesus comes down to them; he lowers himself to their condition
and embraces it as his own.
It has geographical detail since large hills, as the Galilee
region contains rather than mountains, we are familiar with, also have lower
parts that are like wide open level stretches.
Same “mount” in both Matthew and Luke? Quite possibly. Luke, a gentile,
highlights Jesus' care for both Jews and gentiles alike who are particularly in
a lower place. But the location is not near as significant as the message.
Jesus teaches: “Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is
yours”
Which implies: “How lucky you are if you are not addicted to material
things”
Material things are often a
substitute for God as we seek our ultimate fulfilment and purpose through the
pursuit of technology, science, music, human relationships, unrestricted
freedom, etc.
Jesus teaches: “Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will
laugh”
Which implies: How lucky you are if you are not addicted to good feelings
To search always for the
good feelings, the avoidance of sacrifice and pain – whose life is addicted to
pleasure: drugs, alcohol, the pursuit of pleaser in bodily satisfaction.
Jesus teaches: “Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they
exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of
Man, rejoice and leap for joy on that day”
Which implies: How lucky you are if you are not addicted to the approval
of others.
This is the path of
spiritual freedom from addictions that can chain us. Status, attention and fame
are among the most powerful “false gods” that lure us – promising great
rewards, joy and easy life but never satisfying where only God can satisfy in
our soul, the inner region of our heart.
A Christ-centered
relationship seeks ultimate satisfaction and fulfilment in him.
Our first reading from
Jeremiah has the outspoken prophet wasting no words. He speaks: “Cursed is the one who trusts in
human beings, who seeks his strength in flesh.”
Our faith moves us to
believe that if I give away a portion of what I have for the benefit of others
God will still care for me because as Jeremiah reminds us: “Blessed in the one
who trusts in the Lord.” The sin of
indifference is one that the prophets and Jesus himself reminds us is deadly.
At times the Scriptures
comfort us and other times they call us to discomfort. Today’s readings are the latter. Our discomfort may well be a sign that we
need to let go and let God be who he is in my life: our greatest treasure as
the Holy Eucharist which we can receive far too casually, for the treasure of
our faith is given as gift to bring us to greater holiness.
Jesus offers himself to us
in the Eucharist when he gave it all away for our salvation. This one treasure
we would pursue, hold fast too, and even die for if necessary.
Let us Pray
O God, who teach us that you abide
in hearts that are just and true,
grant that we may be so fashioned by your grace
as to become a dwelling pleasing to you.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity
of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever
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