6th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Blessed are the poor, the hungry, the weeping, the hated and the insulted. But what does this mean? It seems rather odd, if we do not properly reflect on this passage from the Gospel of Luke. How can we say that we are blessed because we are poor? How can we say that those who hunger are blessed, or that God looks favorably on those who are persecuted for believing in him?
To really understand this passage, we have to look at the context in which Jesus is speaking. Jesus was speaking to a crowd of Hebrews, and their concept of blessing is not a divine pat on the back, but rather an opportunity to encounter God. The Beatitudes are the true sense of the word blessing, because they bring us happiness, a happiness that we can only experience when we encounter God, face to face in our every day life. The word beatitude actually means happy, a happiness that flows directly from God into our lives.
Blessed are the poor, the kingdom of God is yours. If we go through life like this is the final stop, like this is all that there is, then we have a problem. When our lives are lived trying to selfishly gain all that we can, with out consideration for the needy, the oppressed and marginalized then how can we expect to enter the kingdom? If we can not bring ourselves to be poor in the sense of putting ourselves AFTER our obligation to bring Jesus to those who need Jesus the most then how can we expect to be hear from God “well done good and faithful servant, enter into your heavenly reward” Jesus also says But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your consolation. If your heaven is found here on earth, then what are we looking forward to? If we do not see something waiting for us after this temporary stay here on earth then we need to reevaluate what true wealth is, it is not riches here on earth that will get us into heaven, but riches of God’s grace and love found in our heart that will prove to be most valuable in our lives.
Blessed are those who hunger, you will be satisfied. Jesus is not talking about physical hunger, though he has proven himself in that matter as well through the multiplication of the loaves and fishes. BUT we are called to hunger for something deeper, something that will not pass, and something that will nourish us in every aspect of our lives. We must hunger for righteousness, for justice, we must hunger to be saints. You know, coaches tell the players on their teams, that they should want to win so bad they should taste it. Well, we should want to be God’s so bad, we should taste it, God’s presence in our lives should leave a proverbial sweet taste in our mouth. Therefore, blessed are we because we find God in our midst when we truly hunger for him. But he continues, Woe to you who are filled now for you will be hungry. If we do not have any room in our hearts to be open to receiving God, then our spiritual life will come to a screeching halt, and when that happens our relationship with God is in grave danger. We must not be filled with the things of the world that are like plaque in our spiritual arteries, blocking the flow of God’s graces in our lives, but our lives must allow God’s grace to flow freely, which is vital to our journey towards our heavenly reward.
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! You must be thinking he can’t be serious. We should be happy when we are hated and insulted because of our faith? YES, and it has been that way for 2000 years. Martyrs even up to this century have given witness, which is what the word martyr means, in Greek μάρτεριον means “to give witness”. Blessed are we who are persecuted for our beliefs, because that means we are doing something right! If we are half as unwavering about our belief in God as Society is adamant in not needing God, then our message is guaranteed to change the lives of those who we come in contact with. Hopefully we will put all our efforts into making our belief known, because we are all called to be witnesses, maybe not to suffer physically as the martyrs have done over the ages, but to at least be willing to defend our faith as best as we can, when ever we can.
The first reading today spells out for us in no uncertain terms our responsibility as Christians Cursed is the one who trusts in human beings, who seeks his strength in flesh, whose heart turns away from the LORD. So blessed are you if you accept God, trust in God, and see his presence among you, but God help you, literally when we reject God. Why? Because he has made the ultimate sacrifice for us, and he asks us to give him our undivided devotion, to be his in every moment of our lives. We are called to look at our lives in a new way, to listen to all of Jesus’ characteristics of one who is blessed, and evaluate our lives of how well we fit into that mold. If we do not see ourselves fitting into the mold, remember we are clay in the hands of God, the potter of our lives, and we must be willing to be molded into the Christian that we are called to be. Allow your lives to be molded so that when you look at your life, you can say I am blessed, because I see God is very present in my life. Once we can say that about our lives, we can be even more confident in hearing the words of Jesus from the Gospel Behold your reward will be great in heaven.
May God, who calls us all to find our happiness in him, give you his peace!
To really understand this passage, we have to look at the context in which Jesus is speaking. Jesus was speaking to a crowd of Hebrews, and their concept of blessing is not a divine pat on the back, but rather an opportunity to encounter God. The Beatitudes are the true sense of the word blessing, because they bring us happiness, a happiness that we can only experience when we encounter God, face to face in our every day life. The word beatitude actually means happy, a happiness that flows directly from God into our lives.
Blessed are the poor, the kingdom of God is yours. If we go through life like this is the final stop, like this is all that there is, then we have a problem. When our lives are lived trying to selfishly gain all that we can, with out consideration for the needy, the oppressed and marginalized then how can we expect to enter the kingdom? If we can not bring ourselves to be poor in the sense of putting ourselves AFTER our obligation to bring Jesus to those who need Jesus the most then how can we expect to be hear from God “well done good and faithful servant, enter into your heavenly reward” Jesus also says But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your consolation. If your heaven is found here on earth, then what are we looking forward to? If we do not see something waiting for us after this temporary stay here on earth then we need to reevaluate what true wealth is, it is not riches here on earth that will get us into heaven, but riches of God’s grace and love found in our heart that will prove to be most valuable in our lives.
Blessed are those who hunger, you will be satisfied. Jesus is not talking about physical hunger, though he has proven himself in that matter as well through the multiplication of the loaves and fishes. BUT we are called to hunger for something deeper, something that will not pass, and something that will nourish us in every aspect of our lives. We must hunger for righteousness, for justice, we must hunger to be saints. You know, coaches tell the players on their teams, that they should want to win so bad they should taste it. Well, we should want to be God’s so bad, we should taste it, God’s presence in our lives should leave a proverbial sweet taste in our mouth. Therefore, blessed are we because we find God in our midst when we truly hunger for him. But he continues, Woe to you who are filled now for you will be hungry. If we do not have any room in our hearts to be open to receiving God, then our spiritual life will come to a screeching halt, and when that happens our relationship with God is in grave danger. We must not be filled with the things of the world that are like plaque in our spiritual arteries, blocking the flow of God’s graces in our lives, but our lives must allow God’s grace to flow freely, which is vital to our journey towards our heavenly reward.
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! You must be thinking he can’t be serious. We should be happy when we are hated and insulted because of our faith? YES, and it has been that way for 2000 years. Martyrs even up to this century have given witness, which is what the word martyr means, in Greek μάρτεριον means “to give witness”. Blessed are we who are persecuted for our beliefs, because that means we are doing something right! If we are half as unwavering about our belief in God as Society is adamant in not needing God, then our message is guaranteed to change the lives of those who we come in contact with. Hopefully we will put all our efforts into making our belief known, because we are all called to be witnesses, maybe not to suffer physically as the martyrs have done over the ages, but to at least be willing to defend our faith as best as we can, when ever we can.
The first reading today spells out for us in no uncertain terms our responsibility as Christians Cursed is the one who trusts in human beings, who seeks his strength in flesh, whose heart turns away from the LORD. So blessed are you if you accept God, trust in God, and see his presence among you, but God help you, literally when we reject God. Why? Because he has made the ultimate sacrifice for us, and he asks us to give him our undivided devotion, to be his in every moment of our lives. We are called to look at our lives in a new way, to listen to all of Jesus’ characteristics of one who is blessed, and evaluate our lives of how well we fit into that mold. If we do not see ourselves fitting into the mold, remember we are clay in the hands of God, the potter of our lives, and we must be willing to be molded into the Christian that we are called to be. Allow your lives to be molded so that when you look at your life, you can say I am blessed, because I see God is very present in my life. Once we can say that about our lives, we can be even more confident in hearing the words of Jesus from the Gospel Behold your reward will be great in heaven.
May God, who calls us all to find our happiness in him, give you his peace!
posted by Andrew @ 3:24 PM
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