SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – C
Jeremiah 17:5-8
1 Corinthians 15:12,16-20
Luke 6:17,20-26
Number One Son ran up to his father. Honorable Sir, he said, I have some bad news. Our prize brood mare horse has run away into the hills. The father answered, bad news? Good news? Who knows. The next day Number One Son ran up to his father again. Honorable Sir, he said, I have some good news. The mare has returned and has led a string of six wild stallions behind her into our paddock. The father answered, Good news? Bad News? Who knows? The next day the hired man ran up to the father. Honorable Sir, I have some bad news. Number One Son was trying to ride one of the wild stallions and fell off and broke his leg. The father answered, “Bad news? Good News? Who knows?” The next day the army of the emperor was marching through the village. They were taking all the able-bodied young men to fight in the foreign wars. Because Number One Son had a broken leg they left him behind. As the army marched off the father only sighed: Good news? Bad news? Who knows?
As Jesus presents the Beatitudes in St. Luke’s Gospel he challenges us to change our perception of what is good news and what is bad news. “Blessed are you who are poor,” Jesus said. Quite a startling statement. I suspect that most of us can relate better to the word of the milk man, Tevye, in Fiddler on the Roof. He observed, “It’s no crime to be poor but it’s no great honor either.” To which the student radical answers, “Money is the world’s curse.” Tevye replies, “May the Lord curse me with it. And may I never recover.” We tend to think like Tevye but Jesus does not. The word of Jesus is very explicit and goes clean contrary to our ordinary way of thinking: “Blessed are you who are poor; Blessed are you who are now hungry; Blessed are you who are now weeping; Blessed are you when people hate you.” We have a hard time seeing the blessing in being poor or hungry or weeping or hated. In fact, we have Catholic Charities to work against poverty, the food pantry to eliminate hunger and a bereavement ministry to cope with grieving. We are working the eliminate what Jesus calls a blessing. How can we, as St. Paul suggests, “put on the mind of Christ” and see things as he sees them?
The basic message that Jesus wants us to get is nothing can keep us from being blessed. No matter what is happening to us, no matter what we are going through, the love of God is showering down upon us. There isn’t anything out there, anyone out there, who can stop you from being blessed. It doesn’t matter if it is raining on your parade, if your dog won’t hunt, if the cat’s got your tongue, if the chickens are coming home to roost, if the monkey is on your back, if the fox is in the henhouse, if you get the bear or if the bear gets you. None of that changes your status as a blessed person. Blessed are you because you are a child of God, you are made in God’s image and likeness, you are precious in God’s sight. Blessed are you simply by being you. The Lord is blessing you right now. The Beatles sang, “All you need is love,” which is half right. All you need is God’s love and you have the blessed assurance that all will be well. The problem comes when we are going through poverty or hunger or grief or hatred or crime or sickness or injustice or loneliness or depression or any number of the troubles of this world we don’t feel very blessed. Where’s the blessing in that, Jesus! The task of our spiritual life is to find the blessing no matter what. Let’s see if the scripture readings can give us some suggestions on how.
From the Old Testament book of Jeremiah: Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose hope is in the Lord. The Prophet challenges us to understand that the stuff we ordinarily tend to think of as being a blessing will dry up and fade away. Only God endures and only God is enough. By having as our one desire and choice always and only what God wants for us, we experience blessing in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, until death.
From St. Paul: “If for this life only we have hope in Christ, we are the most pitiable of people.” The apostle wants us to know that if we are to find the blessing we always need to keep the big picture in mind. The life we are going through right now can only be understood in the light of the life on high that is our destiny as those who share life with the Risen Jesus. Keeping our eye on the prize makes us a blessed people.
From the Gospel of Luke: “Jesus came down with the Twelve and stood on a stretch of level ground.” If you remember, St. Matthew has beatitudes similar to the ones in Luke but they are found in the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew wants to show Jesus as bestowing divine wisdom upon us from on high like Moses did on Mount Sinai. The way Luke tells the story, Jesus is not above us, not on the Mountain, but with us; speaking on the level. He knows about blessing in the nitty gritty of human life because he shares that blessing with us. Another way Luke tells the story differently from Matthew, the beatitudes are addressed personally and concretely. Not “the poor in spirit” but “you who are poor.” Not “hunger and thirst for righteousness” but “you who are now hungry.” Luke tells us that we can find the blessing because Jesus is with us in the concrete circumstances of our everyday life. Good news? Bad news? All is good news when we are with Jesus.
