LECTIONARY READINGS
First reading: Jeremiah 17:5-8
Responsorial Psalm 1:1-4
Second reading: 1 Corinthians 15:12, 16-20
Gospel: Luke 6:17, 20-26
Link to readings
There are hardly any statements in the New Testament more challenging and provocative than the Beatitudes – which include in Luke’s formulation read as today’s Gospel (Luke 6:17, 20-26) the corresponding woes. I think it is important to attend in particular to two things: the context in which the Beatitudes are pronounced and the biblical meaning of beatitude.
The context is that Jesus is instructing his disciples before large crowds. Burdened and afflicted, these people have come from far and near to access his healing power (Luke 6:17-19). The implication is that the disciples, by adopting the values enshrined in the Beatitudes, are to become themselves instruments of hope and healing for this troubled wider group.
In the biblical tradition ‘blessed’ does not strictly speaking commend a moral attitude to be adopted. The formula declares a person to be in a fortunate or advantageous position. It almost amounts to ‘Congratulations!’ – the sort of thing we might say to a friend who had won the lottery. However, in the tradition of Israel the declaration of a person as ‘blessed’ is usually in view of a coming action of God.
TRUST IN GOD
The First Reading, from Jeremiah (17:5-8), provides a background for this sense of being blessed (or cursed) in that it points to likely outcomes – positive and negative – as the case may be – based on whether or not one puts one’s trust in God.
Nonetheless, the Beatitudes are highly provocative. They constitute a series of oxymorons: the holding together of two concepts that clash or are at odds with one another. It is outrageous in any age to congratulate the poor on being poor, the hungry on being hungry, the weeping and the reviled on being in the condition they are in. Correspondingly, it appears foolish to declare unfortunate (for that is what ‘Woe!’ signifies) the wealthy, the well-fed (‘the full’), the laughing and those who enjoy a good reputation. Other things being equal, these states are perfectly desirable.
But in the vision of Jesus other things are not equal at all. The Beatitudes and the Woes only make sense in the light of the coming reversal of fortune to be brought about by God that is a prominent theme in Luke’s view of salvation. They have a clear anticipation in the canticle of Mary, the Magnificat:
He casts the mighty from their thrones and raises the lowly.
He fills the starving with good things, sends the rich away empty (Luke 1:51-53)
FOR THE POOR
God is on the side of the poor and marginalised rather than the rich and powerful. The prospect that God will intervene to reverse the present social setup makes it better even now to be poor, hungry, weeping and reviled rather than rich, full, etc.
So, Jesus is not endorsing poverty or hunger as though they were good things in themselves. In themselves they are evils to be eradicated. He is insisting that what most people reckon to be advantages and disadvantages are relativised and indeed reversed in view of a particular vision of God – a God who has pledged to act on behalf of the poor and marginalised rather than the rich and well off. What the Beatitudes basically call for is a preparedness to be vulnerable in the light of this understanding of God and God’s faithfulness.
This brings us back to the context in which this instruction is given: the afflicted multitude that presses in on Jesus and the disciples, longing for healing. A vulnerable community can become for the afflicted an instrument of God’s power. It is the vulnerable who make the world safe for humanity.
Should we understand by ‘poor’ the economically poor or the spiritually poor? The ‘poor’ are certainly the economically poor; the Beatitudes, like the Magnificat, cannot be spiritualised away so as to have no bearing upon economics or social justice. At the same time, in Jesus’ day the phrase ‘the poor’ was a standard self-description for the faithful in Israel who wait upon the Lord – like Simeon and Anna at the presentation of the Child Jesus in the Temple (Luke 2:22-38). At the heart of their waiting for economic and structural salvation lies a deep spiritual longing and trust in God. ‘The poor’ are all whose emptiness and destitution provides scope for the generosity of God.
GOD’S FAITHFULNESS
The Second Reading continues Paul’s reminder to the Corinthian community about the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:12, 16-20). Belief in the resurrection of Jesus cannot be separated from belief in the resurrection of all those ‘in Christ’, that is, believers. His resurrection is the hope and pledge of a more general resurrection to come. This Second Reading thus joins the other two in its sense of God’s faithfulness. God’s raising of Christ necessarily implies that God will be faithful in raising those ‘in Christ’ – believers – as well.
Image: The Gospel trail mark, hiking through countryside of Galilee in Israel, following trail of Jesus in Spring – depositphotos.com