Saturday, February 13, 2010

VIth Sunday- Beatitudes.

VIth Sunday : JER. 17: 5-8; ICOR. 15: 12, 16-20;: LK 6: 17, 20-26
A preacher began his preaching on today’s gospel by asking for a show of hands from all in the congregation who would love to be poor, starving, weeping and hated by everybody. No hands went up. Then he asked of those who, on the contrary, would love to be rich, well fed, laughing and well spoken of in the community. All hands went up. A similar survey in any church would probably yield similar results. Yet Jesus in Luke declares a blessing on those who are poor, hungry, weeping and hated. To make sure we get the point, he goes on and explicitly pronounces a woe on those who are rich, well fed, laughing and well spoken of. What is going on here? Does Luke want us to understand that material poverty in itself is a sign of divine approval and material prosperity a sign of divine disapproval? Certainly not!
Poverty in itself is not a blessing but a misfortune, a lack. In fact, all the qualifying factors mentioned in Luke's Beatitudes -- poverty, hunger, weeping, hatred, exclusion, reviling, defamation -- are all misfortunes. These are things no good parents would want for their children. Neither would God want these things for us, His children. How are we then to understand Luke’s Beatitudes? The key to Luke's Beatitudes is to be found in an important clause which he adds at the end of the last beatitude, and the clause is “on account of the Son of Man.” What Luke is saying is this, those who accept these evil conditions as the price that they have to pay for following Christ, they are the blessed ones.
Jesus’ audience were people with broken hearts and broken hope. They were poor, victims of prejudice and victims of religious and political oppression. They were people with heavy burdens. The interesting thing about Jesus was that he found blessings in their seemingly desperate situation. Jesus did not condemn their situations. Instead, he showed them the possibility of using their situations as a means of blessings. He did so by helping them to relate their present day struggle with the cross that bridges to heaven. Jesus showed them how they could transform their poverty and other struggles as a means for achieving eternal happiness. No situation is hopeless for a person who places his trust in God. Such people may not always view riches as a blessing.

There was a farmer who lived a happy life spending most of the time taking care of his farm with the aid of his horse. One day his horse ran away. Neighbors came to sympathize with him. “What a shame”, they said. But he replied “Who knows? God Knows”. A week later this horse returned with another wild horse. The neighbors came to share his joy. “What a blessing”, they said. Again he replied “Who knows? God knows”. One day while taming the wild horse his son fell down from the horse and broke his leg. Again neighbors came to offer their sympathy. “What a shame”, they said. “Who knows? God knows!” he replied. A week late a war broke out in their country. The king ordered all men over 18 years of age to join the military. They spared his son because of his broken leg. Once again neighbors rushed to his house. “What a blessing?” they said. “Who knows? God Knows!” the farmer replied.
God-bound people have the right attitude to life and the earth- bound people have the wrong and limited vision of life.Without seeing the deceptive nature of material offerings earth bound people make the worldly riches their final goal.
Jesus had no problem with the Rich. In fact he blessed the rich. So, he appreciated the gesture of the one who multiplied his talents and disapproved the behavior of the lazy man. He went to the extent of saying, “For to everyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich. But from the one who has not, even what has will be taken away.” Jesus criticized only three categories of people: Those who put wealth in place of God; those who were unwilling to share; and those who amassed wealth through illegal means. If I do not fall in any of these categories, there is justification for my wealth. In the parable of the rich and Lazarus, he criticized the rich man because of his insensitivity to the needs of his neighbor and his unwillingness to share. The first reading praises those who place their trust in God and compares them to a tree planted near a stream and those who place their trust in anything less than God as cursed. If we want to be filled with the joy and happiness of heaven, then we must empty ourselves of all that would shut God out of our hearts. Poverty of spirit finds ample room for joy in possessing God alone as the greatest treasure possible.
The needy and the poor are the Sacraments for the rich. When they approach the poor with their sharing hands they are administering the sacrament of their own salvation. Jesus said to the people who were sensitive to the needs of others “Enter the Kingdom of God, for you gave me food when I was hungry; You welcomed me when I was a stranger; you cared for me when I was sick…..” The rich have a better chance to please God as they have enough resources to serve the poor.
What makes one blessed is not simply poverty or hunger or sadness or suffering , but living these in the context of our commitment to Jesus and His spirit of sharing. If the poor, the hungry, the sorrowful and the hated are all blessed, then why should anyone attempt to help them improve their lot? The answer is that there is a difference between choosing poverty and being plunged into it without one’s choice, due to an unjust socio-political situation. There are a few saints, like Francis of Assisi, who freely chose the sufferings and hardships that poverty brings. That is not what the Beatitudes suggest, nor what Jesus asks of most of us. It is true that we are unable to eradicate poverty from the face of the earth. But we can help, either directly or by working with others, our poor brothers and sisters to improve their living conditions so that they may choose to free themselves from the poverty thrust upon them by greedy exploiters. Luke’s account offers the rich the good news that their salvation lies in their concern for the poor and in the good stewardship of sharing their goods with others in need. But the rich among us remain cursed as long as they remain unwilling to share their surplus with the needy. In short, in the beatitudes, Jesus envisions a society where the resources which belong to all are divided among all according to need, making every one blessed and happy.

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