Word to the Wise
Monday, January 31, 2011 - Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
[Zephaniah 2:3, 3:12-13; 1 Corinthians 1:26-31; Matthew 5:1-12a]When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him. He began to teach them, saying: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven........".[Matthew]
It would be difficult to find a part of the Bible that is better known than "the Sermon on the Mount." Although many identify the "Sermon" with the "Beatitudes" which form the first twelve verses, these actually are a kind of "prelude" to all the rest of this teaching (Chaps 5-7). Matthew sets the scene carefully by having Jesus go up a mountain and be seated as an authoritative teacher: a New Moses. What we are about to hear is not a repetition of pious bromides but a new teaching whose authority is guaranteed by the one who speaks.
There have always been those who dismiss the Beatitudes as a kind of "keep a stiff upper lip till pie in the sky arrives" teaching (if I may be permitted a mixed metaphor). This attitude dismisses both teacher and teaching. The Sermon on the Mount makes sense only to those who come to it with faith in the teacher. This teacher first of all responds to the real situation of his students. Their need is great and Jesus does not dismiss that need. Rather he tries to encourage them by reminding them that their very need is an occasion of God's attention, which they are receiving as they listen to him. Nor is this need necessarily linked to one's economic status, but to one's faith. Rich and poor alike must have faith and must live that faith according to their means - a common theme of all Jesus' teaching. Nevertheless the physical suffering of the economically and socially poor is a far more graphic symbol of a claim on God's mercy! Jesus assures his listeners of that mercy not just at the end of time but NOW. It is that mercy which is speaking to them!
Given the incredible amount of violence that our world is experiencing, I cannot help but single out the "peacemakers" and the remarkable title that Jesus bestows on them: "Children of God!" Peacemakers do not just work for some kind of future idealistic peace, they labor to bring about peace and an end to violence NOW. So much of the other misery addressed in the Beatitudes is a result of violence that warfare, economic greed, ethnic discrimination, and other destructive forces bring about.
The Beatitudes are not a call to passivity. They are an assurance of God's help now and always even as they are a challenge to us. It is not easy to love one's enemy or turn the other cheek. To understand the Beatitudes completely we must listen to the whole sermon! AMEN
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