Word to the Wise
Sunday, February 16, 2025 - 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time - C
[Jer 17:5-8; 1 Cor 15:12, 16-20; Luke 6:17, 20-26]Cursed is the one who trusts in human beings, who seeks his strength in flesh, whose heart turns away from the Lord. He is like a barren bush in the desert that enjoys no change of season, but stands in a lava waste, a salt and empty earth. Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose hope is the Lord. He is like a tree planted beside the waters that stretches out its roots to the stream....[Jeremiah] Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours. Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied.....Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold your reward will be great in heaven....But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are filled now, for you will be hungry.....[Luke]
Blessings and curses! The evangelist Luke offers us a different version of the "beatitudes" than the one we know from the evangelist Matthew! The Lucan version is called the "sermon on the plain" in contrast to the "sermon on the mount." While Jesus' words were originally delivered to an audience of his time and place, Luke now addresses them to missionary disciples who are experiencing poverty, hunger, sorrow and persecution. The kingdom that Jesus has preached seems distant and "pie in the sky, bye and bye!" But Jesus' "kingdom" is one of mercy - God's mercy and the mercy we owe to one another. Those who have all they "need" or "want" in terms of wealth, sustenance, "happiness," and security, which they rely on and and continue to build without sharing [cf. Luke 12:13-34] or fail even to see the suffering around them [cf.Luke 16:19-31], will, in the end, find that all of these "riches" have blinded them to the kingdom of God both in earthly and eternal life.
Whatever certain economists or politicians may think, the "goods" of this world do not "trickle down" to the poor, the hungry, the sorrowing and the persecuted multitudes on our planet. The vast majority of human beings live in poverty without adequate housing, shelter, clothing, food and clean water or medical care. They are victims of political and economic systems that favor a relative few. It was true in Jesus' day and it is true in ours. Mercy can be hard to come by from human institutions that guard the wealthy. God's mercy, which the wealthy and human governments should imitate, is free and overflowing. It should be clear from the Gospel According to Luke that a failure to show human mercy like God's mercy will lead to the ultimate destiny of the accursed. Can we see with Jesus' eyes and remember the account we will have to render at the end of our lives? AMEN