Blessings

Wednesday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time C-2

Entrance Antiphon Ps 119 (118):137, 124 You are just, O Lord, and your judgment is right; treat your servant in accord with your merciful love.

Collect O God, by whom we are redeemed and receive adoption, look graciously upon your beloved sons and daughters, that those who believe in Christ may receive true freedom and an everlasting inheritance. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Scripture today: Colossians 3:1-11; Psalm 145:2-3, 10-13ab; Luke 6:20-26

Looking at his disciples, Jesus said: Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets. But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets. (Luke 6:20-26)

Blessings There is a pattern in the Old Testament which is important to notice – so as to understand our Gospel passage today. God called Abraham from his family and land to go to where he would send him. He promised him the blessing of a land that would be his, and through him a blessing for all the families of the earth. The Patriarchs were called to accept the Lord as their God and to obey him – and various blessings would be theirs, almost always of a temporal nature. The time came when God spoke to Moses from the Burning Bush. Declaring that he was the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, he said that had compassion for the misery of his people. He was resolved to bring them out and would lead them to their own land. Moses would be their leader. He was a God of mercy, compassion and blessings. The blessings, once again, were primarily of a temporal character. The liberation of the children of Israel was magnificent. Out they came, with the misery of slavery behind them, and the long trek through the wilderness began. There were more difficulties – such as lack of food. But God answered their need with manna and quails. For these blessings, God expected obedience to his moral and religious law enshrined in the Ten Commandments and in the Torah. When there was disobedience, they were deprived of these temporal blessings. For instance, Moses failed in faith and obedience on one occasion, and he was deprived of the privilege of entering the Promised Land. When the chosen people, now led by Joshua, left the wilderness and entered the land, their obedience brought blessings and victories. Again, by and large they were of a temporal character. The Books of Judges, Samuel and Kings all convey a similar point. When Solomon began to fall away from the Lord, temporal reversals followed despite the great gifts he had been given. The Northern Kingdom fell and its people were deported, and at a later stage Jerusalem and Judea also fell and its people were deported – and the prophets gave its meaning. It happened because the people fell away from obedience to the Lord. But the point being made here is that the blessings and the reversals were generally of a temporal character. These were the incentives, the rewards and the punishments of religion. We could go on to make the point that across the ages and for the generality of mankind, religion is broadly lived in order to gain the best advantage of this life.

Of course, it is not as simple as that. The whole point of this divine pedagogy was to train the chosen people, through his servants the prophets and other inspired leaders, to love him and to live in communion with him through faith and obedience. This communion with the true God, the God of Abraham, Moses and the prophets, was the blessing par excellence which would come from fidelity. Still, temporal blessings and punishments were very much the divine method. What this meant in practice was that many thought that the principal blessing of religion and its primary incentive was precisely temporal blessings. Indeed, the Afterlife was somewhat shadowy – and the Sadducees, understanding themselves to be based strictly on the Torah, denied the resurrection of the dead. Very many looked to the eventual Messiah as the saviour in a temporal sense. He would deliver the people from political and economic oppression, as had Moses delivered the people from slavery in Egypt. It was a constant problem for our Lord himself, who avoided the public use of the Messianic title – because of its temporal connotations. I suggest that this is one of the backdrops for the famous and pivotal Beatitudes – of which we have one version in today’s Gospel (Luke 6:20-26). Luke’s presentation of Christ’s blessings and woes is briefer than Matthew’s, less Semitic perhaps and possibly a version of it given by our Lord on certain occasions. But what is plain is that our Lord assures his “disciples” that their bearing reversals and enduring what he would call on other occasions “the cross” did not mean that they were not blessed. On the contrary, if they were truly his disciples, such very adverse situations were a blessing (in disguise). Especially is this so if their sufferings were a direct result of their discipleship. Looking at his disciples, Jesus said: Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. By contrast, the one who seeks and finds his home in temporal blessings, and not in union with God, is the subject of woes. But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort.

Our Lord is not urging his disciples to reject the blessings of this world, the blessings which will inevitably pass away – simply because they are temporal. No, but he wants our hearts to be in the right place. We are to use the things of this world to help us find our treasure in God both here and hereafter. We are to be absolutely on guard against the ever-present danger of becoming attached to the good things of this world (all of which come from God), forgetting the Father in heaven from whom they come. If we do forget God and make our home in them, woe to us! Further again, he assures us that if such blessings for one reason or another are taken away from us – then blessed are we if, all the while we are trying to do the will of God. We shall receive a great reward. Indeed, especially if we suffer deprivation for the name of Jesus Christ, how great will be our reward! The supreme blessing, the Blessing in whom is found every heavenly blessing, is Christ!

(E. J. Tyler)

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