Scripture:
Jeremiah 17:5-8
1 Corinthians 15:12, 16-20
Luke 6:17, 20-26
Reflection:
In our Gospel reading for today (Luke 6:17, 20-26), Jesus gives some reassurances and some challenges. The reassurances come in the form of beatitudes. Jesus begins with “Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of heaven is yours,” and ends with “Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man…Behold, your reward will be great in heaven. For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way.”
After the reassurances come the challenges in the form of curses. Jesus begins with “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation;” and ends with “Woe to you when all speak well of you, for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way.”
Is Jesus really condemning the rich, or those “who are filled now,” or those “who laugh now?” Does Jesus really want us poor and hungry and miserable? I don’t see it. However, what helps me understand what Jesus is saying is what He says in that first curse: “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.” When we find consolation only in being wealthy, or well fed, or when times are easy, or when everyone thinks we’re great, what happens when those things are diminished, or even totally gone? Are we not left empty and hopeless?
But when we put our trust in God, in the love God has for us in Jesus Christ, then we can find consolation at any time. However, accepting God’s unconditional love for us is not to lead us into complacency. It’s so easy not to want my comfort disturbed by the suffering of others. And that is where we need to be careful, even with the beatitudes Jesus speaks. Many groups of people throughout history have rationalized their oppression of others, by telling themselves, or even the people they oppress, that their “reward will be great in heaven.” But when we look at many of the parables that we will encounter in Luke’s Gospel during this liturgical year, we see that Jesus is telling us that we cannot turn a blind eye to the poor and the hungry and the oppressed, even if that means we are denounced by others.
May we not only find consolation in God’s love for us, but be willing to be instruments of God’s consolation of others.
Fr. Phil Paxton, C.P., is the local superior of the Passionist Community in Birmingham, Alabama.