Sunday Readings: Jeremiah 17.5-8; 1 Corinthians 15.12, 16-20; Luke 6.17, 20-26
Jesus stood on a level place where a crowd of his disciples and a large crowd of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coast of Tyre and Sidon were gathered. Raising his eyes toward his disciples, he said, “Blessed are you poor because yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungering now, because you will be filled. Blessed are you who are weeping now, because you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, exclude you, insult you, and throw out your name as evil because of the Son of Man. Rejoice on that day and leap for joy, for your reward will be great in heaven. This is how people treated the prophets.” – Luke 6.17,20-22
The world that Jesus envisions redefines poverty and abundance. He invites us to leave the world of abundance and invites us to enter the world of justice, to care for and lift up those who are poor, hungering, and weeping now. Our true inheritance from Jesus is a world in which we gather every person in, where we honor all, and waste no one or nothing.
In the beatitudes Jesus envisions everyday life transformed. He challenges us to remake our world, to live out the promise of his love through re-thinking how we understand security, comfort, charity, and justice. He challenges us to leave the world of complacency.
Such a life requires great hope in the promise of God’s strength and abiding love. Such a life requires openness to God’s grace, reshaping our priorities. Such a life requires a belief that in Christ the world will be made new and in this new world, no person will lack adequate food, shelter, and comfort. Such a life requires the belief that in this new world, everything, every person, and every experience will be useful. Nothing and no one will be wasted.
What concrete actions can you do this week to share what you have with those who have less?