A Reflection on the Beatitudes"



Today's Mass Readings



There is a controversy brewing here in Dayton. If you read the Dayton Daily News last week, there is much heated debate about the mosque that is proposed in Sugarcreek. Unfortunately, this has become a Christian-Muslim issue. I am not going to discuss the validity of the decision that the civil authorities have made to deny permission. However, the religious tone this debate has assumed is very unsettling. Unfortunately, the negativity around this debate was the contribution of some Christian Churches. These churches have not spared the opportunity to express their condemnation of other religions. They have not spared the opportunity to let the event of Sept 11 and the war in Iraq affect their attitude toward an entire ethnic and religious group. Thus, a pastor at the First Baptist Church was quoted as saying, “We just feel that Christianity is right and Islam is wrong… we take a stand to see a mosque not in our community.” I am amazed at the arrogance, the false pride, the indignation, the presumption of knowing God’s will. As if this was not enough, the Wednesday paper reported that Westboro Baptist church would be picketing at Maria Lauterbach’s funeral (She is the marine who was murdered recently). This church will be picketing to let America know that God hates the US military and that Iraq war is a punishment for the nation’s tolerance of homosexuality. I would like to reflect on these events in light of the scriptures that we have as our reading today. They do not offer a lesson in arrogance, pride, condemnation, or prejudice. Rather, they offer a lesson in humility as we strive to follow Jesus closely. It is easy to presume that the theme of today’s readings is the Beatitudes. If we take all the readings together it is clear to me that the readings are proposing a life-style. The foundation for of this life-style is humility, and Jesus himself is the one to calls us to live this way of life. The second reading is particularly important in this regard. St. Paul reminds the early Christians of their humble beginnings. We know that the early Christians were a minority and much persecuted. The first Christians also came from the lowest sections of the Roman society. That is why St. Paul says,

“Consider your own calling, brothers and sisters.

Not many of you were wise by human standards,

not many were powerful,

not many were of noble birth.

Rather, God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise,

and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong,

and God chose the lowly and despised of the world,

those who count for nothing,

to reduce to nothing those who are something… (1 Cor 1:26ff).



In fact, the early Christians were the kind of people that are described in the Beatitudes… poor in heart, those who mourn, meek, merciful, peace-makers, pure in heart, thirsting for righteousness, and standing up for righteousness. It is to people like these that the Kingdom is offered. Beatitudes comes from the Latin, beatitudo or from the Greek mukapios meaning “blessed” or “happy.” The basic meaning of blessedness is – “a state of being that pertains to the god’s and is now be awarded to humans.” The Beatitudes describe the values that the disciples of Jesus are called to take up conscientiously and affirmatively and adopt as a life-style. And if they do, then what belongs to God is offered to them as a reward. As Christians, we believe that this reward is the very Kingdom of God – Jesus himself.



Let me offer three practical implications from today’s readings.



1. Let me begin with what I said earlier. The Beatitudes are proposed as a life-style to a follower of Jesus. In other words, through the Beatitudes Jesus is proposing a life-style. I call is the Jesus life-style. This is ever more clear when we study the context in which Jesus preaches the Beatitudes. The context is the Sermon on the Mount. In fact, the Beatitudes begin the Sermon on the Mount. In the rest of the Sermon, Jesus will lay out the demands of accepting the Jesus life-style. Praying for one’s enemies, loving those who hate us, not judging, becoming pure in heart, choosing the narrow path… The life style Jesus proposes is a far cry from the attitudes that I outlined in the introduction. In fact, I propose we make it a point to pick up the Bible and read all of Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7. You will see the kind of life proposed by Jesus. It is to those who follow this kind of life that Jesus promises the blessedness or the kingdom of God.



2. The foundation of the Jesus life-style is humility. The first reading urges us to seek justice and seek humility (Zeph 2:3), for God seeks a humble and lowly people (Zeph 3:12). Humility does not mean demeaning, degrading, or deprecating oneself. Humility does not mean timidity. Rather to be humble is to consider others as precious to God as I consider myself to be. To be humble is to admit that I do not know the mind of God. Humility is about realizing that we cannot damn the rest of the people and walk into heaven, rather, that we are accountable and responsible for one another. To be humble is to be able love those who hate us, pray for those who persecute us, forgive those who have hurt us. To be humble is to value every human life as an expression of God no matter what their religious, political, cultural and national affiliation or their sexual orientation.



3. The Beatitudes, the life-style proposed by Jesus, and humility do not in any way suggest that a Christian should live a spineless life. In fact, the suggestion in the final two beatitudes is that a Christian should be ready to pay the price for his/her beliefs. The only thing is that the price does not make room for arrogance, judgment, prejudice, and condemnation in the Jesus life-style. That is easy to do these days. What is difficult to do is take a stand in favor of humility, love of enemies, praying for those who persecute us, for purity of heart, for meekness, for compassion and mercy, for forgiveness. These are the people who will be comforted, who will inherit the land, who will be satisfied, who will be shown mercy, who will see God, who will be called children of God, who will rewarded the kingdom of God.



In conclusion, let me offer this final thought. If we want to know what the Jesus life-style looks like we merely need to look at Jesus. We look at his life in the scriptures and we look at his life on this altar. Here is Jesus, the meek and humble of heart offering himself to us once more and till the end of the world in the form of bread and wine. There is no condemnation, no prejudice, and no hatred, There is only acceptance, love, compassion and forgiveness. As we say yes to Jesus, let us replace our attitudes with the Be-attitudes. Amen.



- Fr. Satish Joseph

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