Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
How many of us think of ourselves as “serious Christians?” If you are one of the people who put your hand up, here is a second question: What is the standard against which you evaluate your being a “serious Christian?” Are there criteria by which you judge yourself? For example, for some it is never missing mass on Sunday. For others, it is being pro-life, or reading the Bible each day, or saying morning or evening prayer. For yet other people it is about being good to other people and being in church regularly. But today is about you. Do you think of yourself as a serious follower of Jesus?
When Jesus began his work among the people he started by gathering around him a group of people – we know them as disciples. Part of his task was also to form each one of them into a certain kind of people. He wanted those who follow him to have certain qualities or virtues. The person of Jesus, his message, and his work would require people of certain character. Those who could become the kind of people that Jesus intended them to be, we call them “serious Christians,” or “DISCIPLES.
I am arguing that the Beatitudes Is about the character that Jesus wanted his disciples to have This really is the main theme of the Beatitudes. Beatitudes comes from the Latin, beatitudo or from the Greek mukapios meaning “blessed” or “happy.” The basic meaning of “blessed” is – “a state of being that pertains to the god’s and is now be awarded to humans.” When Jesus used the word “blessed,” he tied it up with certain virtues that he wanted his followers to inculcate. The Beatitudes, then, describe the virtues that the disciples of Jesus are called to develop within them conscientiously. These are virtues the disciples of Jesus must affirmatively adopt as a life-style. Here are the criteria by which they must judge themselves. And if they do, then what belongs to God is offered to them as a reward.
What are the virtues that Jesus wants his disciples to inculcate? Let us divide the eight beatitudes into two main categories. Four of the beatitudes are active virtues and four are passive. The active (the ones in which the disciple is the main actor) are: the meek, those who, the merciful, the clean of heart and the peacemakers; the passive (ones in which the disciple is acted upon) are: the poor in spirit, the meek, those who mourn and those persecuted for the sake of the Kingdom.
The reward for such a follower of Jesus is heaven itself - the Kingdom of God.
Let me offer three practical implications for today.
1. Through the beatitudes Jesus lays before us the Christian character. In other words, this is what a disciple should look like – poor in spirit, ready to mourn rather than do harm, meek, merciful, clean of heart, a peacemaker, and ready to boldly suffer for the sake of right. Each of these virtues is interrelated. This is a total package. We cannot be merciful without being peacemakers or vice-versa. We cannot be clean of heart without being poor in spirit. We cannot be peacemakers without being meek. We cannot be ready to mourn if we do not believe that we will have to suffer for the sake of peace and righteousness.
Remember that I began this homily with the question, “What is the standard by which I judge myself?” Well, the beatitudes is the criteria. I think what Jesus is saying to us is this – that we must take the beatitudes and make it the standard toward which we must grow. So do you want to know if you are a serious Christian? Do you want to know that you are a disciple? Do you want to know whether you think, talk and act like Jesus? Evaluate your life in light of the beatitudes.
2. Today’s readings offer us another clue as to how we can develop the character of the disciples of Jesus. The key to discipleship or “serious Christianity: is humility and justice. Listen to today’s first reading: “Seek the LORD, all you humble of the earth… seek justice, seek humility. (Zeph 2:3) I will leave as a remnant in your midst a people humble and lowly… They shall do no wrong and speak no lies.” (Zeph 3:12). How do we define humility Let me give you an example. By now you all know I received a puppy for Christmas. I love this dog, but I have had to make major adjustments to my life. So last week I said to my staff, “I love this dog, but do you think we really needed her?” And they said to me, “No, but she needed us.” Humility is letting other people and their needs being as important as our own needs. A disciple of Jesus cannot be meek, cannot mourn, or be ready to suffer without humility. So, think of the immigrants, the homeless, the starving, or those imprisoned. What changes must we to our lives because of them?
And what about Justice? Justice is giving to God and people what is due them. For example, I owe it to others that I treat them with dignity and respect. I owe it to other people that I think of them with a clean heart and pure heart. I owe it to God that I come before God poor in spirit.
3. A word about the reward. I began this homily by asking the question whether you consider yourself to be a serious Christian. I also asked you about the criteria by which you judge yourself. That criterion is the Jesus. On the cross Jesus is poor and meek, he mourns for our sins, and as a peacemaker he forgives instead of vowing revenge. On the cross we see the beatitudes lived to its perfection. What was his reward? First of all, it was the satisfaction of living life humbly and justly before God. His reward was the people who began to follow his cause. His reward was the he initiated God’s Kingdom here on earth. His ultimate reward was God himself.
Today if decide to go home and make a firm resolution to live our lives by the beatitudes, let us not do this for the reward. The reward will come because we strived to be disciples of Jesus. Our reward is discipleship. Our reward is the satisfaction we get because we lived honest, clean, just and humble lives. To such people God will give the very gift of God’s own self.
As we come to celebrate this Eucharist, Christ offers himself to us in humility and Jesus. As we receive Christ may we become the kind of people Christ has chosen us to be. Amen.
Fr. Satish Joseph