How Happy Are You… (Lk 6:17-26)
6th Sunday in Ordinary
A few years ago, on a Saturday in February I was travelling from Nairobi to Dar es Salaam. My companion on this 1000 kilometre journey was a priest. Both of us had sermons to preach the next day. At one point during the journey, the priest friend asked me, “Selvam, have you by chance looked up at the gospel text for tomorrow?” “Oh yes, it is the Beatitudes from Luke,” I said. And he seemed to be sure of himself as he said, “Oh… the Sermon on the Mount!” My immediate reply was, “No, not really! In fact, it is a sermon from the plains!”
Often when we look at Gospel texts we easily say: oh yes, I know it. For instance, when the boy Jesus was lost in the temple, [we say:] he was preaching to the teachers (see Lk 2:46), or in the parable of the ‘Prodigal Son’, when the younger son left for a distant country with all his property [we say:] he spent his time and wealth with prostitutes (Lk 15:13). But actually, that is not what the text is saying, and I think, it is not even what is implied! In any case, in the Gospel of Luke, why does Jesus deliver the set of statements beginning with ‘Blessed’ or ‘Happy’ and ‘Alas or Woe’, from ‘a piece of level ground’ (Lk 6:17)?
Secondly, in these statements Jesus seems to have a concept of time that is divided into two phases: the now and the later, or a state of before and after – “Happy you who are hungry now: you shall be satisfied; … alas for you who laugh now: you shall mourn and weep” (Lk 6:21,25). But what happens in between these two phases? What is it that will bring about that change in the world-order? Is it the death and resurrection of Jesus? Is it my own death? Or is it something else?
Let us try to answer three questions in this reflection:
- What could have been the significance of these statements for Jesus himself within the framework of his own life and ministry?
- How could this ‘sermon on the plains’ be interpreted within the larger agenda of the Gospel of Luke?
- Finally, what could it mean for us today?
The Manifesto of Jesus
Three Sundays ago, we heard how Jesus went to the synagogue at Nazareth to begin his public ministry (Lk 4:14-21). On that occasion Jesus was alone embarking on a mission, and he proclaimed it in his ‘mission statement’: “The spirit of the Lord has been given to me… He has sent me to bring the good news to the poor!” Between then and now, through chapters 4 to 6 of the gospel of Luke, we see how Jesus has been living out that mission: reaching out to the weak and needy: healing the sick and the possessed, uplifting women (Lk 4:38-39) and befriending sinners (Lk 5:29-32). In short, he has been the ‘Good News’ to the poor. Meanwhile, he has been gathering a community of disciples around him. The community will be part of the Good News and it will replicate what He himself is doing. In Lk 6:12 (just before the gospel text of today), we see Jesus going up the mountain spending the night in prayer. At day break he summons his disciples to the top of mountain, and chooses twelve of them to be his ‘apostles’ (Lk 6:13). It is with this new band that he comes down the mountain, stands on a level ground, and delivers his ‘manifesto’ describing the world-order that Jesus wants to create together with his apostles.
In a sense, it is a continuation of the world-order that Moses wanted to create, but it is also different from it, perhaps even deeper than that! The Law that Moses gave – the 10 commandments – were meant for a particular nation of Israel. And they were commandments! They went with a penal system based on fear and sanctions. The eight aphorisms (4 positive and 4 negative) that Jesus makes are proposals that are proclaimed to all the nations that are spread out in the eight directions or eight corners of the earth! It is a clarion call to wellbeing and happiness. At the centre of this manifesto is the Kingdom of God – the reign of God. It will be an all-inclusive Kingdom – of the poor, the hungry, the sad, the persecuted, the women, and the commoner. Therefore, the manifesto is delivered from the plains. The kingdom that Jesus wants to establish through his ministry is a community that will be accessible to all. And it will be a community where all can find happiness and wellbeing.
The Lord hears the cry of the poor!
As I was meditating on this passage, I could not but think of another similar, powerful statement within the Gospel of Luke. To me, the tone of this message of Jesus was introduced by Mary in the Magnificat (Lk 1:46-55):
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour;
because he has looked upon the humiliation of his servant. …
He has used the power of his arm, he has routed the arrogant of heart.
He has pulled down princes from their thrones and raised high the lowly.
He has filled the starving with good things, sent the rich away empty.
He has come to the help of Israel his servant, mindful of his faithful love.
Yes, the Kingdom of God belongs to the poor. Who are the poor? The poor are those who are in need of the help of God; those who are open to the plan of God in their lives; those who are simple hearted. The poor are those who trust in the Lord. In the first reading of today Prophet Jeremiah (17:7) says, “A blessing on the man who puts his trust in the Lord, with the Lord for his hope.” And we sang in the responsorial Psalm, “Happy the man who has placed his trust in Lord,” because to them the Kingdom of God belongs!
Experience of God in the person of Jesus will make the difference
When is this going to happen? When will this manifesto of Jesus be fully realised? First of all, it was realised in the person of Jesus: the kingdom of God is already here, he said so often (Lk 10:9). His life project was to establish a kingdom where human life will flourish. For this He laid down His life. Jesus was killed because He knew that the Kingdom of God cannot be established by a force of power, but only through the conversion of hearts. Therefore, when I make a choice of will – in the core of my being – to be part of the Kingdom of God, then the beatitudes become a reality to me. I become part of the Kingdom.
Jesus uses the word, ‘blessed’ with a different slant from the way it was used by his contemporaries. In the Old Testament, someone who is blessed is one who has a fruitful wife (Ps 128), many children (Gen 1:22), plenty of property (Ps 112), is free from all trouble (Ps 41) and has no enemies (Ps 18). Jesus invites me to go beyond these material criteria of wellbeing, to a deeper level, where I remain unperturbed even amidst difficulty because I have experienced God in the person of Jesus.
If I hunger and thirst (Ps 42:1; 63:1-2) for an experience of God in the person of Jesus, I will be satisfied. If I am able to take risks for the fulfilment of my thirst for God in Jesus then I will be truly happy. This is the mission of the church today – the community of disciples of Jesus – to mediate the experience of God in the person of Jesus. And this experience is accessible to all. And this is the way.
Sahaya G. Selvam, sdb