4th Sunday Year A - Homily 3

Homily 3 – 2011 

Here we go again!  The Beatitudes.  We’ve heard them before.  I know – but let’s try a fresh look.  Whom was Jesus talking to?  Matthew mentioned the disciples and the crowds.  Crowds?  Must have been a weekend!  Well, no!  On a Sabbath, no one could walk any distance, much less up a mountain.  So, who made up the crowds?  Jesus was talking to the rural peasantry of Galilee – the tenant farmers, the repossessed, the day-labourers, the unemployed, the mobile sick.  He had told them earlier that change was in the air – change for the better: The Kingdom of heaven was close at hand.  God was about to intervene.

The Galilean peasantry: The poor: so poor, and so used to it, that even their spirits had become poor, crushed and without hope.   Those who mourn: when societies oppress some people pitilessly, those affected feel desperate, sad – they mourn.   The gentle …  [not a good translation in this case].  Usually, the word was applied to those in a situation of inferiority – a situation they unquestioningly accepted as inevitable, without complaining, without rebelling … [not unlike the “untouchables” in certain societies].  Not surprisingly, such crowds hungered and thirsted for justice.  It was to these who had known only exclusion, that Jesus proclaimed that, as far as God was concerned, the Kingdom of heaven was also for them, especially for them.  Theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.  They would be comforted.  They would inherit the land.  They would be satisfied.

Jesus was in the process of kindling their hope, because people without hope lack the energy and the interest to change.  They needed to know that they counted.  They needed to know that they were loved – loved, indeed, by God.  And, even though the coming Kingdom would be very much God’s doing, in order to experience it, they would need to change radically – and so would society.

Does that speak to us?  None of us experiences deprivation – [though there are many people in our world who do].  Perhaps, the deprivation in our culture is a deprivation of meaning, of purpose.  So many people go all out for comfort, for gratification, or for excitement, because they are scared to face the deeper loneliness and emptiness within them.  It needn’t be that way.  Things can be different.  God wants things to be different.  Perhaps, first, our world needs to become aware of its thirst.  And, then, it needs hope.

But it needs more.  It needs our co-operation.  Jesus listed three non-negotiable responses. Those three responses were: mercy, purity of heart and determined commitment to reconciliation and peace.  Mercy and peace-making are clear enough.  The pure of heart are roughly those without other agendas, single-minded and clear about where they come from, where they are going, and how to get there.  So, for the Kingdom to eventuate, three things are necessary: mercy, single-mindedness and commitment to co-operation, community building and reconciliation.

How do we rate as a nation? as a Church? as a local community?  How do we rate ourselves? Are these our priorities? our family’s priorities?  It won’t work, of course, in the short term.  People don’t want to change.  They will object to us if we push consistently for mercy, single-mindedness and reconciliation.  They might even exploit our simplicity.  

The last of the Beatitudes holds out a wonderful possibility – in the face of opposition, misunderstanding, and exploitation, we shall find the God-given freedom to be unflappable – even more, to be glad and rejoice – whatever the outcomes.