Father Thomas Welbers' Homily	Jump back to Homily Index
Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, February 15, 2004 Jeremiah 17:5-8 1 Corinthians 15:12, 16-20 Luke 6:17, 20-26	Listen to Audio

Everybody knows the famous section in St. Matthew’s Gospel called the “Sermon on the Mount,” and we are all familiar with the “Eight Beatitudes” that begin the Sermon on the Mount, even if we can’t recite them from memory. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs in the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they who mourn for they shall be comforted . . .” And so on. These Beatitudes are so familiar, and many generations of Christians find inspiration and comfort in those words. In fact, they are so familiar that they kind of wash over us as nice, holy words.

St. Luke, in writing his Gospel, may have realized that it’s easy to take the Beatitudes for granted, so he rewrote to give them more “bite.” In Luke there are only half as many Beatitudes, four instead of eight – but the four he chose pack a wallop: “Blessed are you who are poor (notice he didn’t say “poor in spirit” he said “poor,: without qualification), for the kingdom of God is yours. Blessed are you who are now hungry (notice he didn’t say “hunger and thirst for righteousness,” as Matthew did, he says “hungry,” without qualification), for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh.” And the fourth one he expands, underscores, and repeats because, well, he really means it: “Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you and denounce your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold your reward will be great in heaven. For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way.”

Notice that in Luke Jesus changes from the third person to the second person. In Matthew we hear, “Blessed the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” In Luke it’s “Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours.” In Matthew’s Beatitudes we might always say, “Well, he really means somebody else, not me.” But not in Luke; you and I know full well he means you and me – not somebody else. There’s no wiggle room!

And then Luke adds four Woes, that correspond exactly to the four beatitudes: “Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are filled now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will grieve and weep. Woe to you when all speak well of you, for their ancestors treated the false prophets in the same way.”

I don’t know about you, but those words make me feel very uncomfortable. And yet, they can’t be explained away. We can’t say, well Jesus really means something else.

So how can we understand these words? They seem to be telling us something that’s impossible. Do we look for another savior? The key to understanding, I believe, comes in the context. Look at what comes before and after. Prior to this “Sermon on the Plain” in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus had spent the night in prayer, and then he chose, by name, his Twelve Apostles from among the many disciples who had been following him. Then, as we heard at the beginning of the Gospel, a great crowd of people, needy people, sick people, people possessed with demons, came to him, and he touched them and healed them all.

Then he speaks the Beatitudes and the Woes. Notice that the beatitudes turn the values of the world upside down. The world seeks wealth, and happiness, and power, and security – and ignores the poor and hungry, the exploited and those who are in some way different. The values of the world also lead to the rejection and persecution of anyone who threatens them – whether it be in upholding the value of human life and human dignity, or in saying no to solutions of violence and death in response to violence and death, or in pointing out that the wealth of the few is an obscenity in face of the poverty of the many in our world.

But words devoid of deeds are empty, that’s why the verses that come after the Beatitudes and Woes are so important. “But to you who hear, I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. . . . Do to others as you would have them do to you.”

Precisely in those areas pointed out by the Beatitudes and the Woes – wealth and poverty, security and starvation, what makes us happy and what makes us sad or mad, whom we love us and whom wehate us, and why – precisely in those areas we have to ask ourselves about our attitudes and our motives. It’s not hard to see that overriding concern for wealth so easily leads to not even seeing the poor, violence and revenge lead to more violence – and that inevitably carries its own woe. While the love that does good even in return for evil, even at an unrepaid cost, the love that unites ones own resources to the needs of others without expecting return, carries its own blessedness. Do we follow the values of the world, which values are usually expressed, “do unto others what they do unto you,” or even, “do unto others before they do unto you?” Or do we follow the way of Christ, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you?”

© Thomas Welbers 2004