“Blessed are you…. Rejoice in that day.” Jesus, in Luke 6:17-26.
“Blessed are the cracked, for they shall let in the light.” Groucho Marx.
Today’s Gospel has a similar account in Matthew, the sermon on the Mount, which emphasises that the teaching in it came down from God. Luke’s occurs on a plain, often linked with ordinary events as well as suffering, death, hunger and being unable to rise up. It happens just after Jesus has chosen twelve of his disciples to be apostles, those sent out, and he has not chosen scholars or educated men who can take on the religious leaders of the day. Amongst the apostles are fishermen, working people, a tax collector and even a former social agitator – all of them people who have left the familiar behind to follow Jesus. Luke writes that a great crowd of disciples was present as well as a multitude of people from Judaea, Jerusalem, Tyre and Sidon – clearly, people want to hear what Jesus has to say and are willing to travel a long way to do so.
In his version, Matthew (5:3-12) has nine beatitudes whereas Luke has four, which are followed by four woes. Surrounded as he is by people hungry for his teaching, Jesus speaks of God’s love for the poor, the hungry, the sad and those who are hated, excluded, reviled or defamed. He calls them blessed – not because they are in this state but because they have only God to trust and are dear to him. Their reward will be great in heaven, says Jesus, whereas the rich, the full, those laughing and those acclaimed by others now have choices which may mean that they don’t need God and so may not seek or find him. Jesus warns them of the woe to come and of being distracted by false prophets rather than listening to the word of God.
Jesus’ words then are appropriate today as we consider the similarities and priorities of our own lives and the world we live in today. On All Saints’ Day in 2016, Pope Francis suggested six ‘modern Beatitudes‘ for our times:
1. Blessed are those who remain faithful while enduring evils inflicted on them by others and forgive them from their heart.
2. Blessed are those who look into the eyes of the abandoned and marginalised and show them their closeness.
3. Blessed are those who see God in every person and strive to make others also discover Him.
4. Blessed are those who protect and care for our common home.
5. Blessed are those who renounce their own comfort in order to help others.
6. Blessed are those who pray and work for full communion between Christians.
Today, I would add a humorous seventh: Blessed are those who are loving to the dog that has, overnight, chewed their iPad charger into five pieces and been sick!
What Beatitudes are appropriate for 2025? As we consider our own situations, where are the blessings and what makes us woeful? How might that enable us to change our priorities and reach out to others, that woes may be transformed, blessings increased and God’s will be done on earth as in heaven?
With my prayers; pob bendith,
Christine, Priest Guardian.