Joy to the Poor
February 13/14, 2010
Fr. George Smiga
Luke 6:17, 20-26
An understandable response to Jesus’ words in today’s gospel is: What is this guy talking about? What does he mean that the poor and the hungry are blest or that the rich are in trouble? What’s so good about poverty? What’s bad about wealth? Without a question, Jesus’ words in today’s gospel are difficult to understand and there are many interpretations on the part of people who try to make sense out of them. I am going to give you two: one that I think does not work and one that does.
Let’s start with the one that I feel does not work. Some people try to make sense out of Jesus’ words by spiritualizing the meaning of poverty or wealth. They say that Jesus is not talking about material poverty or material wealth but rather spiritual attitudes. In this way, poverty becomes a kind of simplicity or detachment from material things. The poor, therefore, can be blest because their lives are not dictated by their possessions. Now, if you understand Jesus’ words in this way, you can understand why he is saying that “being poor” is good. This is a very popular way of understanding Jesus’ message. So popular, in fact, that Matthew, in his gospel uses it. When Matthew reports Jesus’ words in the beatitudes, he says: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who hunger for righteousness.”
Matthew spiritualizes the meaning of poverty and hunger. But today’s gospel from Luke does not. Luke says, “Blessed are you poor, blessed are you who are hungry.” So if we are going to be authentic to Luke, we must understand Jesus’ words without spiritualizing them. How can we do this?
I would suggest that the key to understanding Jesus’ words is the phrase the Kingdom of God. The gospel says, “Blessed are you poor, because yours is the Kingdom of God.” Now what is the Kingdom of God? The Kingdom of God is God’s plan for the world, what God wants to happen in the world. Both the Old Testament and the New Testament agree that this notion of the Kingdom of God has two essential aspects. First the Kingdom of God is going to be a place of peace, of plenty and of joy, where good things are available. Second, those good things are to be shared by all. In God’s kingdom, it is not only some people who are going to be filled, joyful, and happy. Everyone will possess those gifts.
Jesus proclaims the kingdom. It is only in light of his proclamation of the kingdom that we can understand why he thinks that some things are blest and some things are not. Jesus says, “Blessed are you poor,” not because poverty is a blessing. He says, “Blessed are you poor” because God is on your side. God’s plan for the world is to eliminate poverty, to eliminate hunger and so you who are presently poor are blest because God is going to bring you out of that suffering and poverty into a place of plenty and joy. Moreover, all who share in God’s vision for the world will assist the poor in leaving their poverty and hunger behind.
Jesus says, “Woe to you who are rich,” not because wealth is bad but that people who have wealth can be deceived by it. People who have all that they need, who are filled, who are not hungry, who are joyful, might think that everything is the way that it should be. It might be that way for them but God’s vision says that it must be that way for everyone. You see, the temptation of wealth and satisfaction is that we can conclude that if we are satisfied, then all is as it should be. What God’s vision of the Kingdom tells those who are blest is this: You must use your blessings so that others might be blest. You cannot be satisfied until everyone is satisfied, that you are not truly fed until everyone is fed, that you are not totally where you should be until all people can participate in the necessities of life, until all people have access to food, shelter, education and health care. This is the vision that God sets out: good things for all those who are a part of humanity.
Now it’s easy to object to this vision, to say that it is unrealistic. We can object that there will never come a time when everyone can share in the bounty of the earth, when everyone will be fed and everyone will be safe. Those practical objections must be heard. But the scriptures are insistent: God’s plan is to bring the good things of the earth to everyone. Both the Old Testament and the New Testament are clear, what God wants to do in our world is to bring food and shelter and housing and education to everyone and we who believe in this God are called to participate in that message.
So where does this leave us? It leaves us with a choice. Are we going to believe and accept Jesus’ proclamation of the Kingdom or not? If we do accept it, then it means that whenever we are hungry, whenever we are persecuted, whenever we are lost or struggling, we are blest. We know that God is for us, that God intends for us to move out of our hunger and our pain into the fullness of the Kingdom. We can trust that God is with us and all those who believe in God’s plan are there to assist us. On the other hand if we are blest, if we are satisfied, then we are challenged. We are challenged to use the things that God has given us for the sake of others, to believe that we cannot be satisfied until all are satisfied.
That’s a vision that not everyone accepts. It’s a vision that we ourselves do not accept all the time, but it is clear that that vision is God’s vision. That is what the scriptures tell us. We who seek a relationship with God are called to believe that vision, to use the blessings that we have received to bring God’s goodness to others, to reduce poverty and want so that others might live in a satisfied and fulfilled way. We are called to believe this because it is the gospel; it is the call to build the Kingdom of God.
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