February 14, 2010 6th Ordinary Sunday Jer. 17:5-8; 1 Cor. 15:12, 16-20; Lk. 6:17, 20-26 _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________   Readings:    http://www.usccb.org/nab/021410.shtmln   ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________       The sermon of Jesus introduced the signs of the kingdom. God is gathering a people to be with him for eternity; a new creation, a new Israel. Those entering the kingdom are blessed, but woe to those who remain outside. Who then are these "blessed" ones who stand now in a new relationship with the living God? They are the "poor" who "hunger", "weep", and whom "men hate". The poor are the ones broken before God; they know they are sinners, lost before God and desire to be restored; they hunger and thirst for their vindication; they weep for their state of loss in the sight of God. They are hated, yes, by the world, but more so by their brothers, religious churchman, the self-righteous, those who condemn and judge the evil in others.   What makes one blessed is not simply poverty or hunger or sadness, but commitment to the Son of Man (v. 22); and like the false prophets of old, the ones condemned are those who compromised their values in order to be accepted and succeed. This closer look shows us that Jesus’ message is actually very similar to Jeremiah’s and that found in the psalm: trust God and cherish God’s law. In other words, if you choose God, you will be blessed. On the other hand, if you choose human standards, you will succumb to the woe.   Still, trusting in God is easier said than done, because we are all so influenced by the standards of the day. We are bombarded by advertisements that assure us we have a right to a high-paying job, even without working for it; the excessively wealthy are held up as icons to be emulated; and the needy are disdained as unworthy of our attention. At every turn we are offered food—“all you can eat”—and the only valid reason for depriving oneself is to lose weight in order to achieve the body of a model. The weeping of which Jesus speaks is probably the frustration that people on the margins experience when they are denied the opportunities that every society owes all its citizens.   Today’s church includes many people who leave everything to follow Christ, live in actual solidarity with poor people and are insulted, hated and persecuted for this. At the same time, the church depends on the generosity of people of means to further its mission.   <<   Previous: 5th Ordinary Sunday  | Next: Ash Wednesday >>   Go Back to SERMONS (Year C)