topleft05.jpg (18208 bytes)HOMILY
Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time (A)
30 January 11
 


 

Most of us in one way or another have experienced an “orientation program” into some group or organization.  It could be the Cub or Girl Scouts, a company, or a fraternal or voluntary group.  The purpose for which these programs—sometimes they’re called “retreats”—are most oftentimes sponsored is to introduce neophytes to some of the values and history as well as the heroes and heroines of the group or organization.  Most importantly, this is how groups and organizations transmit all of those building blocks of culture to the next generation so that the new members will be the heroes and heroines for the next generation to emulate.

Today’s gospel, the familiar “Sermon on the Mount” or “Beatitudes,” provides the outline of Jesus’ orientation program.  In it, Jesus communicates the values that should evidence themselves in the words and actions of his disciples.  The challenge, of course, is that these values can only evidence themselves if they are rooted in the character (or “soul”) of each disciple.  This is how disciples in each generation become heroes and heroines of the faith—the “blessed”—like Pope John Paul II and Mother Theresa of Calcutta, among many others, in this generation.

However, the translation “Blessed are they” is somewhat problematic because, in English, the word “blessed” doesn’t convey the sense of the term as Jesus used it.  Arguably, a better translation would be “Truly honored are the _______, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

In this sense, the “honor” isn’t being accorded an elevated status in a group or organization.  Nor is the honor the acquisition of highly-coveted possessions that display one’s importance and worth in material terms.  After all, discipleship is not about status or worth.  All of that has everything to do with “this world” and absolutely nothing to do with the “kingdom of heaven.”

Instead, the sense of honor Jesus was teaching about concerns recognizing our complete dependence upon God who, in our need, blesses us—it is God who honors us—and especially when we are poor in spirit, when we mourn, when we are meek, when we are hungry and thirst for righteousness, when we are merciful, when we are pure of heart, when we are peacemakers, when we are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, and when we are insulted and persecuted and have every kind of evil falsely uttered against us because of our faith in what Jesus has taught and promises his disciples in every generation.

These are the situations in which we are “honorable” because the subjective state of character (or “soul”) is made objective through our words and actions.  Instead of reacting to misfortune by saying “Woe is me!” or demanding “Why did God do this to me?”, Jesus disciples understand that misfortune is the result of witnessing to the values of the kingdom of heaven, especially in a culture whose members believe those values are meaningless if not actively deny their validity for life today.  Suffering for one’s witness to the values of the kingdom of heaven is what brings blessing—honor—not from the people of this world, but from God and not for this world, but in the kingdom of heaven.  And, those who are so honored discover their true happiness in God.  Anyone who has read or is familiar with the biographies of Pope John Paul and Mother Theresa of Calcutta know about what people many said about them, of them, and charged them with because they witnessed to the values of the kingdom of heaven.

All of what our culture teaches us is the antithesis of what today’s scripture teaches and what Pope John Paul II and Mother Theresa of Calcutta taught by their example of discipleship for our generation.

In today’s first reading, the prophet Zephaniah warned the people of Israel that obedience to God is the only thing that would protect them from harm.  To be obedient rather than disobedient—like being obedient to a parent—requires rooting the virtue of humility in our character and acting on it through obedience.  As Zephaniah wrote, this subjective state would be made objective as the people of Israel remained committed to God’s standards, not the misguided policies implemented by powerful politicians like Manasseh and Amon, who survive in public office by amassing earthly resources—like political and economic power—rather than spiritual resources—like virtue.  Furthermore, Zephaniah argued that the better world the Israelites were seeking—the kingdom of heaven—would be constructed by the faithful remnant, as they spend their lives constructing peace and justice upon the foundations of faith and truth, not the illusions promised by ambition and pride.

St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians extends Zephaniah’s message, asserting that what the culture teaches will make people wise and powerful means absolutely nothing to God.  In contrast, St. Paul urges the Corinthians to recognize how God chooses those who appear to be foolish and weak in the judgment of the worldly to demonstrate to the wise and strong their complete emptiness and folly.  True wisdom and power comes as Christians remain united with the apparently foolish and weak Jesus, because he is the source of their wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.

All of these ideas are summed up in Jesus example in today’s gospel.  On the Mount, where Moses once received God’s Law and gave it to the Israelites, Jesus did not demonstrate his authority, as Moses did, by standing up and teaching the people.  No, Jesus sat down and taught the people that being “honored” by God requires suffering at the hands of the powerful, the wealthy, and the cultural elites who oppress Jesus’ disciples for proclaiming the values of the kingdom of heaven.  This kingdom is not one of oppression, but what God has in store for those who patiently endure oppression for their obedience to God.  The faithful, then, are those honorable ones who know that every minute of their misfortune is valuable and meaningful in God’s eyes, as they witness to the coming of the kingdom of heaven where wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption will be theirs as they live in the freedom of God’s beloved sons and daughters.

When we understand that when we are proud, independent, smart, strong, and invulnerable as well as when we stand up rather than sit down, we are doing nothing other than looking to our culture to provide the measure of our strength and success, making objective in our words and actions the sad subjective state of our souls.  Yes, our culture may have taught us all of this, but it is we who have decided to be dependent upon the people of this world rather than God.  That is our personal responsibility, not the fault of our culture.

It is so easy to slide into this worldly way of thinking, implicitly making worldly values the standard for measuring our happiness.  These are the media’s values to anesthetize us to the values. These also are the values of hardball politics.  These are the values which many people use today to judge the “quality of life” and what a life is “worth.”

As disciples, should people whose characters exude these values not be pitied rather than emulated?  Why, then, do so many of us emulate the people whose words and actions reveal the sad subjective state of their souls?

God views the world in a radically different way than do many people today.  As Zephaniah reminded us in today’s first reading, the faithful will be a remnant who will provide the foundation for God to manifest His strength, wisdom, and glory.

Having heard God’s word today, let us seek to become that faithful remnant, honored by God and not by the world, envisioning our true happiness in what Jesus taught in his orientation program.  May these values of the kingdom of heaven take root in and characterize the subjective state of our souls, so that our words and actions will be “honored” by God, making us more like Pope John Paul II and Mother Theresa of Calcutta.  Then, we will be doing our part as disciples in transmitting the building blocks of the kingdom of heaven to the next generation.

 

 

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