A referendum on the status quo 

All three readings this Sunday work together to launch, with resounding and robust rhetoric, the grand charter of Jesus’ message, one that will permeate his entire ministry.  The first reading from the prophet Zephaniah lifts up the humble and truthful people who will find refuge in the Lord. These faithful ones, thought of as the weak, will constitute the saving remnant after the destruction of the idolatrous unfaithful ones. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians celebrates that the members of this Christian community are not counted among those whom society defines as the wise, powerful, or noble. Though the Greco-Roman world may view this community as the lowly, Paul assures them that they are the very ones God has chosen. Finally, Matthew’s Gospel introduces Jesus going up a mountain to deliver his Magna Carta, which may have encouraged expectations among this Jewish Christian community that he would be a new Moses-like figure. Jesus does not undercut laws reminiscent of the Ten Commandments, regulating important outward observances and actions. He does, however, unveil a further program on the cultivation of interiority, a program that will transform humanity. His proclamations of blessedness in the Beatitudes sketch a spectacular reversal of the reigning values, hierarchies, and societal priorities that have led to injustice and oppression across all peoples.   

The notion of “blessed” that echoes within each of these Beatitudes has become such a common expression on different occasions that it may have lost its meaning for some.  For example, we often characterize people who are thriving in life, or recipients of positive outcomes, or granted unexpected successes as blessed. In more mundane circumstances, we bless someone who sneezes, not thinking too much of what we intend.  Alternatively, in times of suffering, we bless the sick or those struggling with life crises. 

But what significance does the status of being blessed carry, especially among these Beatitudes? First and foremost, to be blessed means to be claimed by God. In the Beatitudes, the status of being claimed by God signifies one marked by such dispositions as mercy, cleanness of heart, righteousness, being comforted in sorrow, being a peacemaker, and being persecuted for righteousness. Yet, more concretely, the blessedness accompanying these Beatitudes requires real life implementations. For example, blessedness comes to those of us willing to be poor in spirit when we decide to surrender excesses of possessions, power, privilege, and prestige so that the poor, the powerless, those who lack status and a sense of self-worth will be elevated.  

In the first and eighth Beatitudes, Jesus defines the possession of the kingdom of heaven as the outcome of such blessedness. Think of how often we ourselves pray for the coming of this “kingdom.” Each time we recite the Lord’s prayer, we pray “thy kingdom come.” Do we ever consider that the manifestation of that kingdom depends, in part, on us? This kingdom, about which we hear Jesus preach frequently throughout Matthew’s Gospel, is not an elusive distant reality or some future beyond human existence. The establishment of the kingdom of God visions a domain of wholeness, integrity, and freedom for all. Jesus offers a prescription for its manifestation here and now in this Sunday’s Gospel. Living according to these Beatitudes, which are the very values that Jesus manifested in his life, ushers in this kingdom. He welcomes us to participate with him in a life governed by these precepts for blessing. Whether we are among those who mourn, those who are poor in spirit, those who extend mercy, or those who willingly suffer persecution for justice’s sake, each one of us is invited to find ourselves in these Beatitudes. The resulting collective blessedness not only assures God’s claim on us but also unites us with one another in bringing about the kingdom that Jesus promised.