Homily for 4th Sunday of Ordinary Time
The Beatitudes are perhaps, with the exception of the Lords Prayer, more familiar to us than any other scriptural passage. As well as being read at the Sunday Masses, it is also the scriptural extract most commonly chosen for funerals and weddings. It is understandable then if we become over-familiar with the beatitudes and, consequently, bored by them. Their freshness and their novelty are often lost on us. The people who formed the first audience at this sermon on the mountain would have been struck by its revolutionary tone, by the fact that the religious world they were so familiar with was being turned upside down by this preacher. This is the new Moses delivering a new law from a new mountain top. The old law was a long catalogue of negative prohibitions. The new law is a brief list of positive recommendations.
Even when viewed today, two thousand years later, this sermon retains a freshness and a challenge. It seems to capture the essence of Christianity and to sum up perfectly the type of life that Jesus himself lived. It reverses the values by which most of us normally live our lives and proposes a way of living that is utterly focused on other people. They explain how to spend this life in order to attain everlasting happiness in heaven. Following Christ is not meant to be easy. It is a challenge we must face afresh every day of our lives. We are invited to do things that do not come naturally to us like being humble, showing mercy and opening our hearts to those in need. On the surface, the gospel might appear to be an idealisation of poverty and a condemnation of riches. Jesus did not advocate poverty as a value to be sought for its own sake; in fact he viewed material poverty and deprivation as an evil that should be eliminated. He was concerned instead with the store we set on wealth, on riches, on status. Likewise with humility. Jesus never advocated that his followers go around behaving like over-used door mats. He was concerned with perspective. He was concerned that we would have a true appreciation of what was really valuable in this life. We live in a world which praises efficiency, glorifies success and worships power and status. Society announces that happiness comes from wealth, affluence and freedom from any form of pain. These are the goals that are proposed to our young people as ideals. Instant gratification is common expectation is a society increasingly driven by consumerism. And the ideals of consumerism are propagated through every channel of communication in our society.
While there is nothing wrong in itself with aspiring to the BMW, the semi-detached or even the ubiquitous mobile phone, their superficiality will be exposed in the day of trial. If we rely on such things for peace and happiness, they will fail us. The truth is we have not got a steady grip on life. Suffering and death is a reality that will not go away. Even if all other problems were suitably resolved we would still have to contend with death. Jesus is not against our striving for true happiness; after all, he came that we might have life and have it abundantly. 'Rejoice and be glad' was his final bit of advice to his listeners in today's gospel. Nevertheless, he bluntly warns us against putting our trust exclusively in material comforts because, in the long run, it will turn out to be a misplaced confidence. There is more to life than superficial passing things. Our hungers are greater than those addressed by material things alone. Jesus told us that the Kingdom of God dwells within us. If that divine spark within us is not nourished and sustained, then we will remain forever hungry and dissatisfied.