Last Sunday, Jesus launched his mission with a simple, clear message and exhortation: “Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” In today’s gospel Matthew introduces us to the beatitudes of Jesus. In them we see the kind of repentance or change of heart Jesus is asking of us, if we wish to enjoy the blessings of God’s kingdom and experience the kind of happiness God is offering us.
In the Beatitudes, Jesus is not giving his disciples a new set of commandments or rules, do this or do not do this. They are declarations of blessing. They are Jesus’ recipe for happiness. The Beatitudes forms part of the things Jesus teaches.
Jesus does not tell us what to do and what not to do. He talks about what kind of people we should be. The beatitudes articulate a vision of life seen from the perspective of a God who is love. This was the vision of life Jesus himself embodied and lived. Jesus said, be gentle, be merciful, be peacemaker etc., all these things tell us what kind of person we want to be.
The question is what kind of a person do you want to be your friend? You want a person who is kind, one who cares for you. What kind of a person you want to marry? Not a person who murders but a person who is love and merciful in dealing with human beings.
What kind of person Jesus wants us to follow? He wants us to follow a kind and loving person, someone who is gentle and kind. These are the people God choose as his privileged instruments in the service of his Reign.
In the striking words of St. Paul in today’s second reading, “God chose what is foolish to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God (1Cor 1:2-29). These are the people through whom God works to realise his dream of a world transformed by the power of love, a world where the weak are protected and none go hungry, a world where peace is built on justice.
The beatitudes are the badges of a disciple of Christ. They make us rich in the sight of God. They open our minds and hearts to a new way of seeing and judging. They give us a whole new set of bearings. A person who lives according to the beatitudes is living in the Kingdom of heaven.
Fr. Alex Osei
SSC-USA Spiritual Director