Beatitudes

FOURTH SUNDAY (A)
Mt. 5: 1-12

THE BEATITUDES

The Gospel today comes as a very big disappointment to ambitious-minded people that God does not look for success gauged and measured in human terms. Nowhere do we hear this message more clearly than in the gospel we have just read, which is the opening passage of Christ’s Sermon on the Mount – generally known as the beatitudes. In poetic language they tell us what a true Christian should be and spell out the CORRECT relationship of man to God. We might feel uncomfortable as we listen to Christ’s perspective on what brings happiness right now in this life and not just in the future. In a startling reversal of earthly standards he puts a high value on mercy, forgiveness and gentleness. He rejects out of hand wealth, rank and freedom to do what we choose, because they give us the impression that we can manage our affairs without taking God into consideration. Every thing the world values as a blessing is absent from what Jesus teaches in the beatitudes and everything the world counts a failure Jesus proposes as a blessing. Human success and power count for nothing in God’s eyes. Holiness and wealth do not fit comfortably together.

The beatitudes give us cause for reflection as they turn our normal value system upside down, forcing us to confront whether we are guided by the gospel or by the pattern set by society.

The life of a follower of Christ is not meant to be easy as it calls on us to do things that don’t come NATURALLY to us. Remember Jesus is still speaking to us today and wanting to know: “Are we kind, considerate and helpful, or are we selfish and lazy? He offers us a joy which shines trough sorrow and suffering and which nothing in life or death can take away.

What is the basis of our happiness? Are we in the same pattern with Jesus?