Reading
Lk 6:20-26
20 Looking at his disciples, he said:
“Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
21 Blessed are you who hunger now,
for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
22 Blessed are you when people hate you,
when they exclude you and insult you
and reject your name as evil,
because of the Son of Man.
23 “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.
24 “But woe to you who are rich,
for you have already received your comfort.
25 Woe to you who are well fed now,
for you will go hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now,
for you will mourn and weep.
26 Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you,
for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.
Comment
The Beatitudes are the summary of the law of the whole gospel, its beating heart, which contains the meaning of the entire preaching of Jesus. Luke the evangelist summarizes them in four - instead of the nine of Matthew - and counterbalances them by making them follow by four curses. Jesus raises his eyes toward his disciples before pronouncing them (v. 20); this makes us think that perhaps Luke's narration refers to a more intimate occasion than the discourse reported in the Gospel of Matthew, where Jesus "saw the crowds, went up on a mountainside" (Mt 5:1).
The objects of the four beatitudes are respectively: poverty, hunger, weeping and persecution. That of the four curses is wealth, satiety, laughter, and good fame. Important clarifications must be made here: Jesus does not exalt poverty per se; but he shows a particular predilection for those who are placed on the margins of society, to the point of proclaiming beatitude for those who "because of the Son of man" (v. 22) incurred excommunication from the synagogue, being voted to perdition. Many times in the history of the Church too those who prophetically opposed the betrayal of evangelical values have been banned.
The first curse concerns a danger from which Jesus frequently warns in his preaching: "You cannot serve both God and money" (Mt 6:24). Accumulating and managing wealth requires time and expenditure of energy, which inevitably are subtracted from the prerogatives of the kingdom.
Simplicity of life, in the expectation of paraklesis, or consolation (v. 24) at the end of time is the distinctive trait of the true disciple, who from now on, as Paul affirms in his First Letter to the Corinthians, lives as if no longer belonged to this world: "What I mean, brothers and sisters, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they do not; those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away" (1 Cor 7:29-31).
Feeling "rich", feeling "full", feeling "at ease with the conscience" thanks to the complacent judgment of the false prophets, determine the departure from the path of life and from bliss in the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus looks for people "hungry" and "thirsty" for truth, justice, consolation, and his grace: "Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water" (Ps 1:1.3 ).
Prayer
May your grace, o Lord, assist us in the journey along the ways of justice, to reach the beatitude that awaits your disciples in heaven. Amen.
- Rev. Dr. Luca Vona
