Today's gospel (Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, year C) needs to be read carefully to get the social justice impact. Look carefully at who are blessed: "…you who are poor"; "…you who are hungry now"; "…you who are now weeping." These aren't the spiritualized "poor in spirit" or those who "hunger and thirst for righteousness" of Matthew's Sermon on the Mount. These are the down-to-earth beatitudes of Luke's Sermon on the Plain, the "stretch of level ground" where Luke hopes to level the playing field for the people of first century Palestine. He really meant the poor, the hungry, and the weeping! These are people who were considered shamed in an honor/shame culture. He turns their society's notion of status upside down by saying that even those who the world deems shamed, because of their poverty or loss, are nonetheless blessed in God's eyes.
Note, too, that Jesus was speaking to his own disciples when he preached these beatitudes. Thus, his message was not meant for the world in general but for those who have already chosen to follow him. He expected his disciples to embrace the shamed and give afford them the honor, the blessedness, with which God created them.
So, for all the followers of Christ, here is a social justice exercise for this week: If Jesus were delivering the Sermon on the Plain today, who do you think he might include as the poor, the hungry, and the weeping? Who do we consider shameful today? How might we better honor them as those blessed by God?
Copyright © 2010, Deacon Carl D. Smith. All rights reserved. Reprint permission granted to parishes for use in Sunday bulletins.
