Epiphany 6 / Ordinary Time 6
Devotional
Water From the Rock
Lectionary Devotional for Cycle C
Object:
Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
-- Luke 6:20
In Matthew this beatitude is phrased a little differently. "Blessed are the poor in spirit," Matthew said. It is easier for us to translate such a beatitude into a need to be humble. Luke did not allow such wiggle room. Luke's version of the beatitudes challenges almost everything for which we strive. While we may have sympathy for the poor, the hungry, and those who weep, at best we want to raise them up to our much more comfortable state. We certainly have no desire to join them. We are forced by Luke to ask why we do not want to be poor, hungry, or to weep, or to be excluded on account of the Son of Man. In any of these conditions, we become needy and most of us would prefer to be independent and secure.
Luke invites us to consider the condition of life that the Hebrews experienced as they journeyed through the wilderness. They were poor, hungry, and wailing because of their condition. Yet, as their faith celebrates, it was in that state that they were drawn closer to God. When they were in a clear state of need, they learned that they could trust God to provide for them each day their daily bread. They did not have to be dependent on any other condition of life.
We have been raised to believe that by being secure in our physical, emotional, and relational situation, we are then free to choose our own direction in life. The problem is that we are still dependent on the sources of those conditions. The kingdom of God, which we say that we would like to enter, is that state in which we can trust God totally. Only then are we free to be the people God created us to be.
-- Luke 6:20
In Matthew this beatitude is phrased a little differently. "Blessed are the poor in spirit," Matthew said. It is easier for us to translate such a beatitude into a need to be humble. Luke did not allow such wiggle room. Luke's version of the beatitudes challenges almost everything for which we strive. While we may have sympathy for the poor, the hungry, and those who weep, at best we want to raise them up to our much more comfortable state. We certainly have no desire to join them. We are forced by Luke to ask why we do not want to be poor, hungry, or to weep, or to be excluded on account of the Son of Man. In any of these conditions, we become needy and most of us would prefer to be independent and secure.
Luke invites us to consider the condition of life that the Hebrews experienced as they journeyed through the wilderness. They were poor, hungry, and wailing because of their condition. Yet, as their faith celebrates, it was in that state that they were drawn closer to God. When they were in a clear state of need, they learned that they could trust God to provide for them each day their daily bread. They did not have to be dependent on any other condition of life.
We have been raised to believe that by being secure in our physical, emotional, and relational situation, we are then free to choose our own direction in life. The problem is that we are still dependent on the sources of those conditions. The kingdom of God, which we say that we would like to enter, is that state in which we can trust God totally. Only then are we free to be the people God created us to be.
