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During that time, it so happened that he went out to the mountain to pray, and spent the night in prayer to God.
On the way down with them, Jesus stopped at a level place. There was a huge crowd of his disciples and a great throng of his disciples and a great throng of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. They came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those who were tormented by unclean spirits were cured. And everyone in the crowd tried to touch him, since power would flow out from him and heal them all. Then he would look squarely at his disciples and say:
You are blessed, you poor!
Gods wholeness belongs to you.
You are blessed, you hungry!
You will have a feast.
You are blessed, you who weep now!
You will laugh.
*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
I invite you to try something a little different with me before we begin unraveling Jesus words here:
In this church, we do not have one way of looking at Jesus --- one way of holding his image or even one way of relating to him. Before we begin exploring what Jesus might have meant in the verses we heard read, I invite you to close your eyes, and bring into your mind your image of Jesus --- both in looks and in your general sense of him. Do you see him as primarily a figure of comfort and compassion perhaps you envision Jesus with his arm around someone who needs healing. Does your Jesus stand with a sword to fight injustice? Or does he stand before the religious authorities, defending an image of God as Loving parent, instead of one who demands big monetary offerings? You might also (instead of or in addition to other images) see Jesus as an intensely spiritual man -- grounded in prayer and contemplation. Just allow a picture or description of Jesus come into your consciousness --- and invite his presence with you in this moment, as we hear and explore his words to his followers. Any picture, description or image you have of Jesus is fine he was all of the things I described and much more. And the image you have today may differ from the one you have tomorrow or next month. Just allow an image or description of him to sit with you now, allow yourself to feel the presence of this amazing man in any way you can.
And now......what in the world could Jesus have meant when he uttered these words? The Jesus Seminar thinks these are among the most authentic words of Jesus, precisely because they are so confounding. That was mostly his way of teaching to say something that was confusing and went against conventional wisdom.
We know that those who were most captivated by Jesus teachings were the poor, disenfranchised, lonely, wounded ones it was to them that he aimed much of his ministry and teaching. Those in power tended to challenge him, probably because he threatened the power they exercised over the masses of the poor. So this talk he was giving was not intended to convince the ruling elite that the poor would soon knock them out of power --- it was intended in some way to comfort, inspire, give hope to those who lived in desperate circumstances. Did he tell them how this turnaround would come about? Not at all. He just said it was possible. That in itself must have been inspiring to hear no one else was saying that!
There are quite a few ways to translate the words of the beatitudes from the Greek the Jesus seminar actually uses congratulations instead of blessed or you are blessed. Where I have used Gods wholeness many say the kingdom of God...so that verse could read You are blessed, you poor! The kingdom of God belongs to you. Neil Douglas-Klotz has done extensive work looking at the words of Jesus in his mother-tongue, Aramaic. Through him Ive learned that Aramaic is a multi-layered, quite poetic language. One cannot offer simple translations each word contains layers of meaning based on its sound origins, the derivations of each part of the word, as well as the context in which it is used.
Listen to what Douglas-Klotz says about the beatitudes:
The Beatitudes reveal Jesus actual way of prayer, healing, and spiritual practice. Viewed through his native language, Jesus does not ask people to believe in him, but to believe like him. That is, to develop the same faith and confidence in Alaha (God)Sacred Unity, the ground of realitythat he has. It is from this rooted confidence that his healing powerthrough breath, sound, and toucharises. And, as he says in the Gospel of John, those who have developed this power of rootedness will do the same things he has done, and greater.
The language and culture reveal a very different way of looking at life. Aramaic and old Hebrew do not divide mind, body, spirit, and soul from each other. Aramaic doesnt even have a separate word for body unless it is a corpse. For Jesus, or Yeshua, we are both enfleshed in a divine way and enbreathed in a divine way... heaven and earth are not divided, but are simply two different ways of looking at life. Heaven is our collective reality, the way we are connected with all beings through the divine shem or vibration. Earth is our individual reality, the way that we each have an individual purpose in life to fulfill.
So can we imagine that the way that the poor will feel Gods kingdom or wholeness is through connection with others? And in fact, is this not true? Those who have little or nothing in the way of material goods are often wealthy in family relationships --- community relationships even. Those who have many material possessions are often very poor when it comes to feeling part of the family of humanity --- they feel separate, cut off. So perhaps Jesus many layered message here begins with the idea that wholeness comes through connection with our brothers and sisters.
In the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, we saw the ways in which our society is dis-connected with a very large segment of our population the very poor who are in our midst. Youve heard people talking about the exposing of the underbelly of this country --- how could we have not known that in many large cities, HALF OF THE CHILDREN are living in a state of poverty. Youve heard the facts that were so disturbing that those who needed the most help where left behind by the official helpers the longest. Youve probably also heard the stories of community that helped each other --- strangers banding together and bonding in the middle of adversity. Those who could showing up to help those in need. THAT is the kingdom of God! AND all the wonderful bonding and banding together in times of extreme need does nothing to truly fight the root poverty that is too easy for us to forget is the ground of existence for too many. Jesus surely didnt mean that the poor would have wholeness every once in a while or that the hungry would have food when someone remembered to invite them to the table --- or that those who were weeping would occasionally find a smile on their faces.
In this case, I think Jesus was both offering comfort to those in need --- and exhorting the family of humanity to take care of each other to work for the common good. He saw how the ruling structure of his day pushed many down into poverty, just as it does today. He knew there was a way for those in need to experience wholeness --- but it was not just a touch of his clothing that would do it. It required participation by the whole community.
Jim Wallis, in the November Sojourners magazine, says There are two obstacles to making real progress against poverty: the lack of priority and the lack of agreement on strategy. The poor have been near the bottom of our priority list, if they are on the list at all. It will take a moral and even religious imperative to change our priorities, but the time has come to do so.
The strategy part is going to take a lot of work, but I believe it is only going to be successful when the lifting of the poor becomes a much higher priority. When people want to do something really badly, their chance of success greatly improves. For solving poverty to become a high priority for our society, it must become a high priority for each individual. And one of the most important ways I know for that to happen is to get to know some really really poor people to hear their stories, to get to know them as people. Compassion cannot help but be awakened in us when we do this. Our trips to Cuernavaca are so transformational for those who go because the Sisters there help us do that. But we dont have to go to Cuernavaca to awaken our compassion. Recently I was invited to have lunch at the St. Vincent de Paul dining room in San Rafael. Clergy were invited to dine with the other diners, and then we were given a presentation about the services they offer. I had lunch with two women, one of whom is a guitar player. They were happy to teach me all about the food that is freely offered there, with no strings attached, no questions asked. And I discovered how much it means to those in need. After the two women left, a clean-cut man who looked to be in his thirties sat down, and joined in conversation with some others at the table. He works full time, but cannot make ends meet. He didnt look like someone I imagined would need to eat here. Another young woman sitting next to me works for the Interfaith Homeless chaplaincy, and she told me she eats there several times a week. I had only dimly known of this dining room certainly had never eaten there. I was so moved by what they do they serve abundant hot meals every day of the year, and make other food available for people to take with them. They need volunteers, and lots of new, clean white sox for the winter. I would love to share with you the ways volunteers can help --- and I invite you now to once again tune into your image or description of Jesus. See if hes encouraging you to do something to change your priority for helping the poor. Maybe it wont be working at St. Vincents dining room --- but there is something you can do. Let yourself be guided by Jesus, by your sense of the Holy Breath that connects us all, or by whatever works for you. Thats how it can be that the hungry will be fed a great feast, the poor will find wholeness, and those who are weeping can smile. AMEN
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