Commentary on Jeremiah 17:5-8; 1 Corinthians 15:12,16-20; Luke 6:17,20-26

Today’s Gospel says:

Blessed are you who are poor…But woe to you who are rich…

Maybe in church this is very nice to hear, but is it a practical teaching in the real world? The Gospel says that many people from many places came to hear Jesus preach. But these words, we are told, though clearly relevant to all, were meant especially for Jesus’ disciples. Who are his disciples? They are those who have identified themselves fully with Jesus’ mission, with his vision of life. They are those who believe in him, who listen to him, and follow him.

What Jesus says in Luke’s Gospel today is similar to Matthew’s eight beatitudes. When we first hear them they seem like a contradiction: the poor are happy; the rich are to be condemned. Does not the Church always condemn the world’s poverty? And our societies always say that to make a lot of money is the sure sign of a successful life.

A matter of the Kingdom
If we want to understand Jesus’ words, we need to know he is speaking of the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom is the society that Jesus wants to establish—and not just in some future life. (Matthew’s term ‘kingdom of heaven’ can be misleading in this context.)

When Jesus was beginning his public life, he announced his mission in the synagogue at Nazareth:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to set free those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. (Luke 4:18-19)

In the Kingdom, for the poor and the hungry there is only good news, because they enter a society which will protect and care for them. We have still a long way to go in making that Kingdom a reality.

Why so hard on the rich?
On the other hand, it is “woe to you who are rich”. Why? Perhaps the answer is in the First Reading from the prophet Jeremiah:

Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals
and make mere flesh their strength,
whose hearts turn away from the Lord.

The rich sometimes feel they are very independent, that they can use their money to control and manipulate others, and they do not need God. If they pray, it is to ask him to help them earn even more money, or to protect the riches they have amassed, or even to console a lonely God—remember the Pharisee praying in the Temple, saying “Thank God I am not like the rest of men.”

On the contrary, Jeremiah says today:

Blessed are those who trust in the Lord,
whose trust is the Lord.
They shall be like a tree planted by water,
sending out its roots by the stream.
It shall not fear when heat comes,
and its leaves shall stay green;
in the year of drought it is not anxious,
and it does not cease to bear fruit.

Neither rich nor poor
In fact, in the Kingdom, there is really no place for either rich or poor. To be a rich person means that one has more than others—more than one needs and some of what one has belongs to those in need. To be poor means one does not have enough to eat or wear; one does not have a place to live and in general one’s life is lacking in proper human dignity. In the Kingdom, there can be no rich or poor in this sense, because those who have more will share with those who do not have enough.

It is not just a question of ‘charity’, but one of justice, each one having what is properly due to him. In ‘charity’ I give what I can easily spare; in justice I share what I have. It is not just a matter of pity for the poor, but of seeing them as truly brothers and sisters and sharing with them.

The bottom line is not poverty or wealth, but where we put our security. That is the meaning of the First Reading. Do I put my security in what I have or in an interdependent community where each supports the other and thus all are taken care of? This is the ideal, the vision of the Kingdom; it is the mission of the Church. It is the responsibility of every disciple of Jesus. If we can implement this, everyone will be able to enjoy the happiness of the Kingdom—not only in some future life, but in this world and in this society.