by Brother Joseph Alba, Carmelite Seminarian

Luke 6:17, 20-26
Jesus came down with the twelve and stood on a stretch of level ground
with a great crowd of his disciples and a large number of the people
from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon.
And raising his eyes toward his disciples he said:
“Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours.
Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh.
Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you,
and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man.Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven.
For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way.
But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.
Woe to you who are filled now, for you will be hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now, for you will grieve and weep.
Woe to you when all speak well of you, for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way.”

In order to fully understand and to appreciate this gospel, one must look at the entire context in which the gospel was written.  The section that we are given today serves a purpose, but if one were not familiar with the entire section, there would remain many questions that are very crucial: for example who is being spoken to, who is present to them, what is the situation, and what are some concrete examples of what Jesus is talking about?

 The entire context of the text seems to be written concerning the disciples of Jesus: regarding how are they supposed to go out and minister to the people of God.  this is better understood with the presence of the sick people who came to be healed and who were in fact healed by Jesus.

 It is interesting to note that Jesus raises His eyes to the disciples.  That is ironic in that one might expect Him to raise His eyes to heaven or to the Father, but instead He raises His eyes to the disciples.  To better understand this, it is important to see that Jesus stood on level ground with them.  Not on higher ground, but equal.  Perhaps that is His way of showing dignity and respect to His disciples.  That is His way of encouraging them to go out and do what they need to do for the people of God.

But that particular way is not easy, as Jesus says.  He talks about the blessings for those who are living a simple and virtuous life, and the curses for the ones who are not living to those standards.  One really does not see the ramifications until the verses following the given section, when Jesus talks about the “narrow way”.  The narrow way is the difficult path that the true follower of Jesus Christ must walk; one that is loving and self-giving.  The message is not saying that a person has to be poor and starving in order to get into the kingdom of God.  On the contrary, it is much more difficult than that!  Coming into God’s kingdom involves forgiving and loving the unlovable; namely ones enemies. 

 According to the passage one might think that it is necessary to be unhappy, sad, scrupulous, and impoverished.  That is not true.  There is an image that is sort of controversial, but in a sense that sort of goes hand in glove with this passage, it is the image of the laughing Jesus.  Most people cannot image Jesus laughing.  It is inconceivable.  But why?  Can they not see the humanity within the divine Son of God?  Can you see it?  Can you image the happiness that God wants for you?  Can you imagine the love that God has for you? 

A lot of the things in this passage are “contrary to what we accept” as dogmas.  Jesus wants for us to challenge those dogmas.  Challenge those laws and see if they can hold up to the test of “love”.  If they cannot, then they are not from God. 

 The test of love is not the easy path for it is not easy to love or to forgive.  If we treat all people, including ourselves with the dignity and respect that God demands, then we are on the right path for the narrow road that leads to the eternal Kingdom of God.