The Blessings Are The Curses

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, Brooklyn Center, MN

Sunday, February 13, 2022

In our Gospel today, Jesus is speaking to his Jewish disciples in Galilee. His disciples know the Torah. They know the Law of Moses. And what does the Law of Moses say? It said that if the nation of Israel obeys the Lord, they will be blessed in the city, blessed in the field, will have lots of children, lots of crops, lots of cows, peace and prosperity in the land. That means if they obey the Lord, they will immensely be rewarded with earthly and natural blessings. On the other hand, if they disobey the Lord, their city, field, basket, children, crops, cattle, and everything they do will be cursed; and the worst of all the curses is exile, meaning they will be driven out of the Promised Land. If you know the Old Testament well, Moses’ warning eventually happened. After Israel disobeyed God, they were taken into exile. But in Luke’s Beatitudes, Jesus says, Blessed are you who are poor… Blessed are you who are hungry… Blessed are you who weep… Blessed are you when men persecute you, and exclude you and revile you… rejoice on that day for your reward will be great in heaven. As if that is not enough, Jesus flips it and says, But woe to you who are rich… woe to you are are full now… Woe to you who laugh now… Woe to you when they speak well of you… What has Jesus done here? In the New Covenant, in the teaching of Jesus, the blessings are the curses. It means the way you build up your treasures in heaven, not on earth, is precisely through suffering, through poverty, through hunger, through mourning, and ultimately through persecution. By contrast, earthly blessings in the New Covenant are spiritually dangerous. 

What Jesus said in Luke’s Gospel, “Woe to you who are rich” is similar to what he said elsewhere in the Gospel: “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter into the kingdom of God” (Matt. 19:24). Why? Because “where your treasure is, there also will your heart be” (Matt. 6:21). Earthly riches are good, but they have the capacity to drag our hearts down from heaven and then focus us on things that are fleeting. Jesus also says, “Woe to you who are full now…? What’s wrong with getting a good meal? Because you can become so self-satisfied with earthly goods as if you don’t need God. If you become so self-satisfied with food and other material goods to the point you think you don't need God, Jesus says, "Woe to you." People who are hungry are more likely to depend upon God for their sustenance. As for the rich, they can become complacent very quickly. Jesus also says, “Woe to you who are laughing now…” Is he condemning laughter? Not at all! I have a 93 year old friend, Eveline Aleman, who is fond of saying, “laughter is good.” Jesus is talking about people whose laughter is rooted in earthly goods so much so that it distracts them from the injustice around them and also distracts them from the goodness of the kingdom of God. To such people Jesus is saying that although they are laughing now, they are going to weep if they miss out the kingdom of heaven. For those who crave for attention and praise of the world, Jesus warns them that fake prophets were also praised. Fake prophets are hardly persecuted because they tell people what they want to hear. They don’t challenge the people, don’t speak the truth, and don’t speak for God. Through their falsehood, they acquire peace. In all of these, Jesus is talking about the dangers inherent in earthly goods. 

Now, is it harsh and off-putting to say that the blessings are the curses and the curses the blessings? Yes! But then, look at the crucifixion of Jesus. How did the ultimate blessing come into the world? It’s through the cross. Ultimate blessing came through a Man who became a curse for us (Gal. 3:13). It came through a Man who is poor, who is weeping, who was stripped of everything, persecuted and crucified. Yet, he is the most Blessed Man of all. I have been using the word “blessed,” but the Greek word that Luke uses is “makarios” which means “happy.” So, in the New Covenant, real happiness is found through detachment from earthly goods, taking up the cross and following Jesus. As you can see, from the very beginning of Luke 6, from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is already preaching the way of the cross, but he is doing it in the form of the Beatitudes. Throughout his ministry, he insists that unless you deny yourself, take up your cross daily and follow him, you cannot be his disciples. Finally, detachment is an important spiritual attitude to cultivate. Detachment, “Apatheia” for Greek fathers, “indifferencia” in Ignatius of Loyola means that I am unattached to worldly goods, worldly values that could become a substitute for the true God. When Jesus says the poor are blessed, he means that those who are not addicted to material things are indeed “makarios” that is “happy.” God is the deepest longing of the human heart. Material things, as good as they are, can’t satisfy the hunger in the soul. But if I convince myself that they do, that I need them to be perfectly happy and fulfilled, I will definitely be caught in an additive pattern of striving and working to get more material things like cars, homes, TVs, clothes, honor, fame etc. And if I then find out that those don’t satisfy me, I strive and strive unceasingly. This way of living can only end in disappointment and frustration. Why? Because the happiness I ultimately seek is not in those created goods, but only in God. As St. Augustine echoed centuries ago, God has made us for himself and our heart is restless until it rests in God. So, you are happy, blessed, and delivered if you are not addicted to the material goods of this world. Finally, the Beatitudes are about the attitude of Jesus’ disciples, which are indifference, detachment and apathy to material and worldly goods and values.