Blessed

Many of us are familiar with the Beatitudes in Matthew’s Gospel, but did you know that Luke has his own retelling of Jesus’ Beatitudes (Luke 6:17-26)? While Matthew’s version of the Beatitudes is filled with nine “blesseds,” Luke retells Jesus’ words with four “blesseds” followed by four “woes.” Luke’s retelling is almost like the Ten Commandments, filled with both what we should pursue and what we should avoid.

Take for example, the first “blessed” — “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” (Luke 6:20) Its counterpart is, “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.” (Luke 6:24) This counterpart can sound harsh to our ears. The rich are not always bad, Jesus! We’re good people too!

It’s easy to misunderstand Jesus’ words.

You see, richness is not about how much we have. Rather, it’s about our attitude towards how much we have. Many of Jesus’ disciples were rich: Joseph of Arimathea owned his own family tomb; the women who supported Jesus financially like Joanna and Susanna (Luke 8:2-3); Matthew the tax-collector, etc., but they did not count their riches of more value than following Jesus. The ones who did, like the rich young ruler who, after Jesus says to him, “sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me,” (Luke 18:22) prove this point. The rich count their richness as more worthy of following Christ. Being rich is not bad. Rather, it’s our attitue towards our riches that matters.

However, to be poor is to be blessed because it is to recognize that our material riches cannot answer the inner longings and abysses in our heart. To be poor is to recognize that we have very little worth. What can we pay for the forgiveness of our sins? How big of a check needs to be written to buy eternal life? Earthly riches cannot bail out spiritual bankruptcy.

One of the greatest archaeological discoveries is the tombs of the Pharaohs, but these tombs also serve as an important spiritual reminder. They tell us that we can take nothing with us to the afterlife, into the kingdom of God. If our hands are full of the passing and withering riches of this world, can we ever receive the true riches of the Kingdom of God? True poverty recognizes this, which is why it’s blessed to be poor!

A Prayer

Almighty God, whose loving hand has given us all that we possess: Grant us grace that we may honor you with our substance, and, remembering the account which we must one

day give, may be faithful stewards of your bounty, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Collect #38, For the Right Use of God’s Gifts

The Book of Common Prayer, p. 827