The Beatitudes
The beatitudes are no mere ideals floating like clouds above the earth, they are the very blueprint of the Christian soul, the recipe for blessedness that turns the world’s values upside down. The world cries “ blessed are the rich, the powerful, the laughing, the popular, but our Lord declares the opposite; blessed are the empty of self, the sorrowful, the gentle, the hungry for justice, the forgiven, the single-hearted, the makers of peace and even the persecuted. The sacred liturgy today unites these beatitudes with readings that echo their profoundness in our hearts. In Zephaniah, the prophet calls the humble remnant- the “poor” who seek the Lord in lowliness, to rejoice, for God shelters them, mirroring the words of the beatitudes. That is not all, St Paul in his letter to the Corinthians was not left behind, he reminds us that God chooses what the world despises: the Weak, the lowly, the foolish, not the wise, not many noble.
And in the Gospel, there stands our Lord Jesus Christ on the mount teaching us the “constitutions of heaven”. He represents the new Moses giving not stone tablets but the law written in our hearts.
Retrospectively, under the first century Roman Empire, in the imperial rule provinces like Galilee and Judea, were built on a rigid hierarchy of power, wealth, status, and domination; senators and kings like Herod and the elite were in charge, while others were crushed by heavy taxation, debt, slavery and the constant threat of violence or crucifixion for resistance. The emperor himself was deified as the source of peace “Pax Romana” achieved through subjugation.
So, with the above, Jesus seeing the crowd, he saw their pain, their grief, they were all afflicted and burdened with mourning. Jesus therefore declares blessedness, as belonging to those the Roman system caused and seen as worthless.
The words of Christ today are not ordinary poetry as some philosophers would name it, the words of Christ are burning realities of life. In the beatitudes, Christ himself has come to be with us in our weakness. For he said “blessed are the poor in spirit” how? Because in our emptiness, God pours in his Love. “Blessed are those who mourn” how possible? God comes as a consoler, wiping every tear with the sleeve of his own suffering. “Blessed are the meek, the merciful, the persecuted” can this be possible? Yes, because love is conquered not by the proud empires of Rome or the ground empires of our own hearts, rather love triumphs through surrender and the cross.
More so my dear brothers and sisters, Jesus climbed he mountain today, not to address the comfortable, he climbed it for you and I, for those whose prayers feel like they bounce off the ceiling, for those that feel spiritually bankrupt, for those that are in grief, for those that feel powerless, for those that are starving inside, for those that feel trampled by the world, for those in different circumstances and those overpowered by unseen powers.
The good message is that our Lord Jesus Christ has stepped into the situation and heaven is taking note. He is inviting us too, to that same mountain where he spoke with power. Christ himself did not just preached on the mount; he also lived it out perfectly in his life. He was poor in spirit, he mourned for our sins, he was meek unto death. In his passion, every beatitude find its fulfillment. Christ wants us to imitate him through the beatitudes while in the world. The world can call your fidelity to Christ foolishness, they can call your gentleness, cowardice; but we are not interested in what they say, we are interested in what God says, which is seen today in the Gospel “rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven” (Mth 5:11-12). He did not say “your reward is on earth” rather in heaven. The recompense for fidelity, for justice, for been merciful and for been meek is in heaven, where thieves cannot break or steal.
Happy Sunday and be sure of my prayers.
Rev. Fr. Igwe, Emmanuel Tochukwu, HFFBY
(De Voice}