From the Daily Lectionary for Monday in the Fourth Week of Easter
Matthew 5:1-12
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:
‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
‘Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.’
The Second Vatican Council in 1962 changed radically the modern Christian Church. Perhaps the change was already taking place, and the Vatican Council only gathered to articulate such change. It was convened by Pope John XXIII as a means to address the state of the church in the modern world. The Liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church underwent substantial reform: The Solemn mass was, for the first time in history, to be said in in the native tongue instead of in Latin. Altars were moved out from the east wall of sanctuaries, such that the presider now faced the congregation during the Eucharistic prayers; praying to God in our midst, instead of praying to a God aloof and distant. But perhaps the most notable shift was this statement issued by the Council: That “God has a preferential option for the poor.”
The phrase had been circulating among the Liberation Theologians of Latin America in the mid twentieth century. They argued that Hebrew scripture, and the Gospels, were first and foremost about the liberation from poverty and oppression; that justice was at the heart of God’s vision for the world; that God’s promised reign in earth would come about through a radical reordering of power: “the poor raised up, and the rich sent away empty.” In particular they leveled a critique against the colonialism of Europe and North America as an example of the abuse of the powerful over the powerless. The statement by the Council legitimized the Liberation Theologians’ premise that justice is God’s means of love in the world.
This statement of course was not without controversy. Successive Popes distanced themselves from it. A number of Liberation Theologians in Latin America in the 1950’s and 1960’s aligned themselves with Marxist regimes arguing that Marxism more closely aligned with the Gospels’ demand for shared wealth, and the undoing of exclusion due to the rigidity of social class and status. A number of Liberation Theologians were censured; some were excommunicated.
The biblical text cited most by this movement was the text we just read, known as the ‘Beatitudes.’ It also appears in Luke. In the ancient world (as perhaps it is now), wealth is the principal sign of blessing. In the context of the Sermon on the Mount (sermon on the ‘plain’ in Luke) Jesus is offering a revolutionary premise: that God seeks passionately to offer God’s blessing not to the elite and powerful, but to the poor, the suffering, the peacemakers, and to those who risk their lives for justice. It was this revolutionary challenge to the status quo that got Jesus and many others who followed him martyred.
The Church over its institutional life has sentimentalized these revolutionary words, made them more palatable for the powerful. But as followers of Jesus, and the Gospels that bear witness to his life and ministry, we are to be advocates for the poor, and the least of us, our brothers and sisters. Our relative wealth only has value inasmuch as it serves the greater good. The truth of the matter is that there is enough in God’s creation for all people to live well, and live with the respect they deserve; but alas, the world is not that way. Power corrupts. So, from the bottom up, God’s option is to set things right… and let that option, by the grace of God, be ours.
A Collect for the Easter Vigil (BCP p. 288)
O God, who wonderfully created, and yet more wonderfully restored, the dignity of human nature: Grant that we may share the divine life of him who humbled himself to share our humanity, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
