I Learned the Truth at Seventeen

How many of us were raised to think that the Beatitudes were an outline of character traits that we as Christians were called to embody? In some ways this is true; however, here again we see Jesus turning everything in this world upside down. Blessed are the poor in spirit; blessed are they who mourn; blessed are the meek. Really? Doesn’t this contradict those traits that usually characterize success, in that Jesus is saying that those who have no reason in this world for hope or joy are the ones for whom God’s Kingdom has been prepared?

Yesterday we had the opportunity to celebrate my grandson’s 17th birthday. It was hard for me to believe as it seemed like only yesterday when he was born, and could his father, my son, really be old enough to have a 17 year old? And what about me? You can see where I’m going with this. As we listened to the reflections from others, turning seventeen was a time of betwixt and between; it was the best of times and worst of times. It was a carefree time of adolescence in which the child in us had its way, but it also was a time of approaching “adulthood” with the world knocking and wanting answers that we were not always prepared to give. Can’t we just stay here a little while longer some will ask? Others can’t wait to forge ahead. In both instances there is a learning curve and the carefree days of youth like the lesson in the Beatitudes are turned upside down. This is a time to get serious about life.

So the effect that my grandson’s turning seventeen prompted me to think about our Gospel (Matthew 5: 1-12) and the Beatitudes.The Beatitudes run counter-intuitive to what humans have been taught as society’s rules for successful living. I am reminded of lines from Janis Ian’s song from years past, At Seventeen. She like Jesus summed it up in one line, It isn't all it seems at seventeen. But as most who recalled that time, the lyrics ring true:

To those of us who knew the pain, Blessed are they who mourn,
Of valentines that never came, Blessed are they who hunger and thirst,
And those whose names were never called, Blessed are the poor in spirit,
When choosing sides for basketball, Blessed are the meek
It was long ago and far away
the world was younger than today
when dreams were all they gave for free, Blessed are you when they insult and persecute
to ugly duckling kids like me...

To me this is related to the upside down world of God’s Kingdom vs our world and what Jesus repeatedly taught throughout his ministry. The laws of man and of the world have little to do with God’s. Over the past weeks we have read in Mark’s gospels that man’s expectations related to power, wealth, success, fame and happiness are not God’s. Jesus challenges our conventional wisdom that suggests that success, however we define it, or wealth or power equals happiness. He teaches that the concern for losing those fleeting, superficial abstractions of what we value, relate to a life of fear and competition that leads us to think we can only be happy by winning, and by beating someone else at the game. At seventeen we leave our childhood behind and prepare to enter the “grown up” world. At seventeen I learned the truth... It isn’t all it seems, at seventeen.

One of the reasons why this upside down approach to living remains so elusive to us is that it requires that we accept the fact that we are vulnerable because we are human. We have to accept our basic vulnerability as humans in order to let go and embrace life as it is. Most of us find this quite difficult, if not downright impossible. It requires that we acknowledge our vulnerability—which is something most of us spend a lot of energy and effort trying to avoid. Our egos rule our self- image and take us to places that require us to want the props that support a façade that will eventually break.

There is something about letting go of our obsession with getting what we want, and accepting what life brings us that opens up our ability to enjoy the goodness around us. This Jesus way enables us to relate to others with love and compassion. We begin looking at the world with the eyes of Jesus and live in God’s Kingdom in the here and now on earth as it is in heaven. At seventeen I learned the truth. Really?