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?
A few months back we had the opportunity to celebrate my birthday which prompted discussion of memorable birthday’s in our lives. Most agreed that seventeen was a confusing time of betwixt and between; it was the best of times and worst of times. It was a care free 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. Some would say Can’t we just stay here a little while longer; do I have to be so ready to make like-altering decisions? Others could not wait to forge ahead. In both instances there is a learning curve and the care-free days of youth are turned upside down. This is a time to get serious about life, or so we thought.
Thinking back on our discussion I reflected on our Gospel (Matthew 5:1-12) and how the Beatitudes seem to run counter to what we were taught society’s rules for successful living are. Janis Ian and Jesus summed it up for me:
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...
It isn’t all it seems At Seventeen.
To me this song relates to Jesus’s ministry and the upside down world of God’s Kingdom vs our world. The laws of man and of the world have little to do with God’s. Over the past weeks in Matthew we have read that man’s worldly expectations of power, wealth, fame, and happiness are not God’s. Jesus teaches that concern for losing those fleeting, superficial abstractions relate to a life of fear and competition which leads us to believe that 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 is’nt all it seems, at seventeen.
One of the reasons this upside-down approach to living appears to be so elusive is that it requires that we accept that we are vulnerable; 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 take us to places that require us to want the props that support a façade of the false self that will eventually break.
There is something liberating about letting go of our obsession with worldly aspirations and accepting what life brings us that in turn, 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?
