4th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Zeph 2:3, 3:12-13 1 Cor 1:26-31 Matt 5:1-12
Over the last three Sundays our liturgies have been building up to our commemorating the beginning of the missionary journey of Jesus. At His Baptism in the Jordan, Jesus is identified by the Father; “This is my Son, the Beloved; my favour rests on him”. The following Sunday the Gospel reading records John the Baptist identifying Jesus; “There is the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world”. Saint Matthew recounts the first movements of the ministry of Jesus with Jesus declaring; “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand” and then calling the first of the Apostles.
Those who were called by Jesus responded immediately and followed him but very many more were attracted by what they heard and saw and so, large crowds gathered around the Lord. “Seeing the crowds, Jesus went up the hill. There he sat down …… He began to speak …. He taught them”. It is significant that Jesus ‘went up the hill’. The Mountain is where the Scriptures record all the great encounters between God and God’s people. The teachers of old and the masters of the spiritual life ‘sat down’, when something of great importance was to be declared. Jesus ‘was sent to bring the Good News to the Poor’ (Luke 4:18) and here He was among the Poor.
Those who had gathered around the Lord had, in one way or another, chosen the Kingdom of heaven. They had come as they were, put aside their temporal concerns and opened their hearts to what God wanted of them.
In the first of the Beatitudes Jesus tells them that they are blessed; “Blessed are the Poor (You, who are poor – Luke 6:20) theirs IS the Kingdom of Heaven. It seems that the prophecy of Zephaniah in today’s first reading, has come to pass “In your midst I will leave a humble and lowly people”. The kingdom of God belongs to those who are poor in spirit and the promise of the Lord is, that those who, like the poor, are gentle, meek, merciful and are peacemakers will be blessed in abundance in the Kingdom of Heaven.
The ‘Poor-in-spirit’ Beatitudes can be seen as very much reflective of the person of Jesus, Himself. He is the one who is completely at the service of the Father, the one who is Meek and Humble, the one who is Mercy itself and the one who brings perfect Peace. The Father’s favour rests on Him and He is blessed above all else.
But Jesus is also the one who became humbler yet, even to accepting suffering and death. Blessed are those who share this suffering. The other Beatitudes illustrate how suffering for the sake of the Kingdom helps us to identify with the Lord and mark us out as his faithful disciples. Blessed are those who mourn, blessed are those persecuted, blessed those falsely accused. They will have cause to rejoice and be glad - their reward will be great in heaven.
The same promise is made to those who suffer as to those who are poor in spirit; “The Kingdom of God – standing under the protection of God’s power, secure in his love – that is true comfort”. (Pope Benedict XVl)