The cycle of Sunday readings for Eucharist this liturgical year (Year C) is primarily from the Gospel of Luke. Last Sunday, the 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time, focused on Luke’s version of the Beatitudes which begin the section of the Gospel text referred to as “The Sermon on the Plain” (Lk 6:20-49). It is the counterpart to chapters 5-7 in Matthew called “The Sermon on the Mount.” Whereas Matthew’s Beatitudes contain nine statements beginning with “Blessed are…”, Luke’s Beatitude’s number only four and are followed by four “Woe to you” statements. What is a good Scripture-loving Christian to make of these and other significant differences between these Gospel texts?
The short answer of Scripture scholars is to explain that there was a source of material that both Matthew and Luke had copies of that was not available to Mark. This unknown source, called ‘Q’ (from the German Quelle meaning Source), likely contained many sayings of Jesus from his time in active ministry. Each evangelist used what he thought to be most useful and meaningful for his intended audience. Luke, writing for Gentiles, excluded much of what pertained particularly to Jewish Christians, which is why his Sermon on the Plain is considerably shorter than Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount.
The whole of Luke’s Gospel narrative emphasizes this message: the socio-economic and political structures of society that favor the rich and the powerful while keeping the poor and the marginalized in their conditions of utter powerlessness have been dealt a fatal blow at the mighty hand of God. Mary’s Magnificat (Lk 1: 46-55) proclaims with utter boldness that the Mighty One has, in Christ, thrown down rulers from their thrones, dispersed the proud and arrogant, and sent the rich away empty. The poor, the lowly, the hungry, and humble faithful have been rescued from oppression as God as promised as far back as Abraham and Sarah. This is the raw, unpolished truth of Gospel. It is the power of the Gospel proclamation itself. In Christ Jesus this new reality has been accomplished and revealed.
Rich and powerful people in nations across the globe, including our own, continue to oppress people not like themselves. This is not a new reality. Some even claim to behave this way in the name of God and religion. Most do it simply because they can. It brings them delight to see other people suffer. It creates a prideful self-satisfaction to treat other persons as “non-persons” without human dignity or basic human rights or freedoms. None of these are new either. But Jesus tells his disciples, “It shall not be this way among you.”
The Gospel does not say that the poor will become the powerful or that rulers will become the slaves of masses as if in some social or political revolution. The way of Jesus is to recognize that we are all on the same level—none above and none below. No one deserves to suffer. No one deserves to be treated inhumanely. This is the Kingdom of God at its very core. Life and creation are respected. Human persons are loved not for what they do or can do or how they appear but because they are human. Wholeness, unity, service and the common good are held in high esteem. Forgiveness, mercy and reconciliation are given priority over judgment and punitive retaliation. Wherever this vision of truth takes hold in a community of persons, the Kingdom of God is at hand. And, there is nothing that the rich and worldly-advantaged can do to overcome it.
There is blessedness, and there is woe. In each and every moment there is a choice to promote one or the other. You have the power to choose.
By Sister Therese Haydel, OSB