I generally like gospel stories best the way Luke tells them – but his version of the Beatitudes troubles me. I believe that using the words “Kingdom of heaven” to refer to the reign of God has had a negative effect on Christianity. This usage can distort our understanding of Jesus’ message, because we also use the word “heaven” to describe that place in which we will dwell with God for eternity. “Heaven” is a “there and later” place. The Realm of God, as Jesus proclaimed it, is here and now.
If we think the Good News is about what happens to us after we die, we become less invested as agents of transformation in this world, less engaged in naming and mediating God’s presence and peace and power active in our earthly life. Too often, Christian proclamation has focused on salvation and not enough on incarnation, the Good News of God present with us in human flesh – physically in Jesus Christ, and now spiritually in us through his Holy Spirit.
This split has perhaps been reinforced by Jesus’ teaching as we read it in Luke’s “Sermon on the Plain.” Then he looked up at his disciples and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh… But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep.”
Is it really a zero-sum game; if we’re full now, we’re sure to be hungry later; sad in this life, we’ll yuck it up in the next, and vice versa? This kind of “either/or” thinking leads to legalism and rigidity. Doesn’t Jesus proclaim a “both/and” realm, in which all things are possible?
Or have I misunderstood, thinking Jesus is speaking causally, when he is simply making an apt observation of human life? Take the “blessings” part of his discourse: it is full of wonderful promises, reminding us that poverty, hunger, and sadness do not represent God’s will for our lives, and are not permanent states. It doesn’t say the only place we’ll be blessed is after we’re dead. It just says, “Hold on, you have inherited the kingdom of God. Better things are coming.”
And the “Woes” which follow have always snagged me, because they suggest we’re punished for happiness in this life. But maybe Jesus is not speaking eschatologically about rewards or punishment, simply observing that wealth is its own consolation, which can keep us from putting our full trust in God. A full belly can dull our hunger for justice and righteousness. Joy can blind us to loss, but it’ll catch up with us eventually.
It is both/and… all at the same time we are blessed and full of woe, often in different areas of our lives. We are moving into the third year of a global pandemic, yet in many ways it has helped our churches thrive. We are full and hungry, rejoicing and grieving. If I understand the fullness of what Jesus said about this God we serve, consolations will abound, now and later.
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