Last week we extended to you a Happy Valentine’s Day, and this weekend we are honored to wish you a Happy President’s Day.
Here are some eerie similarities between President Kennedy and President Lincoln you may not know:
Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846; Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946.
Lincoln was elected President in 1860; Kennedy was elected President in 1960.
Lincoln’s wife, Mary Ann, lost a child while living in the White House; Kennedy’s wife, Jacqueline, also lost a child while living in the White House.
Lincoln had a secretary named Kennedy who told him not to go to the theater the night he was shot; Kennedy had a secretary named Lincoln who told him not to go to Dallas.
Lincoln was shot in the presence of his wife; Kennedy was also shot in the presence of his wife.
Both were killed on a Friday, with one bullet to the head and both men were seriously concerned with civil rights.
Our gospel on this President’s Day weekend ought to make us cringe when we hear Jesus saying to us, “Blessed are you who are poor” and “Woe to you who are rich.”
Most of us would agree with the American actress of silent movies, Mae West, who said, “I have been poor and I have been rich. Believe me, being rich is better.”
Let’s face it … today’s gospel reading is difficult to understand. Here is a story to illustrate the point:
A man walked into the bookstore, went over to the clerk and said, “I would like to return this Bible.”
“Was it a gift sir?” asked the clerk.
“No, I bought it for myself. I just made a mistake,” said the man.
“Didn’t you like the translation or was the print too small?”
“No, the translation was fine, and the print is large enough; I just made a mistake.”
As the clerk reached for the return form, she said, “Well, sir, I have to have a reason for the return.”
“In that case, look at this, for example,” as he opened the Bible selectively to the Sixth Chapter of Luke. “There are some passages in Sacred Scripture that are just too tough to swallow. Actually, you have to wonder about Jesus’ sanity. Help me out here; does anyone really believe that you are blessed, happy, or fortunate because you are poor, you are hungry, you are sad and weeping, or you are hated or excluded or insulted by others?”
“Give me a break,” he continued. “And like that is not enough, Jesus goes on to warn us with the woe statements, or rather, the ‘be careful’ statements. Woe or be careful if you are rich. Woe or be careful if you have plenty to eat. Woe or be careful if you are laughing and always joyful. Woe or be careful when people only speak well of you all the time.”
The man concluded, “Since you have to write something down as to why I’m returning this Bible, just write down there is a lot in the book which just can’t be true and is too hard to believe.”
Maybe we should return our Bibles or get rid of them for the same reason! How many of us really believe that there is more happiness in being poor rather than rich, or that it is better to be hungry rather than well fed, or to be sad rather than laugh?
What is going on here? Doesn’t Jesus have it upside down? At first, it would seem that way. But if you meditate and take time to be with the passage, you realize that Jesus really turns everything right side up.
Jesus is not condemning the “good things of life,” such as wealth, joy and a good reputation. But He is warning us of the dangers of trusting in these things as a source of security. Things and possessions are all transitory.
Aren’t all of us here blessed with more than enough? I remember standing in the aisle in the grocery store when a sharp spiritual pain pinched my consciousness.
I realized I could buy any food item in the store. The richness of my life slapped me in the face as I stood there thinking how many people do not even have a store available to them, let alone the money to purchase the food items on the shelf.
I am not sure how many of you have read Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt. This book deepened my awareness of the hunger crisis. McCourt describes his life as a child, going hungry day after day in Ireland to the point of licking a newspaper in which leftover fish and chips had been wrapped.
But there is hope. And that hope is in us.
Blessed are we who are genuinely sensitive to the needs of the poor, the hungry, the grieving and persecuted and actually do something about it. It’s our selflessness and kindheartedness that encourages each of us to continue to share.
Today’s gospel is not condemning the comfortable life. Instead, the gospel challenges us to use our resources so that others can have a more humane life. It is essential that we are reminded to re-learn the message of Jesus, but woe to us if we don’t.
Jesus himself died poor, hungry, weeping and persecuted. He lived the beatitudes.
One essential point that is often missed in reading Luke’s beatitudes is this: not “Blessed are the poor,” but “Blessed are YOU who are poor.”
Perhaps to be poor, for us who have so much, means to be free to serve the Lord rather than to be caught up in the entanglements of having more and being bigger and better than our neighbor.
Or perhaps to be poor means we simply appreciate what we have here and now.
I often take for granted the many blessing in my own life. I remember when I was in my last year in high school, and our family was watching the 1956 World Series between the old Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Yankees. We were Dodger fans because Dad was a Dodger fan. We just knew the Dodgers would trounce the Yankees. Unfortunately for the Dodgers, they never got on base and our excitement was shattered. I was crushed.
But my dad pointed out that we witnessed a far greater milestone in history. New York right-hander Don Larson pitched the first perfect game in the World Series. There were no runs, no hits, no errors and no batter reached first base. Only when my dad brought this to my attention did I truly appreciate the greatness of that World Series game that I have never forgotten.
Jesus warns us about being complacent because we seem to have it made.
If we understand that the blessings and woes written in the Gospel of Luke are about Jesus’ special concern for the poor and the sinner, this gospel makes total sense.
After all, it is in Luke’s Gospel that we read of the unique parables of the good Samaritan, the prodigal son, the widow and unjust judge. These are just a sampling of the many examples of how to think of others before ourselves.
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