11 September 2024 - the world in its present form is passing away

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Blessed are you who are poor,

for the Kingdom of God is yours.

Jesus gave a blueprint for a Kingdom that was practically a reversal of the priorities of typically earthly kingdoms. Such kingdoms sought wealth, reliable access to sustenance, entertainment, and popularity. But Jesus revealed it was not by seeking such things that his true and lasting Kingdom could be found. How could a Kingdom that was poor, hungry, sorrowful, and persecuted survive in a world ruled by the wealthy and the powerful? Yet that Kingdom did in fact survived in the two thousand years since it was established by Jesus. Its very lack of worldly resources and rewards was often what made it so credible. There was nothing to explain it but God himself. It was poor, but he protected it. It was hungry, but he gave himself to it as the bread of life. In the world it often experienced sadness, but he consoled it with supernatural joy. It was persecuted, but he gave it victory, not by conquest, but within the persecution itself, seen in the crown won by the martyrs in every age.

But woe to you who are rich,

for you have received your consolation.

While we live in this world we risk making the mistake of prioritizing our consolation and satisfaction in the here and now at the expense of the eternal. We may become like the man from the parable who built increasingly large silos to hold his earthly wealth so that he could continue to ignore his lack of spiritual riches (see Luke 12:13-21). Having material goods on earth does not exclude one from the Kingdom of Jesus. But seeking earthly things as though they were true and lasting treasure is a recipe for disaster. Earthly things have the power to hypnotize and transfix us to the extent that we ignore what ought to be more important. Making earthly realities our ultimate goal is a kind of idolatry that ends up closing us in our ourselves and making us less than fully human. 

Woe to you who laugh now,

for you will grieve and weep.

We need a big picture perspective in order to follow the wisdom of the teaching of Jesus in regard to where true blessing is to be found. For it may be the case that we must exercise patient, hope, and trust in this life while looking to the true fulfillment of his promises in heaven. But if we do trust him we can have this rock solid hope even in the midst of the most difficult circumstances. His resurrection is our own guarantee that the present state of this world is not the final word on things, that it is rather, as Paul said, "passing away".

Pat Barrett - The Way (New Horizon)