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A Paradigm Shift
“Blessed are you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours.
Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh. Blessed
are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you,
and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man.
Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be
great in heaven.” Luke 6:20–23
Normally, we do not consider poverty, hunger, grief, or being
denounced and insulted by others to be good things. Yet at the very
heart of His Sermon on the Plain, Jesus declares that those who
experience such trials are truly blessed—that is, deeply joyful and
spiritually fortunate. To be “blessed” in this sense is to be happy
in the truest sense of the word. In contrast, those who are rich,
well-fed, laughing, and socially esteemed face a serious spiritual
danger. Most likely, as the vast crowd of disciples listened to
Jesus preach this sermon, many were at least perplexed—if not
outright shocked—by what they heard.
Throughout the rest of the week, we will continue reading from this
powerful sermon in which Jesus teaches about the necessity of
loving one’s enemies, refraining from judgment and condemnation,
showing mercy, and building one’s life upon the solid foundation of
His words. These teachings were deeply countercultural and demanded
a radical reorientation of the values that many of Jesus’ disciples
held dear. In order to accept His message, a paradigm shift was
necessary—a complete reordering of their lives and foundational
beliefs.
The path of the Beatitudes leads through the Cross to the glory of
God’s Kingdom. To walk that path—marked by trials and
tribulations—divine wisdom is essential. The disciples needed to
shed their shallow and incomplete moral and spiritual convictions
so that they could understand, embrace, and live a much deeper and
richer way of living.
Because we are quite familiar with Jesus’ teachings and the
Beatitudes, His words might not leave us shocked or even
perplexed—unless we truly hear them, allow their meaning to take
root in our lives, and permit them to effect the change they are
meant to bring about. For this to happen, we must approach these
teachings with humility, openness, and a willingness to let go of
worldly values, so that the wisdom of the Cross may become the
foundation of our lives. The Christian life is so much more than
acting with kindness and gentleness, helping others, and making a
difference within the community. Though those are essential
qualities and duties, living the Beatitudes draws us much deeper
into a life of holy and sacrificial love.
The process of embracing the Beatitudes begins with our minds; we
must understand their message. Poverty, hunger, grief, persecution,
and every other trial we encounter must be faced and embraced with
hope and with the firm belief that God can and will bring about a
far greater good from the crosses we carry than if our lives were
entirely free of suffering. This truth—that God brings good out of
every cross—challenges us to the core of our thinking and must
reshape our preconceived notions about what we prefer and dislike.
We are blessed if we come to love every trial we are permitted to
endure, even those very sufferings Jesus identifies in His
sermon.
Once we begin to see life through the lens of divine wisdom, as it
is revealed in the Beatitudes, grace enables us to choose what we
once would have avoided. The crosses we are given not only begin to
make sense, they become objects of our desire because we recognize
them as the means by which God brings about true and lasting
happiness.
Reflect today on one trial you are currently facing, and ask God to
help you see it through the lens of the Beatitudes. Rather than
running from the trial, what would happen if you embraced it with
hope, trust, and even joy, knowing that it has the potential to
lead you to holiness and eternal reward? Let the wisdom of Jesus’
words penetrate your heart, and allow Him to reorder your thoughts
and desires according to His perfect and merciful will.
Lord of perfect Wisdom, Your Word shatters the wisdom of the
world and reveals the true path to happiness and holiness. Help me
to hear Your voice, understand Your wisdom and act upon it, making
Your Truth the foundation of my life. Reorient my whole life
according to Your will, and work all things for good—even the
trials I endure. Jesus, I trust in You!
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