The Beloved Son of God has spent the night in prayer. As the sun rises, He chooses ‘Apostles’ from the community of His disciples. He chooses them in the midst of a people who are suffering and it is crystal clear that He is choosing them to change the situation of the people who have come to Him. They are the reason He has chosen the Twelve. He has a powerful teaching to share with His Apostles and disciples before they speak or act in His name.
He details a series of Blessings and Woes in a style very close to the prophetic tradition. Jesus is much more than a prophet, but he has an unyielding prophetic sensitivity to the chasm that exists between the life that God wants for the poor and the actual life they are living. It is this chasm which evokes the Blessings and Woes.
As St. Paul wrote in his first letter to Timothy (6:17-19), ‘As for those who in this present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life’.
As disciples we may be poor, broken and hated but on the plus side we are living in the Kingdom of God. In other words, we have taken ‘hold of the life that really is life’. Since this real life is amazing, it can coexist with hunger, brokenness, mourning and persecution. Why? Because this ‘real life’ will outlast the suffering and negativity which injustice brings. The unjust will self-destruct sometime very soon. Notice, too, the special emphasis on the disciples’ blessedness when they endure rejection because they are followers of Jesus and are trying to embody the new humanity and the new community of the Son of Man. The rich and powerful not only resist the invitation to join them, they go on the offensive to persecute and discredit them. But instead of despair, Jesus wants His disciples to rejoice when this happens! The same joy the prophets discovered when they held out for Gods’ world while they were attacked by people who only wanted to defend their own status and power.
The Woes are driven by the same energy. The rich have chosen a life that is not real life! Their consolation is now but it won’t last very long. And then, a special warning to disciples who compromise on the cutting edge of Jesus’ message. If they rationalise present injustices, if they tell the world it does not need to repent, they will have adapted God’s Word to justify unjust situations. As always with Jesus, a choice must be made, a path chosen. Will it be Blessing or Woe?
I heard once of a woman disciple who said Yes to this paradoxical life of Blessings and Woes. She knew the life that was real life and unmasked every counterfeit she met along the way. She was wide awake while all around her others slept. She suffered because she was a true prophet. She lived without anaesthetic. She took in the suffering of her sisters and brothers because it was there when it should not have been. “We have to help them”, she would say. When she died, there was uncertainty about what age she was until someone who knew her well announced that she was ageless.
And this is what she, the ageless one, said: “Whenever there is unjust suffering, you stop it. Sure, you might not know what is next. So what. You know what should not be and what won’t last in the long run. If it is oppressive, it is wrong. There is a better life. Reach for it. And don’t count the cost”.
