6th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Cycle C

Depending on the Liturgical calendar and the timing of Lent, we don’t always have the opportunity to celebrate the 6th Sunday of Ordinary Time.  But this year we have a chance to dive into some of the most important Christian teachings, which we will see have their roots in much older texts:

The Word for the 6th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Jeremiah 17:5-8
Psalm 1:1-2, 3, 4, and 6
1 Corinthians 15:12, 16-20
Luke 6:17, 20-26

Our first reading comes to us from Jeremiah, that prophet who came to prominence under the great King Josiah, only to see the people turn back to idolatry and witness the inevitable destruction of Jerusalem and the fall of the kingdom of Judah.  This Sunday’s passage is from his oracles in the days of King Jehoiakim, Josiah’s son and successor.  Here he decries those who put their faith in men, and praises those who put their faith in God.  Those who trust in man are like a dessert whereas those who trust in the Lord are like a tree planted near a stream.  This theme is carried through in our Psalm as we sing, “Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.”

This theme of “blessed are they” carries through to our Gospel, which for this week is Luke’s version of the Beatitudes.  As we can see in the first reading, the ideas represented in beatitudes were not new, but as Jesus so often did, he solidified the teaching in a clear and concise way so that it could not be disputed.  Luke’s version goes one step further, following the “Blessed be…” passages with the “Woe to you…” passages, creating a counterbalance that is hard to ignore.  In short, those who are without, will be redeemed in the end and those who have plenty (understood to be borne on the backs of the poor), will suffer in the end.  These ideas go back to the Mosaic tradition of being judged on how well the marginalized peoples (widows, orphans, foreigners) are treated.  These ideas are not without their own controversies within societies and can create some interesting debate.

Our second reading continues our study of Paul’s 1st letter to the Corinthians.  Picking up near where we left off last week, Paul is addressing the community’s distress over those who have died before hearing the message of Jesus.  Here he also addresses the argument that Jesus didn’t actually raise from the dead.  Paul reminds them that Jesus preached after the resurrection, and that without the resurrection, our faith is vain.  Further, Jesus is just the “firstfruits” of those who have “fallen asleep.”  His resurrection guarantees our own resurrection.

Final Thoughts:
In Matthew’s gospel Jesus reminds us, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.”  Many at the time (like so many other self-ascribed messiahs) thought that Jesus was planning to do away with the Mosaic Law.  On the contrary, Jesus, in this passage, is actually doubling down on the Law, claiming not to abolish it, but to fulfill it.  Jesus’ teaching of the Beatitudes is both a reflection and a reminder of that teaching.

As we read the Beatitudes (as represented in Luke’s gospel this week), we also need to remember the transitive property of blessings and grace found in ancient cultures, and Jewish culture in particular.  When Jesus teaches “blessed are the poor,” he not only reinforces their special place in God’s heart, but that their blessed status transfers to those who help them.  A quick reading of the Beatitudes in Luke might lead one to think that those who fall outside the “blessed” categories have no hope of salvation.  Quite the contrary.  Those that see the marginalized as blessed are expected to act to help them, and in doing so bring blessings upon themselves.  So while it is true that those who have means may find it more difficult to achieve salvation, the means to that salvation lie in how we treat those of lesser means – those who are blessed.