Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)

February 17, 2019

Readings:

First Reading: Jerimiah 17: 5-8

Psalm: 1

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 15: 12, 16-20

Gospel reading according to Luke 6: 17, 20-26

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Homily:

Jesus and his twelve Apostles went down to the level area where people are gathered together to wait, see and listen to him and to witness some miracles by curing different kind of sicknesses, diseases and illnesses, and even expelling demons.  Almost all people in the land were present.  It was a huge crowd, of different languages, colors, races and beliefs, although they came together for Jesus because he did many wonderful works and miracles, and he talked to their hearts especially about Reign-Kingdom of God.  Jesus comes to meet the people where they are.   “Jesus came down with the Twelve and stood on a stretch of level ground with a great crowd of his disciples and a large number of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon” (Lk.. 6: 17).  People from all walks of life, from Judea, Jerusalem up to the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon near the Mediterranean Sea were congregated and assembled on that stretch land as they heard that Jesus is passing by with his twelve chosen Apostles who made also many miracles in the name of Jesus.  A great crowd of his disciples were waiting for him as well as a large number of people were also there for they heard all this news and so they became interested to see who this Jesus was.  

Roaming around his eyes, (iginala niya ang kanyang mga mata), and raised it up he saw different faces with diffident problems, struggles in life, some are hard pressed in life, some are depressed, others are sad and lonely, poor, hungry and thirsty, others are crying, begging, people who are tired, overburdened, feeling surrendering oneself, hopeless, helpless, malaise, bad luck, cursed, persecuted, broken hearted, sick, possessed by demons, rejected, unloved, abandoned, orphaned, etc., etc., etc., and all these, and many others Jesus saw in the faces of every person in the crowd.  “And raising his eyes toward his disciples.  . .” (Lk. 6: 20).  He saw each one of them with his merciful eyes, all of them, and he felt in his Sacred Heart the needs of their hearts, their hearts’ desires to be satisfied and or answered.

And so, on the one hand, he announced this good news to all of them, “. . . he said: ‘Blessed are you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours’.” (Lk. 6: 20).  Blessed are the poor, not because they are poor but because the Reign-Kingdom of God is theirs.  Jesus did not mean to say it is okay to be poor, to be lacking in everything, yet wanting everything but cannot afford.  He did not mean to say also that it is okay to be poor for the poor when they die they will go to heaven, therefore it is good to be poor, and so that other people can take everything that are supposedly belonged to the poor. To become poor is unjust and unacceptable to God who created everything to give satisfaction to all his creatures.  Nobody or no any human being either would like to become materially and financially poor, except those who professed it to live materially and spiritually poor life for the sake of the Reign-Kingdom of God.  Sometimes, poor people are called lazy by those people who have but they did not understand that the poor became poor because they were not given a chance to prove themselves; they have no opportunities to improve their status in life, and many other reasons why they became poor without their intention or desire nor they did not like to become poor.  Nevertheless, the bias of God is with the poor, His Anawim, with his loving heart and just hands.

Jesus proclaimed and said, “Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh” (Lk. 6: 21).  Jesus did not mean to say that it is okay to be hungry and even thirsty, to live in an empty stomach, without any food in the table.  He did not mean also to say that weeping caused by others is okay.  Again, like poverty or being poor, hunger, especially when children are crying for food, and the parents could not do anything except to pacify their children and let them sleep with an empty stomach; because of the economic dictates of those who own and produce food, they can manipulate the market of food in cases like inflation, the increase of the costs of food from the farm to the market, they control the price of the commodities, too.  Nevertheless, Jesus announced that those who are hungry now will be satisfied with food abundantly.  And those who are weeping now will have the last laugh as louder as they can scream out loud.  As what in the Canticle of Mary indicated that, “He has filled the hungry with good things, . . .” (cf. Lk. 1:53).

He announced also to those crowds, ‘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.’ (Lk. 6: 22). Of course, every one of us needs friends to rely on, not enemies who hated us, who excluded us and insulted us, who denounced our name as evil.  But we cannot avoid not to have enemies because of what we believe, of what we imposed to ourselves, the policies we made and the standard we set to ourselves, and also because of our faith in God and in our Lord Jesus Christ where some if not many do not like or believed.  We are blessed by the Lord Jesus Christ in front of his Father if we recognized him as our Lord and Master before men, but he will deny us in front of his Father when we deny him before men (cf. Mt. 10: 33). “Rejoice and leap for joy on that day!  Behold your reward will be great in heaven.  For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way” (Lk. 6: 23).  Despite of our exclusion, of insult, denouncement, calling name names, as their ancestors did to the prophets of old, we should remain steadfast in our faith in Jesus Christ for no one can take away our happiness and joy and contentment coming from Him.

Jesus, on the other hand, denounced those insensitive to the needs of their neighbors, as he said, “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation” (Lk. 6: 24). Again, in the Magnificat of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and Mother of God, it says, “.  . . and the rich he sent away empty” (cf. Lk. 1:53).  Jesus did not mean to say that it is bad to become rich, besides he wanted all humankind to become rich, but richness with mercy and compassion, with cooperation and sharing of gift to those in need.  The rich, if they use their wealth for the betterment/welfare of others, Jesus did not refer this woe to them.  He referred it to those who were greedy, avaricious, materialistic, whose interest only were themselves, who were blinded by their wealth, and wealth is their gods/goddesses.

Jesus also announced the reversal of conditions of those who are filled, those who laugh, those who received from people who spoken well of them.  He said, “Woe to you who are filled now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will grieve and weep. Woe to you when all speak well of you, for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way” (Lk. 6: 25-26).  Life is like a wheel (gulong ng palad), not always we are at the bottom, and not always we are on the top.  We should not lose faith when we are poor, or hungry, or weeping, or hated, excluded, insulted and denounced our name now because of Jesus.  It is better to live like these, to be faithful to him, for the Reign-Kingdom of God is ours, that He will satisfy our hunger, that He will wipe out our tears and turns it with laughter.  Because of Him, we must be ready to be hated, excluded, insulted and denounce.  God can reverse all things.  As Jesus said, “Rejoice and leap for joy on that day!  Behold your reward will be great in heaven.” But if we do not change our relationship with our God and our neighbors, He can turn upside down our conditions in life. God woes us, afflicts us and griefs us because of our abuses of richness, full and abundance of wealth due to the blood and sweat of so many poor laborers, workers, and receiving lots of praises in spite of too much corruption and greediness, as they did to the false prophets. God is not sleeping (hindi natuttulog ang Diyos), He sees us and everything we do, think and say.