Wednesday – 23rd Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel – Luke 6:20-26

Leaping for Joy

Mediterranean Sea, Tel Aviv

Have you ever had a moment when you literally leapt for joy?  I mean literally jumped in the air because you were so happy?  Maybe it was the last out when the Cubs won the World Series!  Maybe it was when you learned you passed that final exam of your worst class or that acceptance letter from your #1 college!  Maybe when you made the softball team or passed the boards to become a nurse!  A time when you were so full of joy that you couldn’t contain your excitement!

So multiply that by a couple of billion and maybe we get close to the joy that Jesus is talking about in today’s Gospel.  The joy of entering the Kingdom of Heaven, the joy of realizing the Kingdom is yours!  Leaping for joy and pumping your fist in the air, a joy that can’t be contained inside and must be bursting out of every pore in your body.

This is Luke’s retelling of the Beatitudes and it is quite different.  More bold, more joyful and more direct!  Blessed are you who are NOW poor, NOW hungry, NOW weeping, NOW being hated by others!  What a comfort to those in pain and how insightful that Jesus addresses His words to only those clearly suffering in this life.  A reminder that all you are suffering in this life will not last.

But Luke takes it a bit further and Jesus addresses the opposite group – the rich, the filled, the laughing, all those who are causing the suffering!  Woe to you!  In no uncertain terms, the ones who are preying on the poor and defenseless will also have their day of judgment. 

But for the poor, the suffering, all those treated unfairly, the ignored and the invisible – the message is clear.  You are not forgotten!  You are loved and cared for and your Father in heaven has a reward for you greater than you can imagine.  A reward well worth jumping for joy!

Great Spirit, give me the strength today to let go of my attachment to the things of this life – wealth, power, popularity, selfishness, hate, anger, bitterness and jealousy.  Help me to let go of the things of this world and embrace the beauty of Your Creation!  Help me to surrender myself to You and then find joy worth jumping for!

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