The liturgy for the 6th Sunday of OT (C) highlights the Beatitudes as one finds it in Luke 6:20-26. Seeing the large number of disciples gathered before him, Jesus proclaims, using the language of blessings and woes, who are his real disciples. They are those who listen to his words and perform them, like the man who builds his house on a solid foundation (6:48). But because they heed his words, they suffer losses: they go hungry, they weep, they are reduced to poverty. They are blessed, not because they are hungry or poor or because they weep; they are blessed because they are so for the sake of Christ (vv. 22-23).
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Guide to the Reading
Luke’s Sermon on the Plain (6:17-49) is much shorter than Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). It can be outlined thus:
- 6:17-19 The occassion of the sermon: the burgeoning number of people going to Jesus
- 6:20-26 Blessings and Woes
- 6:27-49 The Sermon Proper
- Love of enemies (vv. 27-35)
- Compassion and generosity (vv. 36-38)
- Integrity (vv. 39-45)
- The True Disciple (vv. 46-49)
This Sunday’s reading covers part of the occassion of the sermon and the inaugural part: the Blessings and the Woes. The liturgy’s intent is to present setting of the sermon and the inaugural discourse. It is for this reason that vv. 18-19 were omitted from the reading. Note that given the selection, the number of the disciples — “a large gathering” — is emphasized. It is to them that Jesus directs his speech. “Then fixing his gaze on his disciples, he said…”
1. Compare the Lucan blessings and woes to the Beatitutes in Matthew 5:3-12. Note that in Matthew, Jesus directs his speech to “the crowds”; in Luke, it is to “the disciples”. Secondly, Luke has a section on Woes which Matthew does not have. The Lucan “woes” balance the blessings. Scholars tell us that this is probably more original. “Woe” here does not mean “Cursed.” In the original language, it is expressive of a lament, comparable to the Filipino expression “Ahay”. The lament is raised in view of a curse that the one lamenting already sees happening.
2. Pay attention to the way words in vv. 20-26 are arranged in opposition: poor — rich, hungry — full, weep — laugh. Note also how the phrase “this is how they treated the prophets” is repeated in both parts of the inaugural address.
Review of the Readings
The first reading from Jeremiah 17:5-8 is a sapiential blessing and curse uttered by a prophet. Blessings and curses were pronounced by priests over the people of Israel in the desert as a reminder of their obligation to abide by the covenant. Later on woes were pronounced by prophets as they saw the curse of the covenant falling upon Israel because of its infidelities. A further development occurs in Jeremiah 17:5-8 where we find blessings and curses in gnomic sayings. Compare Psalm 1 to Jeremiah 17:5-8. In Luke 6:20-26 we find another development in the use of blessings and woes. Jesus proclaims the in-breaking of God’s kingdom in the midst of his disciples as blessing for true disciples and as curse for the false ones. It is thus that he congratulates one and laments over the other.
The second reading continues the selection from Sunday V. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul reviews the proclamation about the Resurrection of Christ and applies it to the question of the condition of human existence in the resurrection. In the reading for Sunday VI, he emphasizes the link between the resurrection of Christ and the Christian’s resurrection. Hope in the resurrected Christ cannot be separated from the hope in one’s resurrection.
Suggestions for the Lesson
We have two themes in the liturgy that need to be discussed separately for clarity’s sake. The first is dictated by the first reading and the Gospel. Christian discipleship is immersion in the death and resurrection of Christ. The apparent loss that the disciple suffers because of his/her commitment to Christ is a sign of the authenticity of his/her discipleship. In fact, it has been suggested that the Lucan blessings are directed to people who have been dishonored by their families because of their belongingness to Jesus. Those instead who have consider themselves disciples but have not suffered any loss in this life inspite of their supposed commitment to Jesus receive the Woe-pronouncements. If there is anything in the New Testament that speaks against a Gospel of wealth and well-being, it is this part of Luke. Anything who thinks that health, wealth and well-being follows upon a “Yes” to the Lord will have to think twice. Because he who said that his disciples will receive a hundredfold of what they have left behind, will also receive some measure of persecution (cf. Mark 10:30).
The second theme is suggested by the selection from 1 Corinthians 15 and can be made to address those Christians who have begun to believe that heaven is a metaphor for well-being in this life. Some years back, the Catholic bishops raised the alarm that more and more Filipinos no longer believe in the after-life. There may be more than one reason for this: secularization, the loss of the sense of the transcendent, insufficient catechism, etc. The reading from 1 Corinthians reminds us that no amount of demythologization or elevated theological discourse should distract us from the conviction that there is life after this life.
While the two themes mentioned are best explained separately, there is a link between the two: Christian life as an immersion in the mystery of Christ’s death and resurrection. We die to ourselves so that we can be united in the resurrection of Christ. We are convinced that losing ourselves for the sake of Christ is to find ourselves; to die for him, is to live. The blessings and woes of the Gospel is eschatological reality breaking out in the “now”. It is our future hope being realized in the here and now.
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