Join us today as we celebrate Holy Communion for the Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time, 2/13/22. To follow along at home, click here and print the Holy Communion Program. Text of today’s homily below.
CLICK HERE TO GET AN EMAIL OF EACH SUNDAY’S SERVICE IN YOUR EMAIL BOX and to receive email updates about the mission of St. Barachiel Chapel.
If you would like to have prayers offered for you, a loved one, a friend, for someone who is suffering, ill or who has departed, please email Archdeacon Mitch at mitch@heritageartsinc.com and we will pray for you. And if you’d like to assist in the beautification, improvement and maintenance of St. Barachiel Chapel, or support our educational mission, please click here to make a donation.
Homily for the Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time -- Sunday 2/13/22
Readings: Jer 17:5-8, Ps 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6, 1 Cor 15:12, 16-20, Lk 6:17, 20-26
Luke 6:17, 20-26 American Standard Version
And he [Jesus] came down with them, and stood on a level place, and a great multitude of his disciples, and a great number of the people from all Judaea and Jerusalem, and the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases.
And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed are ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh. Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake. Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy: for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for in the same manner did their fathers unto the prophets. But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation. Woe unto you, ye that are full now! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you, ye that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep. Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for in the same manner did their fathers to the false prophets.
Brothers and sisters, if we’re to understand today’s Gospel reading, we need to first get clear on the definitions of some key words and phrases that can be very confusing to people like us who are immersed in a materialist culture. Quite literally, what “matters” in this culture are the things made of “matter” while the immaterial is of no worth at all. To paraphrase the words of theologian David Bentley Hart in his book The Experience of God, our scripture is advertising, our piety is shopping, our highest devotion is choice, the only value at the center of this social universe is the price tag.
This materialist view can rub off on us. And when we hear the word heaven we can conceive of it as a physical place, like Tahiti or the South of France, and dismiss it as a childish fiction, which it is. Or, educated by comic books and sci-fi movies, it’s easy to conceptualize heaven as an alternate dimension where, if we only had the proper machine or the right magic spell, we could pop over and have an adventure. But there is no evidence whatsoever for the existence of alternate universes and we have no need for childish fantasies. Heaven is real, and for evidence we can rely solely on personal observation.
What can be more real than love, truth, charity, peace, sacrifice? These are the most profound realities in our lives! And, like all things that are real, these “goods” must rest somewhere, in the same way that a cup rests on a table or a pan rests on a stove. Heaven is then, quite simply, the location of goodness. When we are in need of help, and help comes to us in the form of a helpful idea or a realization, a word of advice, a kind deed, or what-have-you, the goodness we receive is at once invisible, immaterial, inexplicable, and very, very real. We can say that the goodness we received “came down to us from heaven.” Heaven is a great word, because it describes reality exactly as we experience it, despite the fact that we don’t understand how it works.
Now, if heaven is the place of invisible goodness, then the kingdom of God is the invisible state – not a physical state like Florda or Kansas – but a state of being in which we are thinking, desiring, acting and believing in a way that is pleasing to God, our heavenly King. Remember Luke 17:21 – “The kingdom of God is within you.” Conversely, when you are behaving in a manner that’s in keeping with the wills and desires of the Satan, you are in a state of damnation. Each of us moves into and out of these states quite readily – without the aid of U-Haul. So with these understandings, let us turn to today to the words of Jesus.
Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of God. In the words of evangelist A. W. Tozer, “the blessed poor are no longer slaves to the tyranny of things” and are able to serve God as loyal subjects. Fancy homes, finicky sports cars, and fancy stock portfolios demand constant maintenance and attention. They own us as much as we own them. And the hamster wheel of consumerism only distracts us from heavenly things.
Blessed are those who are now hungry, for they shall be satisfied. Freed from the quest for ever more delicious food and pleasurable sensations, we can be ever more devoted to seeking spiritual sustenance. Thirsting for righteousness and hungry for justice, we will find our satisfaction in the ways of God.
Blessed those who now weep, for they will laugh. Weeping over the sadness of family members, friends, coworkers and neighbors, we will do the things that relieve their suffering and bring us together in celebration when difficulties have been overcome. Liberated from the constant quest for fun and entertainment, flitting from one party to the next, from theme park to festival to concert, we are free to laugh and smile at genuine moments of connection.
Blessed are you when people hate, revile, and curse you for believing in Jesus. What could be a greater compliment than to be at odds with this upside-down-materialist world? When we cease our addiction to the drug of approval – the most powerful drug of all, delivered every day by means of likes and shares and friend requests via social media – we will receive heavenly rewards instead. When we do good, not to receive awards and kudos, we gain entrance to the state of being in which God is truly our king.
Woe be unto us if we cling to the ways of this world, brothers and sisters – if we ignore the evidence of the heart, avoid sincere experiences within reach, deny belief in heaven, and rebel against the kingdom of God. For we will get everything we want, but none of what we need in the world to come.