Go Out and Bless the World

And raising his eyes toward his disciples he said:

“Blessed are you who are poor,
for the kingdom of God is yours.
Blessed are you who are now hungry,
for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who are now weeping,
for you will laugh.
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.

Rejoice and leap for joy on that day!
Behold, your reward will be great in heaven.

Imagine what it was like to be in the crowd when Jesus proclaimed this good news about the “blessed.” If you were poor, hungry, sad, or persecuted, you heard a message of hope; “Rejoice,” says Jesus when you find yourself in those situations. It surely must have sounded like a radical and illogical statement: How can my poverty, hunger, sadness and oppression be so
mitigated that I can actually feel joy? Well, in our life with Jesus, we can experience a new life with him – now and forever. To believe in resurrection, is to trust in the hope that we will be together with the Lord well beyond our years on this earth. To believe in the good news of Jesus is to embrace a way of living (right now!) that is founded on justice for those who suffer, providence for those in need, and reward for those who live the Gospel despite pushback from the world.

To sum it up, we have work to do alongside Jesus to make that life of right and just living really happen. When we do the work of the Gospel and the world starts to change for the better because the poor, the hungry, the despairing, and the victims of oppression experience our Christ-like love, then we will all rejoice. There’s a lot at stake here, especially Heaven; so may we who are blessed, go out and bless the world!