As the Gospel warns us today, we can store up our treasures here on earth,
where these treasures are ephemeral and not long lasting, or we can store up
our treasures in heaven, where they will last an eternity. We need to decide which treasure matter most to us in life.
I know that this week you have been studying the Beatitudes in your Mississippi
mission experience here in Tupelo in Northeast Mississippi. “Blessed are you who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness” proclaims
Jesus in the Beatitudes. In the ways of the world, someone is blessed if they have things such as good
health, a good job, a nice car, and a lot of nice material things. In the Gospel of the Beatitudes, Jesus asserts: “Blessed are those who have
been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven.” But we would not want to wish persecution on anyone, would we? We wouldn’t consider that a blessing. Or would we? Jesus goes on to say: “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute
you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me” Blessedness in the Beatitudes is directly linked to our relationship with
Jesus. When the Beatitudes were written about in Matthews Gospel, there was a lot of
discrimination and oppression being experienced by those who were following the
Way of Jesus. And in the Early Church, the definition of a saint was someone who was martyred
for the faith. Persecutions were very common for those who
followed Jesus in the centuries before Christianity became officially
recognized as a lawful religion in the Roman Empire. Living out this Beatitude was a big part of life for the early Christians. Today, we here of Christians in the Middle East and North Africa increasingly
being persecuted for the faith. And in our own society here in modern America, opposing the death penalty and
abortion, having a sacramental view of marriage between a man and a woman, and
declaring human life as beginning at conception can bring about derision and
persecution in our own lived reality. Jesus gives us the courage to proclaim his
Gospel and his values. He calls us
blessed when we have the conviction to proclaim to the world what we
believe. In that we are blessed - in the way we
are lights in the world, in the way we dialogue with the world and give voice
to these values.
I hope that all of you had a good week here
at Homework. We are very supportive of
this program and are thankful that we have been able to host all of you here in
Tupelo this week. May you take away a lot to think about from
this week. May you all grow in you desire to love God
and love your neighbor. And may the Lord continue to lead you and guide you along your journey of
faith.
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