Scripture/Bible:Seeing
the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down his disciples came
to him. 2 And he opened his mouth
and taught them, saying: 3 "Blessed are the poor
in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 "Blessed
are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. 5 "Blessed
are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. 6 "Blessed
are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
7 "Blessed are the
merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. 8 "Blessed
are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 9 "Blessed
are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. 10 "Blessed are those
who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven. 11 "Blessed are you when
men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you
falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for
your reward is great in heaven, for so men persecuted the prophets who were
before you. Mt 5:1-12
Reflection: A
person who has had a taste of crowd acclaim will always seek to receive more
and more of their adulations. It can
give a great kick to those who know how to handle the crowd and hold them in
rapture.
Some
feel additionally strengthened and empowered when treated as special by the
crowd. This is the strength of most
politicians, stage performers and artistes. Not lagging behind sometimes, are the occupants of the pulpits too.
Though
not every session with a crowd is aimed in that direction, very rarely you have
people who are equally at home with the crowd and without them.
A
real test of such a problem would be to check the envy and jealousy level when
we see others either catching up with us or doing either equally or better than
us. If we begin to find faults (unreasonable) or keep watch on particular persons and their
performances then these could be indications too in the same directions.
It
is best to purge these tendencies; otherwise we could end up as being wonderful
instruments of Satan in order to destroy God’s work in our midst.
In
the Gospel text we have a wonderful situation in which Jesus could have used
this situation of a large crowd to display his spiritual prowess and strength.His
focus was clear, he would not be distracted by any pitiful situation or human
considerations to appease humanity and or play to the gallery.
We
would cry foul at such a behavior and say; “look he has come to serve and he is
discriminating between us and the disciple; when he gives he should give and
teach irrespective of cast, creed and religion”
Who
can challenge God’s wisdom and ways, which directed according to his plan is
greater than all of human wisdom put together and much more and in a far greater
measure.
Prayer: “How great are thy works,
O Lord! Thy thoughts are very deep! The dull man cannot know, the stupid cannot understand this.” Ps 92:5-6
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