Memorial of St. Peter Claver, Priest
When the psalmist proclaims, “God is close to the broken-hearted,” the psalmist is not saying that God wants us to suffer (Psalm 34). When Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor,” he is not saying that God wants there to be poverty in our world. When Jesus says, “Woe to you laugh,” he is not saying that God wants us to live without joy. So, what are we to make of the gospel today?
There are two keys that might help unlock this passage for us, one is in the text of today’s passage, and the other is behind the text. In the text today, Jesus refers to false and true prophets and how they are treated. Often, false prophets are celebrated. True prophets have a more complicated reception. Both false and true prophets make a choice whether to listen and actively respond to God’s word. True prophets are attentive to the whole of God’s word and then proclaim it with their lives. May we aspire to be true prophets, those who recognize that whatever riches we may have are meant to be shared abundantly, shared especially with those who are most in need.
When we look behind the text, we hear what his first listeners would have heard, an echo of God’s word in Deuteronomy 30. God has set before us life and death, the blessing and the curse. We are invited to choose life, to allow God to circumcise our hearts, to give us hearts that remain tender (30:6). Through the prophet Ezekiel, God promises to take our stony hearts and give us hearts of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26). When our hearts are tender and fleshy, like true prophets, we mourn with those who are mourning. Our hearts, like the heart of God, weep at the death of Haitian student Pierre Damas Bel.
We are in the world in front of this text, a world marked by increasing inequalities, by increasing hatred toward those who are new to our communities (the stranger in Biblical terms), a world marked by climate change. Christ is still speaking in this world and sets before us today the blessings and curses or woes. We get to choose. In a hardened world, will we let our hearts be hardened, or will we choose tender hearts that weep with those who weep? Will we choose false prophecy that says we should provide first for family and friends, take all we can get for hard work, and leave little for others? Or will we choose to use our voices to speak justice for the most vulnerable, both people and planet, even if our family and friends turn away from us because of it?
In every choice today, may we choose life and blessing. We can be assured that when we choose life, these choices are life-giving for others and for ourselves. When we choose life, we can truly rejoice and be glad, ours is the kingdom of God!
— Kelly Adamson