For a handful of people, this Sunday is the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, but for most people in the US, this Sunday has a very different name. What do you call this Sunday? Yes, it’s Super Bowl Sunday. How many of you are excited about today’s game? Some of you might think this is my usual question of the day, but it’s not. My real question, and you don’t have to answer it out loud, is: Do you see life as a contest, one that has to be resolved quickly, like in a football game? In this game called life, are you anxious to find out who are the winners and who are the losers? Do you have the patience to wait it out? And what do you do during the commercials?
Life does have commercials, those times when nothing important to the continuation of the story, or of the game, seems to be happening. A time-out when the volume gets turned up by the broadcasters and we, the viewers, hit the mute button or walk away to do something more important. Except, maybe on Super Bowl Sunday when they try to make the commercials as much fun to watch as the game, itself. Advertisers recognize we always need to be doing or seeing something interesting.
It’s hard to just sit back and wait for something to happen. (Have you ever noticed how red lights are longer than green lights?) When we wait, we want time to pass quickly, so we can get to the results, or can get to the “good” part. Very few of us exhibit the virtue called patience. Yet, this may be what Jesus was trying to teach the crowds and the disciples gathered around him there on the mountain.
The readings we heard today deal with two balancing acts, our need to balance instant gratification with delayed gratification. And secondly, our need to balance passive waiting with active waiting. These readings also deal with joy and happiness and, ultimately, with peace.
Each one of us wants joy and happiness. The problem is, when joy and happiness do not come fast enough, some people turn to quick solutions. They think the answer comes with alcohol or drugs. Some seek happiness in gambling. Some try to find joy by leaving their spouse for a new, supposedly more exciting partner. When we lack happiness, each of us seeks instant gratification.
We are taught to seek instant gratification at an early age. Kids want what they want, when they want it, and many parents accommodate them. It’s easier to give in, rather than to teach that sometimes it’s good to wait. Kids aren’t to blame for wanting instant happiness when they see adults seeking their own instant results.
Even our TV commercials promise instant results with each new, improved fast-acting product they sell. That’s why we buy them. Who wants a “slow-acting” pain reliever? Who wants to diet and exercise to lose weight when there are fast, no-sweat ways to get a beautiful body?
If there is no quick-fix solution, what is the alternative? If my life isn’t as happy and joy- filled as I want it to be, am I supposed to wait until I get to heaven where I will be rewarded for all the misery I’ve suffered here on earth? Some people hear the Beatitudes, the blessings Jesus, taught his followers there on the mountain, in this way:
● If you are sad now, you will be comforted in heaven
● If you are meek now, you will get everything later
● If you are merciful now, God will be merciful to you in the future.
But if they hear only this, they may lack an understanding of what Jesus was trying to teach his followers and us. These people may believe Jesus was in favor of a “passive” waiting, a passive waiting which will give us our final reward in heaven. Some people might try to console themselves, and relieve their own unhappiness in the here and now, by saying it will all be better when they die and go to heaven.
Perhaps, worse yet, some would use the Beatitudes of Jesus to justify the mistreatment of other, less fortunate people. They could say it’s O.K. for there to be homeless people in Houston or starving children in Africa, because when these unfortunate people die, they will be happy in heaven.
On the other hand, I believe a truer understanding of the Beatitudes calls for an “active” waiting, one in which we participate now, at this very moment, in the Reign of God. Those who lack a true understanding of the Beatitudes hear only the ”will be’s” in the list of the Beatitudes. They do not hear the opening blessing: “blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” They also fail to listen to the one which says: “blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.”
They often overlook that:
● The beatitudes are radical calls to action
● That they demand active patience and not passive patience
● That the beatitudes call us to be totally dependent upon God.
To be poor in spirit is to acknowledge that everything I have comes from God and I must depend entirely on God’s generosity, upon his gifts. At the same time, I need to acknowledge I’ve not always used his gifts wisely. I have hurt others by my actions and, as the prayer says: “by what I have failed to do.”
The Beatitudes call me
● To forgive and to seek forgiveness
● To be sorry for the wrongs I’ve done
● To be a peacemaker, to be active in bringing about reconciliation
● To be humble enough to recognize the world does not revolve around me
● To hunger and thirst not only for righteousness, but also for wholeness
● To give from my heart and not just because it is owed to someone.
I, also, need to understand that none of this will be easy. Jesus, himself, concluded with the reminder: “Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me.” Paul in his letter to the Corinthians, also, reminded the Corinthians, and us, that we cannot boast of our own, personal accomplishments, but instead we all “should boast in the Lord,” for it is from him we receive our gifts, our redemption, and it is on his behalf we should employ these gifts for the advancement of others.
We do not need to sit on our couch and watch the game of life being played by others. Our happiness, and the peace we ultimately seek, do not come from our idly standing around, merely waiting for the game to begin, or to continue after some sort of “commercial interruption.” Instead, our God urges us to be active players, not in some future, athletic super bowl, but in the present, existing Kingdom of Heaven.
Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time; January 29, 1990; February 3, 2002 (revised)
Zeph 2:3; 3:12-12; 1 Cor 1:26-31; Mt 5:1-12