Summary: Zephaniah 2:3; 3:12-13 + Psalm 146 + 1 Corinthians 1: 26-31 + Matthew 5: 1-12 I have a five year old great nephew who until very recently eat, slept, and played all day and all night in a Spiderman costume he first put on for Halloween two years ago. He has worn through the feet of the costume, and his grandmother has modified the legs and other parts as they have torn and he has grown. He has lept around the house, skidded through the kitchen, and jumed down the stairs making strange noices to impress and attract the attention of visitors and his great-uncle. There have been interludes of Batman and Superman but without a doubt, Spiderman is the one to which he returns. I thought of this recently when I was reading a short article about superhero figures. The article proposed that the proud superhero, all of them from Superman, Spider Man, Batman and Wonder Woman were all versons of the same mythological proposal that an alter-ego is lurking in us all. Superman is there inside the mild-mannered Clark Kent, Batman is there in the effete Bruce Wayne, Wonder Woman is hiding in the prim secretery Diana Prince, and Spider Man is there inside the insecure Peter Parker. It’s a formula that has known great success, made a lot of money, and ignited the imagination of countless children, my Jonah included. The article suggests that this success is due to the fact that it appeals to a secret belief that deep down beneath our own mild public persona lurks a secret superhero. I believe that Wisdom says otherwise, and Wisdom begins by accepting the fact that there is no superhero, and we are all helpless and hopeless without God. Beatitude is an adjective. It is a description of someone who acts like God or who acts in a Godly way or acts as God would have us act. Beatitude calls us to be in solidarity with those who live close to God. No one is closer to God than the poor, the meek, the mourning for you see, they have nothing between them and God. Having nothing to idolize, no gold to turn into a golden calf, and no one to put before God, they are the Blessed Ones. In contradiction of the pagan culture in which we live, some translations use the word “happy” to describe beatitude. Our homes are bombarded with suggestions that happiness is having the right car, a vacation, or the latest technical toy to entertain and dull our consciences. I am fascinated with the policy proposal these days that insists that our economic health depends upon all of us spending again desite the fact that jobs have gone out of the country and wages in real dollars have dwindled since the 60s. At the time of Jesus, wealth flowed to Rome. In our times, two thirds of the wealth produced in this country has gone to the wealthiest five percent of society. Their constant whining that government is taking our money sounds suspicious to me since there is every reason to suspect that they own the government. God Blesses all of us, not the rich and powerful. So Matthew’s Gospel insists that Beatitudes belong to people who know better, and who have not let anything or anyone get between them and God. Beautitudes are something that happens to us and something we become when we realize the fact and the truth that we are helpless and we are hopless without God. Beautitudes happen when we quit trying to buy, acquire, or earn happiness and simply discover that we are Blessed just as we are. There are not many of us who understand this and believe it. There is evidence all around that suggests that we are independent and free to do our own thing; that we should claim our rights even when we can no longer tell the difference between what is a right and what is a want. Frank Sinatra had a favorite song that expressed it perfectly entitled: “I did it my way.” This is not the theme song of the poor in spirit, but the anthem of self-sufficiency. It is a long a long way from Beatitude. There will be no place for us among the saints, no place for us in glory until we embrace our poverty and helplessness; until we become peacemakers and refuse to think in terms of winners and losers, until we can accept the pains and disappointments of life as easily as we accept the joys; until we become pure of heart, simple and pure, honest and sincere thirsting for what is right rather than for what is profitable. Finally Beatitude will be us when we are merciful and put away the scorecards we sometimes keep on our friends and loved ones refusing to repay and replay hurts and evil. These are the values of not of this world, but the world to come in which those who are Christ’s own already have begun to live.
