Fourth Sunday of the Year, A – Jan 29, 2023
Readings: Zep 2:3; 3:12-13; Responsorial Psalm Ps 146:6-7, 8-9, 9-10; 1st Cor 1:26-31; Gospel Mat 5:1-12A.
Theme: Beatitudes as Signs of the Kingdom!
Sunday Synopsis
The message of the first reading from the prophet Zephaniah reveals that holiness requires humility. In the second reading, St. Paul invites the faithful to only boast in the Lord. He discloses that God calls the weak to shame the strong. The gospel describes Jesus’ manifesto as found in the Beatitudes which paints the picture of the desired character for entry into God’s kingdom. Through the Beatitudes, Jesus portrays righteousness as the standard of his kingdom. In our daily lives, we are challenged to embody the beatitudes as signs of the kingdom!
Introduction
Beloved in Christ, our liturgy discloses that humility and holiness are imperatives for entry into God’s kingdom. In the Beatitudes otherwise known as the “Sermon on the Mount,” Jesus lives the Church with moral prerequisites for citizenship of God’s kingdom.
Background and Summary of the Readings
The message of the first reading from the prophet Zephaniah (Zep 2:3; 3:12-13) reveals that holiness requires humility. It urges the Anawim (poor of Yahweh or remnant of Israel) who have been dealt with by the Assyrians between 635 -625 BC during the reign of King Josiah, to “seek justice and humility” suggesting that these two virtues would position them favourably before God.
In the second reading (1st Cor 1:26-31) St. Paul invites the faithful to only boast in the Lord noting that God calls the weak to shame the strong. He reminds us to seriously reconsider our calling as Christians as being favoured by God who has called us despite our sins. This, gratuitousness, for St. Paul remains the criteria for citizenship into God’s kingdom not our being wise, powerful or of noble birth by human standards.
The gospel (Mat 5:1-12A) describes Jesus’ manifesto as found in the Beatitudes which paints the picture of the desired character for entry into God’s kingdom. It suggests that by imbibing these values, Christians would become “more meek, more merciful, more hungry for righteousness, [and] more apt to make peace” realisable in the world. Through the Beatitudes, Jesus portrays righteousness as the standard of his kingdom.
Pastoral Lessons
1. Embrace Humility: The message of the first reading reminds us that holiness requires humility which disposes God to favour us.
2. Boast in the Lord: In the second reading, St. Paul’s message that if we must boast it should be in the Lord reminds us that God chooses the weak to shame the strong even as it assures that we are products of God’s mercy.
3. Entrench Justice and Peace: The social principles of the Beatitudes challenges the laity to impregnate the world with Christian values through ensuring that vulnerable people who are afflicted by social, economic and psychological factors are adequately taken care of by various Governments, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and other spirited individuals thus entrenching the Church’s Catholic Social Teaching (CST) which have justice and peace as their aim as espoused by Pope Leo’s XII’ Rerum Novarum (1891) and Pope Benedict XVI’s Caritas in Veritate (2013).
4. Seek Detachment: Th religious principles of the Sermon on the Mount calls us to be detached from material possession so as to demonstrate acts of mercy in our various homes, places of work and communities, and happily endure persecution while relying on Jesus.
5. Serve God and Humanity: Based on the ethical principles espoused in the beatitudes, Christians are charged to blend their purity of intentions with exterior dispositions towards service to God and humanity.
Summary Lines
1. The message of the first reading from the prophet Zephaniah reveals that holiness requires humility.
2. In the second reading, St. Paul invites the faithful to only boast in the Lord.
3. God calls the weak to shame the strong.
4. The gospel describes Jesus’ manifesto as found in the Beatitudes which paints the picture of the desired character for entry into God’s kingdom.
5. Through the Beatitudes, Jesus portrays righteousness as the standard of his kingdom.
Conclusion
The implication of Jesus’ Beatitudes which was meant for “his disciples (the true or spiritual Israel) which was already present and beginning life in the kingdom and second, to the crowds (the future Israel), the Israel that is hoped for, who must repent in order to follow the king” further invites everyone to make the world a better place to live in. Jesus desires the Church to breed refined Christians who seek after meekness and peace, and are desirous of even making heaven present in this seemingly broken world. May God help us to live out the Beatitudes in humility as true citizens of his kingdom. Amen!
