One of the blessings of living in Kansas is that we get all four seasons here. Spring and Fall always seem to be too short, and this winter seems to be giving us an inordinate amount of snowfall, but I’ve come to see the variety of weather in Kansas as a blessing. Sometimes things are best appreciated when there is contrast.
Life is a lot like the weather, filled with ups and downs, and best appreciated through contrasts. Our readings today give us some interesting contrasts. Jesus contrasts the human experiences of being poor vs. rich, well thought of vs. despised, etc. The strange thing is that Jesus tells us that we are actually blessed if we experience the difficult side of these comparisons.
How can he call the poor blessed, or the despised blessed? It seems like being rich and well thought of would be blessings, but he actually warns those people to watch out. The reason is simple. Jesus doesn’t want us to just be happy. He wants us to be blessed. Our ultimate experience of blessedness is being with God forever in heaven. We call it the beatific vision.
So if our goal is beatitude in heaven, then riches might just get in the way. Compromising to fit in with society might lead us away from God. These might in fact be dangers to our salvation. But if you’re poor or despised, if this causes you to focus on heaven and trust less in yourself and more in God, well then, blessed are you.