The Healer Teaches
Perhaps all the world needs is enough of us to risk believing and putting the beatitudes into practice.
—Megan McKenna, Blessings and Woes
Theologian Megan McKenna focuses on the way Luke’s Gospel presents Jesus and the Beatitudes, known as the “blessings and woes.”
[In Matthew’s Gospel], Jesus, the new Moses, is the law-giver who goes up the mountain with his disciples around him, while the crowd remains. In Matthew Jesus teaches them from the mountain. In Luke [6:17–35], Jesus … comes down with [the disciples] to a level place that is crowded with hordes of people from all parts of the region and beyond to the coastal cities: believers, unbelievers, outsiders, and probably many not welcome in religious society.
Before he teaches, he heals; or perhaps as he heals, he teaches. Those who have come to him are ill, diseased, troubled by evil spirits, despised by society. They are desperate, seeking to touch him…. The scene is one of motion, reaching, grabbing, and we are told simply that “the power which went out from him healed them all.” This power, his spirit and presence, is healing, comforting, soothing, calming, promising. But the most startling line of all is the last one: “Then lifting up his eyes to his disciples, Jesus said….”
He lifts up his eyes: he is positioned below them, probably kneeling on the ground, tending to those in pain and suffering, attentive to the needs of those reaching for him…. He is in a position of vulnerability, of solidarity with the masses of people in need. From this position he speaks the beatitudes: the blessings and the woes…. In Luke’s Gospel Jesus is more comfort-giver than teacher; more attentive than discursive; more tender than instructive; more embracing of the pain of others than distant as law-giver.
The blessings and woes are taught from this place of vulnerable solidarity and are meant to be put into practice.
These few lines of blessings and woes are followed by a staggering sermon that is … seemingly impossible to put into practice. There are exhortations to love your enemies and do good to those who persecute you and malign you, to turn the other cheek and go an extra mile….
It seems that the blessings and woes and what follows from them in practical action form the foundation of the kingdom of God in the world…. The words of Jesus empower and sustain those called to be responsible for the new public order and common good, the defense of the poor, the care of the despised and diseased…. When the words of Jesus are put into practice the kingdom comes.
Thich Nhat Hanh has said: “The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green Earth in the present moment, to appreciate the peace and beauty that are available now…. It is not a matter of faith; it is a matter of practice.” [1] We need to practice reading and hearing the beatitudes; we need to put them into practice.
References:
[1] Thich Nhat Hanh, Touching Peace: Practicing the Art of Mindful Living (Parallax Press, 1992), 1, 2.
Megan McKenna, Blessings and Woes: The Beatitudes and the Sermon on the Plain in the Gospel of Luke (Orbis Books, 1999), 43–44, 45.
Image credit and inspiration: Rachel Spina, untitled (detail), 2023, photo, Unsplash. Click here to enlarge image. The woman watches the child marvel at the flowers—each of them practicing the Beatitudes by noticing and honoring what is small and vulnerable.
Story from Our Community:
Feeling guilty has been my go-to emotional state for as long as I can remember. Somewhere along the way, I learned that guilt was equal to humility. However, through these meditations I can see myself through God’s eyes. Feelings of unworthiness hold me back from receiving God’s mercy and deepening my reliance on our loving God. Little by little I am setting aside my pride and seeing myself for who I truly am—a woman made in the image and likeness of a merciful and loving Creator.
—Mary P.