A man was hand-sawing a tree branch while sitting on it. A passer-by looked up, saw him and warned the man: “If you carry on like that, you will certainly fall!” The man ignored the passer-by, shrugged his shoulders and carried on sawing the branch. The passer-by had just continued a few steps on his way when he heard a mighty thump behind. He turned around and saw the unfortunate amateur tree surgeon gingerly scraping himself off the ground; he saw the passer-by and shouted angrily at him: “You damn psychic!”
It’s not unusual to blame others for our mishaps and misfortunes. It’s the government, politicians, officials, various institutions and organisations, neighbours, spouses, children or parents – we are highly skilled at finding someone to incriminate. It’s a convenient attitude to have because it excuses us from taking any action that would change us; it’s the world around us that must be corrected and improved. Unfortunately, the world quite often doesn’t give a damn, leaving us frustrated, irritated or angry. In extreme cases, it can lead to harmful outbursts that hit the headlines.
At the heart of such an attitude lies the selfish delusion that I am the centre of the universe and the world should turn around me and fulfil my expectations, needs and whims. This delusion has been strengthened by the proliferation of social media, giving everyone a platform to publicly express their opinions, a prerogative previously reserved to those with access to printed or mass media. Opinions once spoken at the dinner table, in the pub, or in private conversations were suddenly given an opportunity to be made public and offered their holders a delusion that they mattered as much as those of people in the know. It’s arrogance that’s most of the time laughable but can be dangerous to the person in question as well as others. To be clear, I’m not ideologically against social media; it illustrates the law of unintended consequences.
Jesus, in today’s gospel, offered us a remedy against arrogance and selfishness, which always go hand in hand. At first glance, his prescription is highly unattractive: “Blessed are you who are poor. […] Blessed are you who are hungry […]. Blessed are you who weep […]. Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, and revile you, and spurn your name as evil.” Worse still, the sweet Jesus seemed to damn those who were the opposite: “Woe to you who are rich […]. Woe to you who are sated now […]. Woe to you who laugh now […]. Woe to you when all people speak well of you […].” We have to clarify one common mistake or misunderstanding of the Beatitudes. The state of being destitute – poor, hungry or lacking in basic necessities – as a result of circumstances beyond one’s control isn’t something one can take either credit for or blame. Jesus’ blessing doesn’t automatically apply to the destitute nor his woes to the fortunate ones. In the same way that I cannot take credit or blame for the colour of my skin, eyes or height, as these are beyond my control. We can only take credit or blame for things within our powers. Consequently, Jesus’ blessings spur us to positive actions while his woes serve as warnings against undesired attitudes.
The Beatitudes as we heard them in today’s gospel, and expanded in the gospel of St Matthew, can be summed up in the words of St Paul to the Galatians: “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” (6:2) Turning away from selfish self-centeredness, self-indulgence in various forms and delusional self-importance and serving others is the source of blessedness, or in modern words, deeply satisfying happiness. It’s not Jesus distributing his blessings as rewards or prizes for good deeds; it’s the very nature of selfless lives that brings such a blessing. It’s crucial to bear this in mind because otherwise, we might expose ourselves to a completely misplaced belief that by doing good, we will be paid back in kind, and somehow earthly prosperity will follow. Today’s first reading used the image of a “tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.” It’s striking that the tree can withstand challenging environmental conditions like heat and drought, not that it is spared of them. Even more striking is that the tree keeps bearing fruit in such hostile circumstances. St Paul warned us against such misplaced hopes of earthly rewards in today’s second reading: “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.” That goes on the heels of Jesus’ woes in today’s gospel. Like the earlier blessings, the woes don’t apply to the state of abundance as a result of good fortune beyond our control. They are warnings against the dangers of setting self-indulgence as the sense and purpose of one’s life. There’s no shortage of tragic stories of people who have struggled with their newly found fame or riches, or people growing into unbearable arrogance and aloofness. As with warnings on potentially harmful products, it’s up to us to take them seriously or ignore them. If you decide on the latter and then land hard on the ground, don’t blame the messenger. You have been warned in today’s psalm: “The way of the wicked will perish.”
