And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said:
“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
“Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied.
This is what Jesus had told all of us back then on the hillside that day, other times in other places… back before we were truly trained as our Lord’s disciples.
The gospel of Luke carefully records truth from eyewitness accounts of numerous historical citizens of the first century.
The following is a fictional representation continued from our previous episodes of eyewitness by one of Jesus’ first disciples.
Now that we have become fully trained just as Jesus had mentioned in those early days I wanted to share some of our Lord’s teaching with you; not as we heard it then as uncertain believers, but as we now consider how our Lord’s teaching has changed us over time – now, years later and after Jesus’ resurrection, many appearances and glorious ascension into heaven.
“Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.
Sure, we were hungry many times. In later months we were rejected by our towns and villages, just as Jesus had been nearly thrown off a cliff in Nazareth. We were banished into the mountains or driven out toward unfriendly sea shores to fend for ourselves. Work was all but impossible to find. Food became scarce.
We wept. Our children wept for no food many hungry evenings until our sorrows and weakness swept us into sleep.
Yet the Messiah Jesus had promised that though we were now hungry, we will be satisfied.
W
hat did He mean?
We witnessed many of our beloved friends and hundreds of those we did not know go through terrible suffering while the rich of the world looked on taking little notice.
We were refugees of the world just trying to survive in these difficult times ruled by the powerful and rich men from other places and desperate men fleeing to places where they might stand up against Rome and make a name for themselves as they controlled what little food we had hope for.
We wept, rather than living with laughter as even in our dreams we can no longer do. What did Jesus mean when He taught: You shall laugh. You will be satisfied… What was Jesus our Lord telling us? What was He preaching to the people without hope?
Our Lord truly looked into the faces of the suffering. We were not just disciples hoping for a Messiah, although we had desperately hoped for a redeemer from our present circumstances.
You are blessed now, our Lord would tell us. For your reward is great.
And now that Christ is risen and has risen to the clouds in the flesh, we know that not only is our Redeemer great, our great hope is eternal and everlasting!
Our spiritual poverty before we lived in Christ lacked the basic sustenance of hope. Though our flesh ached from lack of food, though our soul mourned for the loss of life of our own children of hopelessness; we despaired most from our lostness from any joy and glory of God. We were lost and starving in every way… that is, until our Lord looked down on his disciples like me and my family, smiled with the deepest compassion and taught:
- Blessed are you who are poor…
- Blessed are you who are hungry…
- Blessed are you who weep.
After all these months of following Jesus I look back and know now how poor I once was in spirit. I was hungry more for the Lord even than to fill my emptiness for lack of food.
We no longer weep day after day and night after night. Even in our present suffering we have certainty in Christ, who was crucified for our sins and rose from death – we witnessed it! – even in our troubles today, we are filled with Jesus who lives in us. We are rich in His glory fed to us in scripture. We rejoice in His love and await the day where there will be no more weeping… no more crying… no more sin and no more death.
We look back on our early days of listening to Jesus and rejoice that the Lord has blessed us.
To be continued…
Simon Peter was a leading local fisherman. He and his wife eked out a tenuous living dependant on the winds of the sea, a few small fishing boats and hand-repaired nets which might hold a more than meager catch from time to time. Like so many of us, family members lived near by or even in our homes.