It’s verse 24 where I start to squirm. “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep. Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.”
Jesus’ message of generosity and inclusion still stretches us to the breaking point.
God gives us divine security, divine love and esteem, divine power and control — on God’s terms. We are healthy when we trust God for these things. Our problems come when we exaggerate our needs for security, esteem and control, and when we set ourselves to get these things on our terms.
Trust and acceptance. Grateful thanksgiving. Prayer and determination in action.
That’s not a bad pattern.
Economics, economics, economics. That’s the opening message from the first prophet in centuries.
In several places in the Hebrew scripture, the text implies that God blinds some people so that they fail to respond to God’s activity. Their failure then provokes God’s judgment and some ensuing catastrophe.
Maybe the experience of God simply can’t be translated. It can’t be given from one person to another. We must have that experience for ourselves. It’s not enough just to talk about God. It’s not enough to know about God.
The mistake of mistakes is to think that holiness consists in great or extraordinary things beyond the reach of ordinary people. It has been well said, ‘Holiness does not consist in doing uncommon things, but in doing common things uncommonly well.’ (Edward Bouverie Pusey)
These beasts symbolize fearsome powers beyond our understanding or control. Yet, they have a place in God’s universe.
Whenever we are able to take our deep and often unconscious fears and threats, raise them into the light of consciousness, and look at them with rationality and faith, we become more mature and conscious, more congruent and less compulsive.