Episode Transcript
[00:00:05] Speaker A: This is Sundays with Bishop Ken.
Thank you for sharing some quiet time with the Lord for the next several weeks. Our guest reader is Deacon Eric Bissette, a permanent deacon of the Diocese of Rochester, New York. You may recognize Deacon Eric as a regular reader on the Little Books app.
Let's listen Now.
[00:00:39] Speaker B: A reading from the Holy Gospel According to Luke Jesus came down with the 12 and stood on a stretch of level ground with a great crowd of his disciples and a large number of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem in the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon. And raising his eyes towards his disciples, he said, blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours.
Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh.
Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude and insult you and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man.
Rejoice and leap for joy on that day. Behold, your reward will be great in heaven, for their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way.
But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.
Woe to you who are filled now, for you will be hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now, for you will grieve and weep.
Woe to you when all speak well of you, for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way.
The Gospel of the Lord the first thing to say about this gospel passage is that Jesus is not in favor of people being in want or being hungry or sad or not having enough food.
Nor is he against people who have enough food and are doing well.
Jesus is talking here about people who, because they're trying to live a good life, experience setbacks. He's contrasting that with people who would do anything, including sacrificing truth and goodness, to do well in life.
Jesus in this passage uses a traditional biblical word when he speaks of being blessed.
Blessed are you who are poor, blessed are you who are hungry, and so on.
It's a word that might be better translated as happy.
It describes the condition of someone who has a deep interior happiness and peace.
It's the same word that Elizabeth used when Mary came to visit her. Blessed are you who believe that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.
It's a deep down steady peace and happiness that no one can take from you. And that is there even in the face of setbacks and difficulties which sometimes happen to people who are doing their best to lead a good life.
Sometimes we hear it preached that if we follow Christ, everything works out fine. We are healthy and successful and we have everything we need and so forth.
Jesus is speaking to all of us.
He is saying that if we are true to what we know is right, if we are faithful to the way of life that he taught and lived, if we try always to let goodness come from us instead of evil, we will have here on this earth a deep down peace and an interior happiness.
And of course we will be blessed a hundredfold in heaven.
It's true. It's not simply let's pretend it's so. It really is so. It's not a carefree, giddy happiness. Rather it's an inner contentment, a sense of peace.
If we are in touch with God, we have a certain perspective. We think long term, not just short term.
There's a word that captures that. It's the word ephemeral. It comes from the Greek word that means literally just for a day.
It refers to things that are transitory, superficial things that don't last.
Actually, there's a whole class of insects called ephemera, insects that live a very short time, some of them only for a day.
When we are in touch with God, we have a sense that the things of this life pass quickly and most things don't last.
One of The Psalms, Psalm 90, speaks of O Lord, to your eyes a thousand years are like yesterday come and gone.
Our life is over like a sigh.
Our days pass swiftly and we are gone.
Make us know the shortness of our life that we may gain wisdom of heart in the morning.
Fill us with your love.
I close with a reminder that when we receive the bread and the cup at Communion and we say Amen, we are saying in effect, lord, I receive you into my life right now, and I truly believe that you are the way, the truth, and the life.
I believe that your way is the path to happiness, both here and in the life to come.
Amen.
When we say that with conviction, we express very deep faith.
We acknowledge that life here on earth is not perfect, not without problems. But the Lord's way is the way we commit ourselves to live.
In today's Gospel passage, Jesus says, happy are those who do that.
[00:06:36] Speaker A: Thanks for joining us today.
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We will begin our Lenten journey with the Little Black Book beginning March 2, the Sunday before Ash Wednesday.
Sundays with Bishop Ken is produced by Little Books of the Diocese of Saginaw.
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[00:07:32] Speaker C: Sa.
