Blessed Are the Now Hungry 你們現今饑餓的是有福的

Sixth Ordinary Sunday, Year C
Theme: Blessed Are the Now Hungry 你們現今饑餓的是有福的

I love reading the gospel of Luke because it is more down-to-earth and less high-sounding. For example, while Matthew advocates, “So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48), Luke says, “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36). Well, at least I can be merciful sometime somehow, but it is truly an impossible mission to be perfect!

The same is true in the case of the Beatitudes. Although there are only four and not eight/nine beatitudes in Luke’s version, they are closer to our experience and more realistic. Luke is able to handle both long-term and short-term experiences without philosophizing them.

Among the four beatitudes, two are long-term: poverty and hatred. These two take time to build up and take even a longer time to eradicate. Indeed, Jesus once says that “The poor you will always have with you …, but you will not always have me”(Mark 14:7), suggesting that humanity can never be able to eradicate poverty unless greed were completely uprooted from human nature! Unlike Matthew who “spiritualizes” poverty, Luke deals with the poverty issue headlong. He says, “Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours” (Luke 6:20) instead of “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). Moreover, Luke addresses the crowd point-blank with a “you” instead of some unrelated “theirs”! Similarly, hatred is also extremely difficult to remove. For example, hatred may arise from ignorance which breeds fear and prejudices. Fear arises when people perceive that their status quo would be shaken or their benefits would be thinned out. Anger erupts when misunderstanding is fostered etc. Unfortunately, it is far too easy to hate and to vent our anger than to forgive. It is important to observe that when the beatitude touches on the issue of hatred, both Matthew and Luke address the audience directly with a “you”! Luke has been consistent while Matthew goes out of his way which I won’t digress. I’m sure a lot of biblical scholars must have discussed it.

The remaining two beatitudes in Luke are immediate. They read, “Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh.” (Luke 6:21)
We cannot be hungry for long nor can we be weeping unceasingly because hunger and weeping are immediate experiences. Luke highlights their immediacy by qualifying them with the word “now”. The “hunger” is concrete because it’s happening here and now! When tomorrow comes, yesterday’s hunger becomes nothing! Today’s hunger, the hunger at this moment is our concern! No wonder Jesus teaches us to pray for our “daily bread” and “Do not worry about tomorrow …” (Matthew 6:34) In Matthew’s version, hunger and mourning are more abstract and thus remote (5:4, 6). He confines the hunger to righteousness while Luke’s version is open and does not limit what one would hunger! Yes, we may hunger for bread and sacraments. Why not hunger and thirst for righteousness? What about seeing a cherished mercy project done? And the longing to fulfil our potentials or the ending of the present pandemic? Though those “hungers” would be long-term instead of being immediate, they are nonetheless very genuine.

Brethren! Are we hungry now? What do we hunger for at this moment? Are we able to satisfy this hunger of ours now? Perhaps we don’t feel hungry at all at this moment because we are living in a relatively affluent society. But as I have previously mentioned, deeper down perhaps something is complaining and wants to be heard. Are you aware of this inner stir?
For me, there is. As a deacon, I’m supposed to be spending most of my energy doing charity. However since I was assigned to the present parish which is farther from where I live, I need to spend more than ninety minutes in travelling to work. My parish is well-known in serving the needy, the homeless, the elderly, the out-sourced janitors and the marginalized families etc. It would have been a perfect assignment for a deacon had their services not taken place on Friday evenings! For roughly five months, I have not been able to join them in going out, visiting the needy. There is a draining feeling in my stomach.

I thank the good Lord who mercifully revealed to me today what I have been hungry for. I was walking to work and racking my brain on the message of the Sunday gospel. Where else should I spend my energy if not serving the Word? I walked past a homeless old man who was not wearing a face mask. His outfit was not dirty but rugged. He was carrying a radio which was switched on and was staggering along slowly with a stick in one hand, stopping now and then, and another hand dragging a cardboard which I imagined he had previously picked up on his way. It must have been more than 20 meters past him that I just could not continue ignoring the plight of this old man. I turned around, caught him up from behind, gave him all my spare masks and a red packet which I had prepared for my spiritual director. With a closer look, I was able to see that he didn’t seem to be able to see and hear clearly any more. Furthermore, familiar faces started appearing on his face, male and female, young and old, rich and marginalized ones etc. I even have an encounter with a “me” from the future! At last I greeting them all with a few good wishes and left.

On deeper reflection, I thank the merciful Lord for satisfying my hunger. Furthermore, if I am able to see myself in the future “me” and have extended a gesture of mercy to myself, I begin loving others as myself. Perhaps this is a small but sure step towards seeing the Lord in the needy we serve. However, there is still room for improvement. My memory is beginning to fail me because I have forgotten to give the future “me” the piece of toast and the bottle of water in my sack. I have to humbly accept that I’m far from perfect.

Brethren. God is love (1 John 4:8). Not only do we hunger for love, but also hunger for the opportunity to love. It is satisfying and fulfilling to be able to love ourselves as well as our neighbour. With the help of the Lord and His spirit, we’ll be satisfied.
God bless!
2019 Reflection
Picture credit: sc.legco.gov.hk
It shows that the homeless can be written off without a heart as "self-reliance"!