4th Sunday Ordinary time Year A ZEP 2:3; 3:12-13; 1 COR 1:26-31; MT 5:1-12A

Let’s start today with a little quiz. Answer by a show of hands.

Who believes in God?

Who believes they know better than God, sometimes?

Who at times believes they can control their lives without God?

Who has had their belief in God shaken?

Who has had their belief in God reinforced?

Who believes God does not always understand what they go through?

I have certainly had my experiences over time where God has been hidden from me and times where God is revealed to me. Generally, I have found that when God is hidden from me I have been so sure that God had nothing to do with my success.

I would only pray when there was something that I wanted, whether that was wealth, power, or some other worldly thing. We all have these times where the temptations of the world become more alluring so we justify to God why we should have them. My responses were usually, I have been a good guy so you should be rewarding me with whatever it is that I want.

We see this play out in our children on a regular basis, they have done something good and there has been an expectation set by society that they should be rewarded or recognized for this action. We are reminded today in the readings that this is not the case. God appreciates the humble. Being humble does not mean taking no credit for the good we do, but understanding the good we accomplish is because we believe in a certain way of life.

We as Christians are called to this way of life that goes beyond the Ten Commandments. We are called to follow a life that emulates Christ. We are to walk as he walked, among those who need someone to assist them in the daily struggles of life. There are basic needs that all people have, food, shelter, clothing, health care. These basic needs are not currently available to all people, but they should be.

The Catholic church as an institution does a wonderful job around the world of trying to ensure all people have these things and there are other institutions that do this as well. Jesus did not call us to rely on institutions to assist all of the worlds needy. We are called through his actions to show his love for all mankind.

Zephaniah reminds us today that we need to be humble and not boast before the Lord, because he has left us reminders of those who need us. He wants us all to be willing to extend a helping hand to those around us. I know that it is easy to say “I don’t have the money to help them” or “ I don’t have the time to help them”. I have said these things before myself. Let us remember that Jesus made time to help as many people as he could while he was here among us, as one of us.

He then left it to his disciples to continue his work and we are called to continue his work. We can all come up with excuses not to help those in need. Jesus in his beatitudes reminds us “blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”. He is talking to all of us when he calls the poor in spirit. None of us regardless of our stature truly has the spirit of Jesus. We all have the capability to exhibit this Spirit by our baptism, when we are called to be priest prophet and king to the world.

We can say we are not worthy because we do not possess the strength of Jesus, but just as Paul reminds the Corinthians today;

“Rather, God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise,
and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong,
and God chose the lowly and despised of the world,
those who count for nothing,
to reduce to nothing those who are something,
so that no human being might boast before God.”

We are all called to be strong and help those who are weaker than us. As parents we take this responsibility on in a special way for our children. As members of society we are called to take on this same responsibility for those around us. We need to be reminded occasionally that while we may be successful, wealthy, powerful, there is one who is more powerful than all.

Mike Tyson had a great quote that is used in sports on a frequent basis. “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth”. We all have our own plans for our lives and these plans do not always come with a smooth ride. How we handle the unexpected in life will go a long way in how successful we will be in gaining admittance to heaven.

While we may not always agree with all those around us on how to accomplish the tasks at hand, we are all called to work together as a community of believers to continue Christ’s work. I can guarantee that there will be times when you are acting as God wants that you will be made fun of for believing in a spirit you cannot see, but as the last line from the Gospel reads today; “Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.”

The strength to follow through on what Jesus has taught us, not only by his example, but by laying out the beatitudes to show us how to live, comes from within, not from outside. It is what we are called to do and be to the world that will show those who do not believe why we believe. When we show the world how to live as Christ taught us we can be humble before all around us including God because we are following his lead not our own.

Remember however that in order for this to work we need to be willing to put aside our differences and come together for the betterment of the world. When we do this, we can show those who believe they are better than others, what it means to be a child of God.