The Beatitudes
February  14,  2010

Hundreds, perhaps thousands of people

had walked to Mount Tabor

from all parts of  Palestine

to see and hear Jesus.

 

When he came down from

the mountain,

and took his stand on the plain beneath

the crowd surrounded him.

 

It was the moment they

had come for,

the chance to be near

the one who could help them.

 

Soon, they thought,

there would be food

and freedom for all,

and no more sickness, no more pain.

 

Jesus looked intently at the people

and spoke in a rhythm of contrasts

and contradictions as

the prophets and psalmists did before him

 

The poor will inherit kingdoms,

the hungry will be well fed,

the sorrowful will laugh long and hard

and the shunned will be embraced.

 

Tears flowed from

the eyes of the crippled

and children danced in circles

having been given a chance to dream.

 

Jesus paused and looked at his new disciples:

a mixture of shepherds and money changers,

mystics and sinners,

rulers and those never called by name,

 

and said that he saw the joy in their eyes

and heard it in their voices

“But joy is a vanity,” he said, “when kept to oneself

and worthwhile only when shared.”

 

His words shocked them, 

in a sentence peoples’

hunger and freedom

became theirs.

 

On their way home, one of the new disciples said,

“If I heard him right, we will be happy

only when we see joy in the eyes

and hear it in the voices of all people, everywhere.

 

Do you think that will ever happen?”

Another disciple came up behind him

and said simply but loud enough to be heard

“ Yes,”