I think the very first line of our first reading from Zephania really paints the picture for us – “Seek the Lord, all you humble of the earth”. In all of today’s readings, we focus on the humble of the earth, and their place in God’s plan, and His kingdom.
Zephania in our first reading refers to a remnant in the midst of the people who will be humble and lowly, and who will seek refuge in the Lord. These people will follow the Lord’s teachings without diverting to follow their own designs in arrogance; they will be satisfied in the Lord. This is the model which God has in mind for us, to have enough faith and trust in Him to free us from the need to develop our own “doctrines” and to so often fail at it, when all that we really need to do was to follow His word, which is perfect. We often see such acceptance as somehow beneath us, and as blind following, but it is the opposite. Humility does not mean to blindly follow (following without reason or intellect), it means to lovingly accept what we know to be good, and to not feel the need to “re-engineer” what has already been provided simply so that we can call it our own.
In our second reading, Saint Paul rightly points out that even though most of us would not fall into the category of wise, or powerful, or noble by human standards, it really doesn’t matter. The Lord did not come to choose those who are seen as exalted by human standards anyway; He calls those who are not so clouded by their own self-perception, that they fail to hear His voice. He calls instead those who by human standards are the weak, the despised, and the lowly. He knows that they will more readily hear His words because they already accept their own limitations and are not so full of themselves that His call is ignored. It is to those who willingly accept His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, that his favor is extended. Jesus will be, for those of us willing to accept Him humbly, all the wisdom, righteousness, and redemption that we so desperately need and cannot hope to provide to ourselves no matter how exalted we are by human standards. If we feel the need to boast, it should be of our Lord Jesus Christ alone.
In our Gospel today, we hear the Sermon on the Mount, in which Jesus addresses His message to those whom we do not normally see as noteworthy by societal standards. This is in many respects an extension of what we have heard in our previous readings, but with an important distinction. He tells us exactly what will be fulfilled for those of us who live out these humble descriptive titles. We hear how the most profound want that comes along with each will be satisfied and those who have endured will be seen as blessed in God’s sight. There is true reason for rejoicing among those whose humility and patience have allowed them to live out the virtues that Jesus describes, solid in their faith that He will not leave them unfulfilled. This is truly what He seeks from each of us, the trust, humility, and faith that come with loving Him in true intimacy because we seek always to emulate Him.
The Deacons Bench 