Jesus, the only lasting source of True Happiness – Sunday Homily

Delivered at St. John Neumann, where I am blessed to serve as Pastor: Admit it, you have never sat down and read the book of Zephaniah, have you? If you have, you win a prize this weekend! It is, admittedly, not a well-known book of the Bible. It is only three chapters long and is the fourth to last book of the Old Testament, right after Habakkuk and before Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. Fascinating, I know! In my own curiosity, I wanted to go back reread the book in preparation for this weekend, after all, it is only three chapters, right. (And only 53 verses, total.) What I found fascinated me. In the selection that we have presented for our First Reading this weekend, there is a rather positive message about being humble, being a remnant, the lowly and meek take refuge in the Lord and none will disturb them. And then I read the rest of the book, and what I found was prophecy that included death and destruction, walls being laid low and erased from the land. The first verse of the book reads thusly: “I will completely sweep away all things from the face of the land—oracle of the LORD. (Zeph 1:2)” And I think: that escalated quickly! The prophesies of Zephaniah were written at a low point in the history of Judah. Under the leadership of some of their worst kings, they had sunken into Idolatry and the worship of the false gods of their neighbors. The northern Kingdom of Israel had been destroyed by the Assyrians about a hundred or so years prior; but Judah did not learn their lesson; they stayed in their false worship, they stayed in the hardness of their hearts. And as such, Zephaniah’s task is to bring the people of Judah, the Southern Kingdom, the Kingdom of David, back to God; but he knows the majority of them will be destroyed, the Babylonians are coming and God’s protection over the Holy City of Jerusalem is going to be removed. But yet, not all will be destroyed. Not all will be lost, these prophecies of the humble, those who have embraced the Law of God give a ray of hope that Israel and Judah will eventually be rebuilt into something new. The old laws of power and prestige will be turned on their heads and a new law of Grace will be established. Six hundred and thirty some odd years later, Jesus comes and picks up those few hidden passages in Zephaniah and expands upon them: Blessed are the poor in spirit Blessed are they who mourn Blessed are the Meek Blessed are those who thirst for righteousness Blessed are the merciful Blessed are the clean of heart Blessed are the peacemakers Blessed are the persecuted The Health and Wealth Gospel, the message of living in right relationship with God for the sake of prosperity is turned over; and the lowly, the meek, the humble, those who live according to God’s Law in spirit and truth are now held up as the example that we should follow. But what does it mean to be ‘blessed’ in this context? Matthew is the most ‘Jewish’ of the Gospels. There is some evidence that suggests that he originally wrote his Gospel in Aramaic, the language that Jesus spoke, prior to translating it to the Greek that has been handed down to us. In Hebrew and Aramaic, ‘Blessed’ has a connotation of ‘Happy,’ but not ‘happy’ in the sense that one has had too much helium, but that deeper sense of happiness and joy that comes from knowing, loving and serving God; that deeper sense of happiness that comes from knowing a purpose in life, knowing meaning in life, having a mission that has been given by God and is unfolding before you. This is a much different notion of happiness than how the world and our modern culture define ‘happiness.’ Take a moment and think, ‘What makes you happy?’ (PAUSE) What we believe, what we know, is that what makes us happy, what makes us ‘blessed’ is not found within; but is found in Jesus Christ and living for something more, something greater. “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.” We know the secret of life, because He has created us, He has created you; and He gives us this list so that we can find our way back to Him, for He is the only lasting source of true happiness.   The post Jesus, the only lasting source of True Happiness – Sunday Homily appeared first on Called By Name by Father Schnippel.