Every curse contains a blessing, and every blessing a curse. Hardships are temporary, but then so is good fortune. That seems to be the theme of today’s readings. What’s more, the things people normally consider blessings—being well fed, being happy, having people speak well of you—Luke’s gospel calls curses; and the things they call curses—being hungry, being poor, being persecuted—Luke calls blessings.
One role of Scripture is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.
Winning the lottery should be a blessing. But two weeks ago a woman in New Jersey won a $7,000 lottery. That seemed like good luck. But on her way to celebrate her win with friends, she was struck by a car and killed.
Missing your commuter train on your way to work seems at first like bad luck. But more than one worker at the World Trade Towers lived to bless their so-called bad luck later that Tuesday, September 11, 2001.
A man misses his flight, bad luck. His friend owns a small plane, good luck. At 25,000 feet, that small plane runs out of gas, bad luck. Both the pilot and he have parachutes, good luck! The man’s parachute fails to open, bad luck. Below he spots a huge haystack, good luck. At the last minute he spots a pitchfork in the haystack. Fortunately the man missed the pitchfork. Unfortunately he also missed the haystack.
This old bromide underscores that our personal story, our adventure, our life doesn’t end until the day we die. Only then can we know if we are truly blessed or cursed. For those of us who put our faith in Christ, all of life becomes a blessing no matter what hardships we may have had to endure.
Being nailed to a cross to die would seem like the epitome of bad luck. Yet we know the story doesn’t end there. The Cross became a blessing. But only if Christ is raised from the dead. As St. Paul tells us in the second reading, if Christ is not raised, than those who died believing in him are the most pitiable of people.
But if Christ is not raised from the dead, than why do we even bother coming to church? If Christ is not raised from the dead, then the Scriptures bear false witness. If Christ is not raised from the dead, than we and all humanity remain ultimately under the curse of death.
But if Christ has been raised, then death has been conquered. And if death has been conquered, than Scripture says we who live and die believing in him will also rise from the dead. If we are ultimately blessed forever, than no matter what misfortunes befall us, we know our final destination is nothing less than eternal life with Christ.
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