Brief synopsis of the readings: The prophet Jeremiah warns the people that their sinfulness will be punished. He curses those who trust in people instead of God. But those who trust in God will be rewarded. “In the year of drought it shows no distress, but still bears fruit.” Luke’s Gospel parallels the fifth chapter of Matthew where Jesus delivers the Sermon on the Mount. After choosing the Twelve, Jesus came down the mountain and taught a large group of people who were from all Judea, Jerusalem, as well as the coastal towns of Tyre and Sidon. Jesus blesses the poor (“for the reign of God is yours”) and the hungry (“you shall be filled”). Those who weep will laugh. He also blessed are those who are hated for following Jesus “for your reward shall be great in heaven.” But Jesus then warns the rich and those who are full, for they will lose what they have, and those who laugh will weep in their grief. Finally Jesus warns those when “all speak well of you. Their fathers treated the false prophets in just this way.”

Those who follow politics (like me) find amusement when we hear politicians demand that the 10 Commandments be posted in schools, courts, and other public buildings, as if simple displaying them will “make us great again.” Recently I’ve noticed on social media a bit of a backlash, a call to post the Beautitudes. Today’s Gospel gives us an abridged version of those teachings from the fifth chapter of Matthew in the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. Count me among those who would favor posting today’s Gospel in our public places. Instead of “you have to’s” or “you must not’s”, the Beatitudes speak more to how we are to interact with each other, the world and the world’s resources.

Problem is, the Commandments are easier to measure. There’s not much wiggle room as to whether or not we’ve killed someone or publicly renounced our faith. They are also fairly easy to follow. When I was in seminary I took a course in how to hear confessions; the professor suggested that if someone came but wasn’t certain what to talk about, the priest should list the Commandments. I disagreed, suggesting that our lives are a great deal more complex as is our need for reconciliation.

But also, we often don’t celebrate, or even respect, those who are poor, or hungry, or weeping. I’ve spoken before of my impatience with the “prosperity Gospel”, the idea that God rewards good people with wealth and influence. But the joy of the Beatitudes goes deeper than that. Wealth and gluttony can easily isolate us and make it easier to believe that poverty and hunger are self inflicted, the result of laziness, or just someone else’s problem.

But they’re not. Poverty can be a disease, but it can also be an awareness that someone else’s lack is our concern. Our hunger can be for food but it can also be a hunger for justice. Weeping is not normally something we desire but if it leads us to compassion, healing, or reconciliation, well that’s pretty good.

So why do we need this reading? Why don’t we already do it? Alas, the allure of popularity is powerful. The power of peer pressure does not lie exclusively with adolescents. The need to preserve our social status by remaining silent in the face of injustice doesn’t expire at the end of our teenage years. A few years ago we learned about the town of Flint, Michigan. The political leaders decided to save money by purchasing tap water from another source. They also knew that this would lead to an unacceptable rise in the level of lead in the water (in fairness no increase in lead is acceptable). This led to permanent brain damage in infants and children, and was bad for everyone. But dozens of officials refused to blow the whistle because it would have made them a target for backlash. In fairness those who did reveal this (shout out to Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, a pediatrician who noticed a rise in lead levels in the blood of poor children in Flint) did become targets and showed great courage in refusing to shut up.

Additionally, when Jeremiah talked about “one who trusts in human beings” he recognized sometimes we set goals that are not just achievable but too easy. I’m certainly not advocating that we ignore the commandments but aiming that low can lead to a senses of smugness and self satisfaction that falls short of Jesus’ dreams for us. This is particularly true if those human beings are also civil and religious leaders. Southern ministers in the early 1800s promoted slavery by misusing Scripture passages. Hitler gained popular support 100 years ago by claiming to speak for “the Almighty.” And even today we hear leaders who proclaim that a politician who opposes abortion deserves our vote even though he brags about his contempt for people who don’t look like us, speak our language, or come from somewhere else.

To carry this even further, these are the leaders who advocate most vocally for the posting of the 10 Commandments and pat themselves on the back for their own courage. They will be called to account only when the rest of us refuse to be fooled or seduced. But don’t be fooled: this isn’t easy. We have to be willing to forsake their respect but also invite their contempt. And Jeremiah was such a person. The people of his time were moving away from God toward idolatry; we normally think of idolatry as worship of other gods. But those gods were as much about wealth and contempt for God’s demands that they care about the poor. We know how that story turned out and it didn’t go well. They were soon conquered and exiled by another nation.

I’m not advocating for the prediction that we are on the verge of being conquered. But going along with the crowd out of fear does not bring us closer to God. Let us obey the 10 Commandments, but let us also live the Beatitudes.