Brief synopsis of the readings: The prophet Zephaniah warns an evil people of the day of the Lord’s anger. For those who are humble and seek justice, they “may be sheltered.” After the Lord’s anger a remnant will be left who shall do no wrong and speak no lies. Matthew’s Gospel writes of Jesus preaching the beatitudes. Blessed are those who are poor in spirit, who mourn, who are meek, etc. He instructs his listeners to hunger for righteousness, show mercy and seek peace; those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness will belong to the kingdom of heaven. “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great.”

At various points, these days included, there has been a move among some politicians to post the 10 Commandments in schools, courthouses and other public places, arguing that it is necessary to form a public moral conscience. I have to confess that I’m not certain why schoolchildren need to be told to keep the Sabbath holy or that criminals will benefit from learning that the God of Judaism and Christianity is a jealous God. But perhaps this is a debate for another day. Many of us hold that while the church and state share common values, we work better when they are separate. There are others who suggest that instead of the 10 Commandments we post the Beatitudes, those sayings of Jesus from today’s Gospel. And while there may be some value to this, Commandments and Beatitudes have different meanings and point us in different directions.

The selling point for the Commandments is simple: there are things you must do and things you mustn’t do to please God. Good things will happen to those who follow them and bad things will happen to those who don’t. Unfortunately that hasn’t been our experience. Sometimes bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people. And with regard to the beatitudes, the world tells us that the poor in spirit are suckers and losers; the meek will be trampled; the merciful will be taken advantage of and peacemakers will be conquered.

And yet in the face of this, Jesus tells us to be these kind of people. He also said this at a critical point in his ministry. He had just endured the temptation in the desert and was at the beginning of his ministry; this can be seen as Jesus’ inaugural address. Simply put Jesus is laying the foundation for the Kingdom of God that will steer the rest of his ministry. Problem is, his ministry led him to be abandoned by his friends and killed by the Romans. How do we understand this?

We see a clue in the first reading, though it’s easy to miss. The prophet Zephaniah wrote during a time of great wickedness and warned those who did not serve the Lord. But to those who were obedient, Zephaniah offered no guarantee, only the possibility of safety. That sounds harsh and to a cynic it sounds like a reason to not bother. After all, why even try for only the possibility of success?

I think there is a deeper truth here. I believe in us enough to believe that we can act with justice without expecting a payoff, that we can do the right thing simply (and only) because it’s the right thing to do. And I think that’s the key to understand the beatitudes. It is true that doing the right thing may not benefit us, but it will benefit the world. Imagine for a minute what it would be like to live in a world where everyone shared the values Jesus spoke of. A world where we could take for granted that everyone would choose to be meek and merciful, where everyone works for peace and justice. The meek would need not worry about being trampled and the merciful wouldn’t fear being taken advantage of. Not a bad place to be, not a bad dream to have.

A few years ago I read about an economics principle called the “tragedy of the commons” and I think it applies here. Imagine a group of ranchers whose cows all feed from the same meadow. As long as all the herders cooperate and don’t overuse the meadow, all will be well. But if there are too many cows and not enough grass the meadow will be depleted and all the herds will suffer. And if only one herder limits his consumption he will not benefit. The meadow will still be depleted; given this he has no incentive to do good. All the herders (and frankly, all of the cows) will go down together.

So how do we read these passages from Zephaniah and Matthew? I’ve spoken before about my disdain for the idea of “accepting Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior” because it just sounds selfish. I like that Jesus spoke today’s words to a crowd, where he needed to climb a mountain to be heard because I think he spoke not to the need for individual obedience to commands but to something more.

If we can let go of the idea that good outcomes should come from good deeds we can be free to do great things. At the end of the apartheid era in South Africa Archbishop Tutu called for healing between the previous oppressors and oppressed. He said that “forgiveness is abandoning your right to revenge.” While he acknowledged the right to revenge he also knew that complete forgiveness was the only route that didn’t lead to an endless cycle of violence. Now in the years since these events South Africa has not had an easy time of it and progress has been difficult. Many still bear the wounds of apartheid and many former oppressors now cloak themselves in victimhood. But Archbishop Tutu provided critical leadership and I think he rooted his words in the beatitudes.

Faith has never been for the feint of heart and and Jesus’ belief in us calls us to do hard things. But the purity of following the beatitudes, no matter what, gets us to the place where everyone is valued. Not a bad way for Jesus to begin his ministry or for us to follow.