Will I Be On the Right Side?
Simone Riva - The words of the prophet Jeremiah invite us to become aware of ourselves. In whom do we truly trust? In the Lord or in the idol of ourselves?
“Cursed is the man who trusts in man… Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord.” The alternative, put in no uncertain terms by Jeremiah, is definitely the most provocative point of today's Liturgy. However, the prophet's words could appear to be a controversial expression and even in contradiction to the new relationships made possible by Christ. Who is the man Jeremiah talks about, and in whom is it best not to trust?
In short, we could say that it is man in front of the mirror. He is the strong man, who only thinks of himself, who “must never ask,” and who, without scruples, has learned to replace God. He is the one who always needs an enemy to fight so that he can believe he is alive. Furthermore, he is the one who creates around him that poisoned atmosphere of factions, in which others are led to ask themselves: “Am I on the right side?”
This is the man who ignores those who have told him that they have a different opinion from his and who covers them with insinuations, inferences, and allusions to demolish them from a distance. Cunning, suspicious, intolerant, in reality, he is weak, always needing to surround himself with people ready to agree with him every time he speaks.
Each of us could recognize someone with these characteristics, but firstly, we have to admit that there is a part of this man in us. The man not to be trusted often comes out into the open when everything seems to be going smoothly, when things are going our way: our plans are realized, life is quiet, difficulties are on hold.
So we start to think we can manage on our own and save ourselves the trouble of trusting in the Lord. This trust is described by Jesus in today's Gospel in the revolutionary method of the beatitudes. The man who trusts in the Lord is, in fact, poor, hungry, crying, hated, and despised for Christ's sake (cf. Luke 6:17, 20-26). But above all, he is poor in the full sense of the word, as Don Giussani described it: “Poor: certain of some great things. Why is poverty being certain? Because certainty means abandoning oneself, it means going beyond oneself, it means that I am small, I am nothing, and the true and great thing is something else: this is poverty” (Luigi Giussani, Certi di alcune grandi cose, BUR, Milan 2007, p. 385).
What allows us not to trust in the strong man is this certainty of where the consistency of our life lies. Who makes me truly myself? Who is willing to pay personally so that I can follow the path that allows me to be truly at peace? Who does not accept making concessions on the essential so that “the great reward in heaven” can already appear on earth? Christ is the true model of the beatitudes, the only one who can point to himself as a model, as a human being to follow.
For this reason, he himself details Jeremiah's curse: “Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are now filled, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who are now laughing, for you will mourn and weep. Woe to you when all people speak well of you, for in that way their ancestors treated the false prophets.”
The alternative we started from presents itself to us, therefore, with something new: Jesus decided to go through it all, overcoming the great trap from within, and filling our trust in him with wonder. We are “only” left with the art of surrender, so as not to deny what baptism has already achieved by allowing us to stand on the right side.
The author hasn’t revised the text and its translations.
