There is reward for moving forward. There is reward for continuing to put one foot in front of another. When we begin by forgiving ourselves, understanding God's purpose for our lives, ethically following through with such purpose and trusting God to make our dreams come true - in short, when we cope - there is reward. We shall be compensated. The Beatitudes contained in Matthew 5:1-12 will be our lot. Let us dedicate this post to understanding the beatitudes. The passage (Matt. 5:1-12) starts by saying that Jesus went up to the mountainside and sat down, and his disciples came up to him. Coping is a journey uphill, up along the mountainside. The word mountainside reminds one of another closely related word, mountaintop. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was famous for his use of the word, mountaintop. It is from the mountaintop that we appreciate the vision of freedom; the vision of equality; the vision of progress, of emancipation, and of joy. Jesus is the epitome of our vision, and he is seated on the mountaintop. Alleluia!
And when his disciples had gathered around him, Jesus began to say: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted; blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy; blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad for your reward will be great in heaven; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you" (Matt. 5:3-12).
This material world is not the eternal home or resting place of the soul. We who are struggling to put one foot in front of another need to understand that we should hope. We should hope in the afterlife, the coming of our salvation. That salvation will bring the beatitudes; countless, immeasurable benefits for our reward. When we are poor in spirit; in other words, when we detach ourselves from material pursuits and focus through sacrifice on the immaterial, the spiritual; when we mourn by being perennially pensive, perennially burdened with the search for truth; when we are meek, and ethically positioned in service of God and one anther; when we seek to make peace wherever we go; when we are humble and pure in heart, and when people find it too difficult to understand us and rather treat us very badly - we should rejoice because all of this will pass away and we shall receive an eternal reward. We shall not be in this sorry situation forever.
There is a Spiritual that goes thus: "Soon and very soon, we are going to see the Lord; alleluia, alleluia - we are going to see the Lord!" The song further tells us that there will be "no more crying there; no more dying there; no more wailing there - alleluia, we are going to see the Lord!" What blissful realization. We indeed are going to see the Lord. After all the suffering in this world: the rejections, the misfortunes, the catastrophes - we are going to finally see the Lord. Alleluia! Do you recall how painful it was for Jesus to drag his cross along the road to Calvary while the soldiers beat and mocked him? Yet, when he reached the site of the crucifixion, he was glorified. When he breathed his last and all the wonderful earthly signs showed, the centurion said: "Truly, this was the Son of God" (Matt. 27:54). And after he had died and been buried, he rose again on the third day. This was even more glorious. Jesus said that those who sacrifice earthly wealth for the Kingdom will be rewarded hundredfold in this life and receive everlasting life in addition (Mark 10:30).
We have to persevere. We cannot give up. There is light at the end of the tunnel. There is reward for all our sacrifices. We have to keep moving. We have to keep going up the mountain, keeping our eyes fixed on that mountaintop. We cannot stop. We cannot retreat; we cannot surrender. God is with us. He will guide us. He will show us the way. And we will be blessed, if we keep coping.
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