Brief Book Review:The Beatitudes and Woes of Jesus Christ For The Slow Savouring of Serious Disciples

 

The Beatitudes and Woes of Jesus Christ for The Slow Savouring of Serious Disciples

Author: Joseph R. Jacobson

Publisher: PageMaster Publishing, 2020

103 pages, paperback

Reviewed by Rev. Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson

About the Author 

The Rev. Joseph R. Jacobson formerly served as a Lutheran pastor, and as a bishop of Alberta and the Territories Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church In Canada. Later, he became a Roman Catholic, and has served in that denomination as a priest. Rev. Jacobson and wife Carolyn were married for fifty-two years and nine months when she died in 2018. They have two children and eight grandchildren. He is the author of several books, both fiction and non-fiction. 

Dedication 

Rev. Jacobson has dedicated this volume: To the Chinese Christians of our own time who along with survivors of the gulag and the jihad are giving the whole Church a fresh vision of what it means to be called "disciples of Jesus." 

Introduction 

In his Introductory Comments, Rev. Jacobson states that: i) contrary to what many believe, the beatitudes and woes are stark; ii) they are descriptive not prescriptive; iii) and they describe discipleship. As stark, ground rules of Jesus for all would-be disciples, the beatitudes and woes, according to the Most Rev. Dr. Donald Coggan, a former Archbishop of Canterbury--cited by the Rev. Jacobson--"They terrify me." (p. 3) They can "terrify" us precisely because we cannot live up to the beatitudes, and the woes in Luke's Gospel all too often describe us. Yet, paradoxically, the author points out: the beatitudes cannot save us, and even though they are stark, we are graced by them insofar as they remind us of the state we are in--we are "Blessed." Originally, Rev. Jacobson wrote these twenty-four private meditations for each day during the season of Advent in 1997, revised them in 2014, and decided to publicly share them by publishing this volume in 2020. 

Structure and Content 

The author has employed a brilliant and creative method of writing these meditations. Each meditation has a two-fold message. First, each meditation begins with the words: "N.___________________________, child of God," (reminiscent of our baptismal covenant) and spoken to the reader directly by God the Father. Second, each meditation concludes with a conversational prayer-response to each particular beatitude and woe, beginning with the words: "Dearest Father." In both sections of each meditation, the author often refers to--in some meditations--several additional biblical passages, complementing the beatitude and/or woe. 

Here is a fragmented example: N.__________________________, child of God, I call you to hunger and thirst for righteousness. I do not need disciples who pay it eloquent lip service. (Matthew 15:7-8) I need disciples who pay it daily life service. (p. 32) Dearest Father, give me a fierce appetite for Your righteousness alone. Show me what it is. Show me how it works. Show me why the world needs it so desperately. Show me how much You want the world to have it. Show me Jesus and never let anything come between us! (Romans 8:38-39) I want to see my craving for anything but Your righteousness for what it really is: Deadly poison served on a silver platter. (pp. 34-35)

Over-all, I found this little Advent devotional book edifying. However, I do have a couple of critiques. My first critique is that the author does focus on total depravity in several of the meditations. In the present time, when the COVID-19 pandemic is causing many to be in a state of depression, these meditations may have an unintended adverse effect on some readers. My second critique is that the author most likely should have identified the painting on the front cover of the volume as well as the painter: The Sermon on the Mount by Carl Heinrich Bloch, in Frederikborg Castle, Copenhagen. 

That said, I would recommend this little volume to those readers who are looking for meditations for the Advent season.