“Blessings And Woes”
Luke 6:17-26
Two men were traveling by light airplane to a business meeting in Alaska. Somewhere over the tundra the plane’s motor failed and they were forced down. When they returned home each wrote an article for his favorite magazine about the resulting crisis. One was an avid outdoorsman and his article was titled, “Survival in The Frozen North.” The other was very religious, and his article was titled, “How Prayer Saved Me from The Wild Wolf Pack.” The stories were about the same incident. The authors were different, and so was the audience for whom each wrote.
An accident can happen at an intersection, and you can have several eyewitnesses, but the men will probably notice the make and models of the vehicles while the women might notice the clothes colors and hairstyles of the drivers.
Our Gospel Lesson this morning has been referred to as the “Sermon on the Plain” and other than length it’s very similar to what Matthew called Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount” found in Matthew 5-7. Are they two different sermons? We know, or assume they are by two different authors. Did one copy off the other? [the theory that both Matthew and Luke copied off of Mark’s Gospel] Or did they both copy off someone else? Like the kid who copied his answers to a test from the person he sat behind in class. The teacher was tipped off when he answered one question, “I don’t know that either.” Or are these one and the same discourse? These are questions and debates for men and women much more serious than me!
The main argument for the two discourses is that Matthew wrote that Jesus “Went up on a mountainside and sat down” whereas Luke writes that “He went down with them and stood on a level place.” It has been suggested that this could have been a plateau part way up the hill. Once again, a topic for much more serious men and women.
Something I think we need to see in our lesson is that there’s a large crowd of people that Jesus is confronted with, but Luke writes: “Looking at His disciples, He said.” Jesus is directing this message to the twelve. I’m sure everyone there could hear Him, but His message was directed to the disciples.
The crowd assembled there that day would have been made up of three groups: the apostles, the disciples, and the people. By saying that the people came from as far away as Jerusalem and Judea to the south and Tyre and Sidon [Gentile territory] to the north, Luke may be saying that Jesus’ ministry and message was for all; that’s what He indicated to the home-folks in Nazareth. Basically, you could say that the entire known world at that time was represented.
Matthew’s sermon begins with eight (or nine) Beatitudes, while Luke records four Beatitudes and four Woes. We get Beatitudes from the Latin word meaning “blessing.” They describe what it means to be a follower of Jesus, give His standards of conduct, and contrast kingdom values with worldly values. They show what Jesus’ followers can expect from the world and what God will provide for them. In addition, they contrast fake piety with true humility. They also show how Old Testament expectations are fulfilled in God’s kingdom [Responsive Reading from Psalm 1].
Matthew gives a spiritual cast to the description of the blessed while Luke seems to be speaking in economic terms.
Another noticeable difference is that the Beatitudes in Matthew are written in the third person: “Blessed are the poor in spirit” while here in Luke they are written in the second person: “Blessed are you who are poor.” And Luke simply blesses the poor rather than the poor in spirit in Matthew. The rich will probably thank God for Matthew—the poor will probably thank God for Luke.
This may sound insane to you, but poverty can be a blessing. Yes, you heard me right. Poverty can be a blessing because it preserves your dependence on God. I’ve travelled to some of the poorest regions in the world on my mission trip journeys and the thing I have found most intriguing is how those poorest of people can seem to be so very happy. And those poorest of people, when you put them in a worship setting, well, they put our worship services to shame. They sing—they chant—they dance—they shout—they worship and place their full dependence on God!
The disciples whom Jesus is directing His sermon to had left their professions and their families to follow Him. And in the following they will probably find themselves hungry—have no place to call their home—would no doubt find times when they just wanted to sit down and cry (ever felt that way)—and would be hated by people that they loved.
Those early disciples underwent severe persecution for following Jesus. Religiously they would be excommunicated from the synagogue. This might not seem like such a huge deal for us but in those times the synagogue was the center of their lives. Socially they would be treated as outcasts—and economically they would be boycotted in business.
I know where I am in this crowd. And I think I know where most of you would fit in. And that is the beginning of my discomfort with these words of Jesus. It makes you want to ask the question: Whose side is God on anyway? I know that Americans are about 6% of the world’s population and consume over 80% of the world’s resources. Alongside the rest of the world our poverty doesn’t look very convincing.
I know that Americans grow more food than we can eat, and have much to spare, but we would sooner store it or dump it than feed those who we don’t define as deserving or ideologically correct. And I know that two of the largest growth industries in America are restaurants and the diet industry.
So, our hunger doesn’t look very convincing. I know that education and respectability, and upwardly mobile status, and symbols of fame and good fortune are what every American child is taught in school. And our churches have bought in to this as well. So, our position as living on the American values of material status and respectability doesn’t look very convincing.
So, we read these words of Jesus and ask: Whose side is God on anyway?
What Jesus wanted His disciples to see—and us for that matter—is that because of their faithfulness the kingdom of God would be theirs—they would be satisfied—they would laugh—and their reward will be great. Not just a reward for the future but the very presence of God in their lives. They would be blessed!
You and I count part of our heritage the blessings of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. But what is happiness? Is happiness something that can be obtained by pursuing it? Is it a product of circumstances or surroundings? Is it to be equated with money in the bank—a diploma on the wall—the respect of one’s friends and neighbors? Or does it depend on something else, something entirely different? Think for a moment: what would it take to make you happy—really happy?
Jesus talked about happiness, but not in the same way you or I would talk about it. In fact, He turned our understanding of happiness upside down. Both in Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount and today in Luke’s Sermon on the Plain He made some unique and unusual statements about happiness, and he called them Be-attitudes. “Happy are you who are poor—happy are you who hunger now—happy are you who weep now—happy are you when people hate you.” (poor, hungry, weeping—what’s up with that?)
Most of us are more comfortable with the word “blessed” than the word “happy” in these circumstances. But the Greek word makarios, which most translators of the Bible translate as “blessed,” can also be translated as “happy.”
In fact, many authors who have studied the pursuit of happiness have observed that the happiest people on earth are not those who pursue happiness, but those who seek God and serve others. (Wanting to bless others and being blessed in return)
Have you heard the story of the king who was suffering from a certain disease? He was advised by his astrologist that he would be cured if the shirt of a contented man were brought for him to wear. People went to all parts of the kingdom after such a person—and after a long search they found a man who was really happy…but he didn’t have a shirt.
We all come into the world the same: naked and poor. We, though, spend most of our lives looking for blessings in all the wrong places.
According to Jesus we can be in the most desperate of circumstances and still be happy because happiness come from another source—actually two sources—a right relationship to God and a right relationship with our neighbors.
Jesus died penniless. Roman soldiers cast lots to divide among themselves Jesus’ only possessions—the clothes on His back. And He looked at His disciples and said, “Blessed are you who are poor.”
Jesus died hungry. There is no record that Jesus had anything to eat the day of His death. What we call The Last Supper on Thursday evening may very well have been His last meal. He died on the cross Friday at sunset with an empty stomach. Looking at His disciples He said, “Blessed are you who hunger now.”
Jesus died weeping. After His last supper Jesus headed for the Garden and there in that Olive Grove, we call Gethsemane He prayed, and He wept. He told His disciples; Blessed are you who weep now.”
Jesus died hated. Caiaphas, the greatest religious authority in Israel called Him a blasphemer. The crowds wanted a murderer freed before they would see Jesus pardoned. And His disciples deserted Him. Looking at His disciples He said, “Blessed are you when men hate you because of me.”
But thankfully Jesus said some other things to His disciples—things like: “Yours is the kingdom of God—you will be satisfied—you will laugh—and rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven.”
Eastman First Methodist Church 