Epiphany 6C
February 17, 2018
Luke 6:17-49
INTRODUCTION
Today’s texts
will get us thinking in new ways about what it means to be blessed versus
cursed. So, by way of introduction, I actually wanted to turn it back to you:
how would you define that word, “blessed”? [wait for answers] Okay, now how
would you define “cursed,” or as Jesus says in his sermon on the plain, “woe to
you”? [wait for answers] Okay, you’ve
got some interesting ideas. Hold onto those, and as you listen, think about how
especially Jeremiah and Luke understand those words, and how their
understanding compares not only to your understanding, but to how we understand
those words in the broader culture. Let’s listen.
[READ]
Grace to you and peace from God our
Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
In her 2013
book entitled, Blessed, Professor
Kate Bowler offers a thoughtful history of what has come to be known in some
circles as the “prosperity gospel.” This is a message preached by millionaire
televangelists and megachurch preachers around the country, who tell us that
God wants us to be healthy and wealthy, and so if you have acquired these
gifts, then you must surely have received God’s favor. If things in your life
are going well, or even if they are headed in the right direction, then surely
you are… blessed.
Even for those
who don’t subscribe to the prosperity gospel, which certainly comes with its
share of problematic theology and biblical incongruency (as I hope you can
plainly see after hearing our Gospel reading today!), the basic idea of it
seems to be something toward which we are all prone to gravitate, at least
sometimes. Because it feels good and makes sense, doesn’t it? Even dogs
understand a system of punishment and reward: if someone (even a divine
Someone) is pleased with what you’ve done, you get a treat, a reward – like
recovery from a disease, or a big promotion. If not – punishment: poor health, poverty,
things that are meaningful to you taken away. It is logical, it gives incentive
to do good and avoid doing harm, and it helps us make sense of a world in which
so many of the Very Big Things that happen to us don’t make a bit of sense. I
can see the appeal of this message that is so prolific in American culture.
Problem is, of course, that as simple and straightforward as that message is,
it makes those times when things aren’t going well – when you sit by a loved
one’s bed waiting for the Lord to take them, when you aren’t sure how to make
ends meet this month, when you feel despised by your community – it makes those
times even worse, to feel also that God is also somehow against you.
Today’s Gospel reading
takes that reality into account, offering us a very different understanding of
“blessings” and “woes.” “Blessed are
you who are poor,” Jesus says. “Blessed are you who are hungry now. Blessed are
you who weep now. Blessed are you when people hate you.” Hmm, those don’t seem
like blessings to me, how about you? Certainly not by society’s standards! When
I feel like I lack the money I need, I feel stressed, not blessed. When I’m
hungry I feel weak and agitated, not blessed. When I’m weeping, I’m sad, even
heartbroken – but not blessed! And who, ever, was aware that someone actively
hated them, and thought, “Boy, I am so blessed.” Not me! So what on earth could
Jesus mean here?
But it doesn’t
even stop there. Just in case you hadn’t gotten the message, Jesus goes on: “Woe to you who are rich, for you have
received your consolation. Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry.
Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep. Woe to you when
all speak well of you, for that’s what people used to do for false prophets.” Oy, Jesus! Here I was,
feeling pretty good about myself for having some money in savings, and healthy
food on the table, and enjoying a good laugh and being liked by my community.
But woe to me for all that? What are we to make of this??
In my
newsletter article for the February Link, I wrote about some of the reasons I
really love Luke’s Gospel. Really I should have said, reasons I both love and
hate Luke’s Gospel. Because passages like this, while immensely intriguing to
me on a theological level (that’s the love), also make me feel very
uncomfortable. I’m much more comfortable with Matthew’s version of the
Beatitudes, in which Matthew uses more spiritual language, like, “Blessed are
those who hunger for righteousness,
and who are poor in spirit.” I can
see myself in those things! Sure, I hunger for righteousness, and I have felt
poor in spirit – so that must mean that I am blessed! Woohoo! But Luke leaves little
room for interpreting myself into the blessed. The fact is, I fit much more,
and more often, into the descriptions of the “woes” then the “blessed,” and I’m
guessing that is the case for most people here, too.
So what are
those of us who, by society’s standards and at least on the outside, are blessed – what are we to do with a
passage like this? Well, one thing we do is take it to heart: give away all our
possessions, and live voluntarily in poverty. Many Christians over the
centuries have done exactly this – from the Early Christians, to the desert
fathers in the 3rd century, to Francis of Assisi, to Dorothy Day, to
Mother Theresa. That is absolutely a faithful response to this gospel. There is
plenty of biblical support for that route.
But…. I’m going to guess most of us are
not really prepared to do that, for any number of reasons – myself included! So
I’m going to offer a couple of other approaches that might be a bit more
meaningful to us just now.
First of all, I want to point out one
key difference between Luke’s version of the Beatitudes, and Matthew’s version.
Anyone remember what another name for Matthew’s Beatitudes is? It’s the Sermon
on the Mount. He gives that sermon while on a mountain. There are many
theological reasons for that which I won’t get into in this sermon. But did you
notice where Luke says Jesus gave this sermon? ... He’s on a plain. On a level
place.
That may seem like inconsequential
detail, but check this out: In the Old Testament, when prophets talk about a
“level place,” it has a very specific meaning. A level place refers to places
of… death, disgrace, idolatry, suffering, misery, hunger, annihilation, and
mourning. Level places are places in need of redemption, and life, and healing,
and renewal.
Knowing that, listen to Jesus’ words
again: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed
are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep
now, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they
exclude you, revile you and defame you on account of the Son of Man. … Your
reward is great in heaven.” Whoa. Talk about bringing redemption, healing, and
renewal to the level places, the very places that dearly need them! Jesus is
telling them, “Listen, folks, the kingdom of God, God’s vision for how the
world ought to be, is coming to you. You are
blessed.” By calling them “blessed,” he is not saying, “Everything will be fine,
you’ll be rewarded, you will have gifts showered upon you.” The Greek word he
uses really means, you will be “satisfied, unburdened, and at peace.” You are
blessed.
It seems to me we have a lot of level
places in this world – a lot of broken places that long for a word of peace.
Racism, ageism, sexism and any number of other “-isms” certainly plague our
society, not to mention poverty and wealth disparity, division, hatred, and
war. But even on a more local level – yesterday, St. Paul’s lost two great men,
and many of us, I know, have been among the weeping
in the past day. (I know I have.) We know how it feels to be in such a level
place! And so Jesus’ words are a comfort to us in that place. But that isn’t
all – Jesus’ sermon also calls us to ask, “Where else are the level places in this community and world, and how do we, or how could we, manifest the values and practices of the kingdom of God –
things like healing, and peace, and life and renewal – how can we manifest them
in the midst of those broken places?”
One more
comment before I wrap up – I want to take a look at those woes.
It’s important that you know that the word that Jesus uses here,
“woe,” does not imply some sort of curse. It does not mean that the rich, full,
laughing and loved are doomed. Rather, when the prophets used that same word
translated here as “woe,” they were issuing a sort of warning, and a call to
repentance. So what could Jesus be warning us about? Well, it is so easy, isn’t
it, to enjoy such, shall we say, blessings, as health and happiness, that I
wonder if we might start to put our trust in them. We trust our resources, our
reputation, our networks and connections, rather than God. So then, these
so-called “blessings” cause us to do exactly what the prophet Jeremiah warns us
about: “Cursed are those,” he says, “who trust in mere mortals and make mere
flesh their strength, whose hearts turn away from the Lord.”
When we do put
our trust in mere mortals (and whether we want to admit it or, I believe that
does sometimes happen to those of us whose physical needs are easily met!), we
could also take to heart what Jeremiah says next: “Blessed are those who trust
in the Lord, whose trust is in the Lord. They shall be like a tree planted by
water… It shall not fear.” And that, my friends, is a true blessing, and a true
promise: that as long as we trust in the Lord, we will get all that we need,
and we shall have nothing to fear. Because rich or poor, hungry or fed,
laughing or weeping, hated or spoken well of: Christ died for us and rose again
so that we do not need to be afraid. Because Christ is raised and dies no more,
we do have hope. Because Christ is raised and dies no more, we all have
received the abundant blessings of God: renewal of the level places, healing of
the broken, comfort to the grieving, redemption and resurrection of that which
we thought was dead, and the gift – and blessing – of new life.
Let us pray… Trustworthy God, when we feel tempted to
look at our worldly goods and see them as blessings, turn our attention to the
blessings that only you offer: our selves, our time, and our possessions,
indeed, our very lives. Turn our eyes to the level places of this world, that
we might seek your healing and renewing presence there. In the name of the
Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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