Sunday, February 17, 2019

Being the blessing


 Scripture Luke 6:17-26  NRSV


17 He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. 18 They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. 19 And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.
20 Then he looked up at his disciples and said:
“Blessed are you who are poor,
    for yours is the kingdom of God.
21 
“Blessed are you who are hungry now,
    for you will be filled.
“Blessed are you who weep now,
    for you will laugh.

22 “Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. 23 Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.
24 
“But woe to you who are rich,
    for you have received your consolation.
25 
“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.
26 “Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.
**************************************************************

This passage is known as the Sermon on the Plain.  It’s sort of like the Sermon on the Mount (aka the Beatitudes), but instead of eight blessings and no woes, here there are only four blessings and an equal number of woes.  It balances - the poor and the rich, the hungry and the well fed, the grieving and the happy, the hated and those who are spoken well of by others.

Once again Jesus faces great numbers of people. Some are his disciples - not just the Twelve, but a “great crowd” of men and women who are there to learn from him, who hunger and thirst for the Word.  (OK, hold that thought because we will come back to it.)  And then there were all the other people in the crowd, who were there to be healed of diseases and unclean spirits, who were trying to get close enough just to touch him, because power flowed out of him and healed them.  Most of them would wander back home, healed physically, even maybe mentally, but not significantly, spiritually changed by their experience of Jesus.  He knows this, and so he looked up at his disciples and said, 
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. 

If the crowd was listening to what he was saying, they would maybe have heard the “pie in the sky by and by” message that this passage has often been thought to mean.  His disciples, however, would have heard something different.  Blessed are you who are poor, who know they need God, who know they need a new life, for you will receive a new way of living, a kingdom way of living.  Blessed are you who are hungry, for the Word will fill your hearts to overflowing.  Blessed are you who grieve, for God’s love will comfort you and you will laugh again. 

And blessed are you when you are reviled and hated on account of the Son of Man.   Luke wrote this gospel more than 40 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus, at a time when Christ followers were being persecuted, but not necessarily executed.  They were outcast, because they wouldn’t worship the Emperor and other gods.  They were looked down upon, because they considered everyone equal, and treated everyone the same - even slaves.  Even women.  This blessing was for them, for the disciples who come in the future, even for the ones who were following him during his lifetime, because as you will remember they will be pursued and persecuted by one Saul of Tarsus, aka the Apostle Paul.   His disciples knew their history.  They knew that anyone who preached against the status quo, like some of the prophets, were beaten and threatened with death - Elijah and Jeremiah come to mind.  Jesus knew that being different, standing apart from the world because they were following the Word he was teaching them, would cause them grief, and he wanted them to know that this, too, would be a blessing.

And now we come to the problematic parts - the woes.  Woe to you who are rich!  And who are well fed!  And who are happy!  And whom everyone speaks well of!
Wait, we’re rich, kind of. I mean, compared to the folks who sleep on the church steps, we’re rich.   And we are well fed.  And we’re pretty happy.  Is Jesus talking about us? 

There are a lot of passages in the gospels where Jesus speaks poorly of the rich.  He said things like, It’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God.   But Jesus really didn’t hate rich people.  After all, we know that he had followers with money and property who helped support him and his disciples in their ministry.  
What Jesus had a problem with was rich people who didn’t help the poor.  
What Jesus had a problem with were people who were well fed and didn’t feed the hungry.  
What Jesus had a problem with were folks who were perfectly happy with the way the world was, who didn’t care about injustice, who participated in the oppression of those they considered “less than.”  
What Jesus had a problem with were people who didn’t want to rock the boat, who wanted to fit in, who accepted things they didn’t like because, after all, what difference can one person make? 
 What Jesus had a problem with were people who did not follow the commandments to care for the least, the last, and the lost.

Jesus objected, not to people having money and food and a nice life, but to people who have all those things and don’t care about others.  Consider the story of the rich man who allowed the beggar Lazarus to die of hunger at the gates of his house, then went to Sheol where Lazarus was with Abraham, and he begged for just a little water.  But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony.  (Luke 16:25)   It’s kind of a “what goes around, comes around” situation.  Those who have been filled with the Word  and who are willing to love one another, treating all others as we wish to be treated ourselves, those people need not worry too much about the woes.   But we need to keep them in mind, for when we become complacent, or become more interested in maintaining the status quo than in making sure all persons are treated with love and compassion.  We need to consider them whenever we are given the opportunity to help.

Speaking of opportunities to help . . . Today is one of the Sundays when we take up a special collection for Week of Compassion, the relief, refugee and development mission fund of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada.  Week of Compassion is there to help people around the world who have suffered loss after a natural disaster - like the wildfires here in California, hurricanes, earthquakes, famines, and floods where ever they happen. They were there after Hurricane Harvey in 2017, when WoC volunteers went to help re-build in Galveston, TX and each of the people receiving their help received one of the signs of hope shown in the slide.    They are there to help resettle refugees coming to this country (with the all the appropriate permissions and visas.) They are there to help communities around the world learn new agricultural skills, dig wells, and develop community health programs.   They are our boots on the ground all over the world, supplying not just funds and supplies but also volunteers on mission trips to do the hard work of rebuilding.   And when I say “they” what I really mean is “we” because Week of Compassion is part of the Disciples of Christ.   Disciples congregations and individuals give money, make hygiene kits, sometimes even school kits.  We are there where ever Week of Compassion is, even if all we did was send a little money.    We are there when we give out of our riches so that others may be fed, and housed, and cared for.   

This congregation is actually pretty excellent at being there and helping others.  As a congregation and as individuals we give generously of our time, our money, and our talents.  We are involved with food ministries, homeless ministries, animal rescue, children’s programs, and caring for the people in the Selma Convalescent Hospital.  We support missionaries, give scholarships, and help homebound people with meals and rides to therapy.  We pray for those who ask for prayer, and for each other, and for our church and our nation.  And each of us has other help agencies and organizations we are involved with one way or another.  We give so much of ourselves.  We are being the blessing that Jesus has promised to the poor and the  hungry and the grieving.  Let us be careful not to fall into the trap of comfortability with the way things are, rather, let us work toward changes in attitudes so that the Kingdom of God may truly come to be on earth, as it is in heaven.

My brothers and sisters, when we go from this place, let us continue to be the blessing.   Let us seek always to do God’s work in the world, with mercy and compassion, so that God’s Kingdom may truly come to be on earth as it is in heaven.  



Photo credit:  Week of Compassion, Danielle Cox

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