By Rev. Canon David b. Tabo-oy
“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. 21Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. (Luke 6:21)
Please read the whole lesson: Luke 6:17-26
The above verse is part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain as recorded by St Luke and distinctive from the more familiar Sermon on the Mount. The verses that complete this account coincide with or parallel to Matthew’s version of this story which we now know as the Beatitudes. If we are familiar of the beatitudes or have read them, I am sure that they will affect us with mixed feelings. But these are supposed to be the source of consummate bliss – or shall I say the beautiful attitudes that we should have for us to have the highest degree of fulfillment and happiness. That I hold as meaning of Beatitudes – that is BE-AUTIFUL ATTITUDES. But why the depressing conditions need to be a prerequisite of the consummate bliss?
***
This query reminds me of a story about a man who went to a bookstore to return a purchase: a Bible. At the counter, he told the clerk that he is returning the Bible which he purchased for himself. He told the clerk that he made a mistake. When the clerk asked if it was the translation or the format of the Bible, the man told him that the translation and format are clear and good. When the clerk asked him for the specific reason so that he can write it down and forward it to the publisher, the man said, “write down that there is a lot in that book which is tough to swallow.”
***
There are some passages in the Bible that are tough to swallow. This is one of them. The burden on us is not to believe some astonishing miracle. There are events described in the Bible which stretch our credulity, moments which provoke us to scratch our heads in curiosity; but this text does not speak about any of them.
The burden on us is not to accept some rigorous demand. In many other places in Scripture, Jesus frequently demands that we do some actions that are difficult to do. Immediately after this passage, for instance, Jesus says, “Love your enemy.” Elsewhere he challenges somebody to unload all of his possessions. Here he makes no such demand.
***
No, this week’s text is downright difficult to comprehend. The Lord describes the world in ways quite different from the ways we are accustomed to seeing it. “Blessed are the poor, woe to the rich. Blessed are the hungry, woe to those who stuff their stomachs. Blessed are those who weep, woe to those who laugh. Blessed are those who are hated, woe to those with a good reputation.”
What a strange way to look at reality! The ones whom the world ignores are the ones who receive God’s blessing. The ones whom the world honors are the ones who are cursed. It is a complete reversal of the way we usually see things. Passages like this can be found throughout the Bible. When they appear, a lot of people will do whatever they can to soften them a bit and make them more applicable to the world as we know it. As far as this passage goes, there have been attempts to remove these words from the realities of every-day life, perhaps even to lift them to a more exalted realm.
***
How can this be? Do we not ask with bewilderment, “What in the world is going on here? Doesn’t Jesus have it all upside down? If the poor, the hungry, the grieving, the hated, the excluded, and the reviled are the happy ones, how are we to understand this? How can we long to be poor? How can we see being hated as a positive value? Does Jesus really mean that hunger and grief will improve our lot? Why would we honor being poor? Don’t we use our wealth to serve God’s purposes? Could we not do more for our neighbors if we had more with which to help them?”
But then again, Jesus’ teachings make the world upside down!
***
How do we answer these inevitable questions? Let’s begin by understanding that in using these sayings, these “blessed”s and “woe”s, Jesus is not glamorizing poverty and suffering. He is not calling us to go slumming or make ourselves sick or weak. No, there is something much deeper and more important in his message. Jesus doesn’t want us to see disability of one sort or another as a magical cure for what ails us. Surely he knew as well as we know that poverty can lead to despair and suicide, to crime and violence. But he also knew, as we must learn, that need can lead us to God. Poverty and hunger and despair can provide a beginning for one seeking unity with God.
***
He added the “woe”s because he knew that most people like us would have a hard time imagining that being poor could help a person. Jesus focused on the very things that most of us work and hope and pray for. So he listed them as woeful and miserable to get our attention. He knew that being well-fed, happy, and well-thought-of is what we really seek – as we smile all the way to the shopping mall or bank. Above all, he knew that purchasing material possessions, and buying insurance, and setting aside savings for retirement or rainy days would lead us to imagine ourselves as safe and secure and in control of our lives. He knew that people like us stand constantly in danger of assuming, consciously or subconsciously, that we can work our way into happiness or buy our way into joy and peace.
***
It is far too easy for us to believe we are powerful enough or independent enough to provide everything we could ever need. With the kinds of resources and abilities most of us have, we are in danger of forgetting that we need anything – especially a savior. And in so forgetting, we fail to let God fully into our hearts. What Jesus knew is that the most likely way for us to turn to God is when we are in danger and difficulty. Then, we may knock on the door that God will open. Then, we may find a savior to befriend us.
It is so much easier to welcome God into our lives when we know our sin and our spiritual bankruptcy. We will know our absolute need for what Christ can offer, and that we cannot produce for ourselves. How blessed – how enviable – how lucky are those who understand their urgent need for the resources that only God can provide and that they may have simply for the asking.
***
Through these “blessed”s and “woe”s, Jesus calls us to join the spirit of the poor whom he addressed so long ago. Those have-nots of the first century of whom Jesus spoke had nothing to expect from the world, but they had everything to expect from God.
It is through their need that Jesus shows us the way to look toward God, to turn to God for help in our lives and in our attitudes and in our values. If we can recognize our need we can begin to learn where God leads us. We can understand the necessity of seeking God. Our deep sense of helplessness brings us before God just as we are – not as we imagine ourselves to be. We can recognize the power of God that can transform us into the happy, complete, caring, and loving people Jesus calls us to be. The poor can help us get to that glorious day when we will give up on seeking personal resources of privilege or power as the path to true happiness. The poor of Jesus’ time turned to God who cared, who healed and uplifted – who, above all, loved them as they were. Their story can teach us that the love of God is gently close at hand and powerful far beyond those who rule this world. The poor can help us see the need for a power greater than ourselves to heal us and give us happiness and meaning. They help us come to the day when we will see clearly the source of this power: Jesus, the Christ, and our Savior.
And, on that day, we will join with the saints of all ages as we “rejoice and leap for joy.”
***
As someone observes: Jesus is making the official proclamation of the way life is inside and outside the reign of God. These are not suggestions about how to be happy or warnings lest one become miserable; blessings and woes as words of Jesus are to be heard with the assurance that they are God’s word to us and that God’s word is not empty. If these blessings and woes present a strategy, it is God’s strategy, not ours. That is why all of this is so tough to swallow. God refuses to leave the world in the same way we found it. God makes decisions and choices. God establishes a set of values. When you hear it, you have to decide, “Is God on my side, or is God on somebody else’s side?” That’s troubling.
***
Taken as they are, the blessings and the woes are perfectly matched — poor or rich, hungry or full, weeping or laughing, defamed or honored. For every blessing, there is an equal and opposite woe. Most of us would like to choose whether we will be blessed or cursed, but it’s not our choice. It is God’s decision. The point seems to be that God will win over all the forces that take away a person’s humanity. That was the message of the sermon a few chapters before when Jesus preached in Nazareth. He read a section from the prophet Isaiah, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free” (Luke 4:18). Jesus stood and said, “This is the day! God will win over poverty, captivity, blindness, and oppression.” (GlobeMinistry.com)
Let us pray
O God, the strength of all who put their trust in you:
Mercifully accept our prayers; and because in our weakness we can do nothing good without you, give us the help of your grace, that in keeping your commandments we may please you both in will and deed; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.**
