By Rev. Canon David B. Tabo-oy
v20And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. v21”Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. “Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. v22”Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! v23Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.
v24″But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.
v25″Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry. “Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. v26”Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets. – Luke 6:17-26
Our gospel lesson appointed this Sunday is part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain as recorded by St Luke. The verses that complete this account coincide with or parallel to Matthew’s version of the sermon 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. Beatitudes are about supreme blessedness. Named from the initial words (beati sunt, “blessed are”) of those sayings in the Latin Vulgate Bible, the Beatitudes describe the blessedness of those who have certain qualities or experiences peculiar to those belonging to the Kingdom of Heaven. The purpose of the Beatitudes is to inspire Christians to live according to the traits Jesus describes. Some of these acts are simple, and some are grand, but they all form the cornerstone of the ideal Christian lifestyle. Therefore, living out the Beatitudes’ examples is very important for a Christian. In Luke’s account the beatitudes are paired with depressing conditions. A sermon writer calls them “roses” and “thorns”, the “blessed’s” and the “woe’s”.
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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.
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This is a strange way of looking at blessedness. 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. 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?”
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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.
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According to Russell Miller the Gospel of Luke has been called the social Gospel because of its sympathy with the poor and its emphasis on the duty of kindliness of spirit. This social interest is especially prominent in the Sermon. Here the Lukan Beatitudes deal with social differences. In Matthew’s longer version refer to spiritual conditions. Here Jesus speaks of those who hunger now, probably meaning bodily hunger. In Matthew the reference is to hunger and thirst after righteousness. In Matthew the invectives are addressed against the self-satisfied religious teachers and their religious formalism. Here the rich and their unsocial spirit are the subject of the woes. This social interest is further emphasized by the fact that in addition to this social bearing of the Beatitudes, Luke’s discourse omits the remainder of the Sermon on the Mount, except those portions that deal with social relations, such as those on the Golden Rule, the duty of universal love, the equality of servant and master, and the obligation of a charitable spirit.
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To be the most faithful to the gospel, Luke calls us to step aside from our preconceived notions of being blessed, and be willing to embrace the kind of upside-down reversals that Jesus presents. Luke’s version of the Beatitudes is meant to startle us out of our complacency and inspire us to action. As David Ostendorf notes: “God does not take kindly to half-heartedness. God does not bless us as we maintain the status quo, reaping the accolades of those who hear us and follow us. God does not bless us as we bathe in respectability in the eyes of the world. God does not bless us as we quietly maintain tradition and gloss over or ignore prophetic voices calling us back to God – in the church and in the world. God does not bless us as we protect and build institutions and empires. God does not bless us, well off, full, comfortable, hearty, and well-spoken of.”
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These four pairings, blessings and woes, roses and thorns, challenge us to look at our lives and our world with new eyes. They challenge us to clarify our values and examine what are the things in life that we will take a stand for in relation to faithful living. Packed into these verses are very real instructions for the disciples, including those of us who claim to follow Christ today, to reorient our relationships and reverse the social, economic, and political injustices that surround us so that we might live most fully into the reign of God here and now.
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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.
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The Beatitudes call us to a better understanding of what it looks like for God to reign, a God who sees all of God’s creation as beloved and blessed and calls us to be in a community that models such a perspective. These words from Luke are not a gospel of comfort, but a gospel of challenge to embrace the world with the love and eyes of Jesus. Woe to those of us who miss the opportunity to be a part of such a world. Blessed be the ones who are able to live in the upside-down world of God, for them the kingdom of God is revealed!
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. (6th Sunday After Epiphany Collect, ECP-BCP)**
