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"Blessings and Woes"

Sermon by Dr. Greg Knox Jones
on Luke 6:17-26
given February 11, 2007

The gospels of Matthew and Luke tell of a special sermon Jesus preached to his followers. In the Gospel of Matthew we read that Jesus hiked up a mountain and then began to preach. This morning’s reading from the Gospel of Luke, however, tells the story a little differently. Luke says that Jesus came down from the mountain and stood on level ground and began to preach. Which one was it? Did he go up the mountain or did he come down the mountain?

The way we think about events has been shaped by the modern worldview. A key element of that worldview is to equate truth with historical fact. We have been taught that something is true if it can be documented as an event that actually happened. So, when we read that one gospel writer says that Jesus walked up a mountain and another gospel writer says he walked down a mountain, our first thought is that one of them is wrong.

Some people will say, “It doesn’t really matter whether he went up the mountain or came down the mountain because it is only a minor detail that does not change the substance of the sermon Jesus preached. Others, who are afraid that finding one single mistake in the Bible will render doubt on all the Scriptures, will try to come up with an explanation that will clear up the discrepancy. Unfortunately, because the modern worldview has trained us to think that truth is found in literal historical fact, most of us will miss the point that each of these gospel writers is making.

Matthew and Luke were neither newspaper reporters nor historians attempting to give us a literal description of where the sermon took place. Instead, each of them is using a detail about geography to set the context and to spark the imagination of their first century audiences.

Matthew addressed his gospel to people who had a Jewish background. “Much of the material that is unique to his Gospel is concerned with Jews and the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies.” (1) Luke, however, is writing to an entirely different community. He is addressing Gentiles rather than Jews. He quotes the Old Testament much less frequently than Matthew, and “he seldom appeals to the argument that something occurred in order to fulfill Old Testament prophecy. Furthermore, instead of using the Jewish word ‘rabbi,’ Luke is the only New Testament author who employs the classical Greek equivalent, a word meaning master.” (2)

So, Matthew and Luke are writing to two different audiences and that is why they use these different geographical details to introduce the sermon of Jesus. When Matthew says that Jesus goes up the mountain to deliver his sermon, his audience would naturally hear an echo of the story of Moses going up Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments. For Matthew, Jesus is the new Moses, who delivers new commandments to the people. Luke’s Gentile audience would not catch the reference.

However, Luke seems to be making his own point by saying that Jesus came down the mountain and stood among the people on a level place. In Luke’s gospel, the mountain is where Jesus goes to pray. It is the place where he withdraws from people in order to be in close communion with God. However, Jesus never stays up on the mountain. After praying to God and clarifying his mission, he always comes back down to the people where he stands in solidarity with them.

The author of the Gospel of Luke sees a sharp division in society between the rich and the poor, between the powerful and powerless, between the insiders and the outsiders. Luke sees a society that is shot through with injustice, and a key component of the mission of Jesus is to expose the injustice and to share the divine vision of a new day when the kingdom of God becomes a reality and justice reigns throughout the earth.

Central to his mission is first, to draw attention to the corrupt system; second, to warn those who are benefiting from the present system; and third, to give hope to those who are victims of the injustice by promising them a better day. Jesus makes it clear that God does not intend for people to be poor or hungry or oppressed. And although there are many corrupt powers in the world that cause widespread suffering through injustice, God will never stop working to establish a kingdom where justice and mercy flourish.

Hear once more, the opening words of Jesus’ sermon as told in the Gospel of Luke: “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. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven.”

Luke says that Jesus has come down to the bottom of the mountain in order to stand alongside those who are at the bottom of society. Jesus says to the poor, the hungry, the persecuted and the outcasts: “God has not forgotten you. Indeed, you are special in God’s eyes.”

If you are familiar with the Gospel of Luke, you are not surprised to hear that God is on the side of those who are at the bottom of society. In the very first chapter of his gospel when Jesus is still in the womb, Mary breaks out in song, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior ... for God has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; God has filled the hungry with good things, and has sent the rich away empty.” (Luke 1:46-53)

Then, when Jesus preaches his first sermon in Galilee, he says, “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, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” That is followed by today’s passage, the sermon given at the bottom of the mountain where he says that in God’s kingdom, there is going to be a reversal of fortunes. After pronouncing his blessing on those in need, he gives warning to those whose lives are comfortable.

He says, “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 is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.”

You may have heard the story about the Reverend Dr. Parker and the first Sunday he preached at his new church. At the conclusion of the sermon, as he was shaking hands at the back door, one of the longtime members of the congregation said, Dr. Parker, I had heard about you before you came to our church, and I had heard that your could be controversial and outspoken. But I want to tell you that I listened carefully to your sermon and I was pleased to hear that you said absolutely nothing. I’m sure that you will do just fine at our church!” (3)

The same cannot be said about Jesus or anyone who tackles today’s passage. This is a hard Scripture text for most of us to hear and take to heart, because as it appears in the Gospel of Luke, it is the warnings and not the blessings that are directed at most of us. That is probably why most of us are much more familiar with Matthew’s version of the Beatitudes. Matthew says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.” In Matthew’s version, we can count ourselves among those who are blessed. We know what it is to be poor in spirit and to hunger for righteousness.

But that is not what Jesus says in Luke’s gospel. In Luke, Jesus is talking about stark economic realities not spiritual conditions. Not those who are poor in spirit, but those who don’t own a home and are behind on the rent and cannot go out and purchase a new pair of jeans. Not those who are hungry for righteousness, but those who have to go to the soup kitchen to get a meal or come to the church and beg for a bag of food.

So, what is it that Jesus is saying according to the Gospel of Luke? Is he saying it is a blessing to be poor, hungry and persecuted? Anyone who has truly tasted poverty knows that it is nothing to aspire to. Anyone who has been the target of hatred or exclusion knows that it is devastating to your psyche. Jesus is not glorifying poverty or extolling the virtues of being persecuted. He is declaring that God is committed to the poor and victims of injustice. He is also unleashing a scathing attack on the wealthy who are content with the current conditions.

Put aside an image of Jesus as meek and mild. He was a rabble rouser who was filled with righteous anger about the injustices that were - and still are - rampant in our world. If Jesus were our guest preacher one Sunday, I suspect he would make us squirm. I imagine he would call on us to answer why we, who live in the wealthiest, most powerful nation on earth, have millions of people who live in poverty and with no health care insurance. Why we have tens of thousands of homeless people roaming our streets. Why we do not take better care of those who are mentally ill. Why we are so easily enticed by material possessions; why we have so many young people turning to drugs; why an increasing number of our seniors cannot afford their medications; and why we do not take better care of God’s creation. I suspect he would fire off volley after volley about the injustices in our society and not be overly sympathetic to our pleas that it is all someone else’s fault.

And, yet, I do not believe Jesus would simply slam dunk us with guilt and then walk away. He would challenge us to face our confusion of priorities and to ask God’s forgiveness. He would call on us to stop being at odds with divine goals and begin working in partnership with God for a just and equitable world. He would call on us to pick up a hammer for Habitat, to tutor an at-risk child, to feed the hungry, to support programs for the mentally ill, to call on legislators to fix the health-care system, to be a good steward of God’s creation, to value every human being as a child of God.

There is an ancient story that goes like this: Once there was a seeker who traveled from country to country to discover an authentic religion. Finally he found a group of extraordinary people. They were known for the goodness of their lives and for the sincerity of their service. The seeker said, “I see all that you do and I’m very impressed by it. However, before I become your disciple, I have to ask you a question: Does your God work miracles?” And the person responded, “Well it all depends on what you mean by a miracle. Some people call it a miracle when God does the will of the people. We call it a miracle when people do the will of God.” (4)

Christ calls on us to work in harmony with divine principles in order to make the kingdom of God a present reality. He calls on us to work in partnership with God to transform the world from the way it is now, to the way God wants it to be.

Jesus came down from the mountain to stand in solidarity with the poor, the hungry and the persecuted. He came down to do battle with systems of injustice. I hope that when he looks around to see where we stand, he will find us eager to stand by his side and to join the struggle.

NOTES

1. Bruce M. Metzger and Roland E. Murphy, editors, The New Oxford Annotated Bible, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991), p.1NT.

2. Ibid., p.76NT

3. William H. Willimon, “Blessed and Cursed by the Preacher” in Pulpit Resource, January – March, 2007, p.25.

4. Quoted from a speech given at the PCUSA Presbyterian Women’s Gathering, July 12, 2003 by Joan Chittister, in a sermon by Susan Andrews, entitled “Are You Afraid,” preached at Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church in Bethesda, Maryland on August 31, 2003.

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