Luke 6:17-26
All
our lives we have loved the Beatitudes. Blessed
are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are you should people
speak ill of you. You shall be comforted. These words from Jesus, found in
the Book of Matthew, are heaven sent. No wonder we refer to this text as the
Sermon on the Mount. The mountain is where we go to be uplifted. When I am
standing on Humpback Rock, no complicating thoughts enter my mind. The view is
one step from the Pearly Gates. But then I climb back down to level ground.
In
Biblical jargon, “the plain” is where the real stuff happens. “The plain” is
where reality hits us square in the face and what we experience is not always
comforting. In the gospel of Luke we find the same sermon recorded by Matthew,
only the venue has been changed. We are no longer in the clouds. Luke has Jesus
speaking in the midst of reality and the words are radically different. Listen
once again to Luke.
Blessed are you who are poor. The kingdom of
God will be yours. Blessed are you who are hungry. You will be filled. Blessed
are you who weep. One day you will laugh.
No
one would have a problem with Luke if he had stopped right there. But he
continues. Woe to you who are rich. Woe
to you who are full. Woe to you who are laughing. One day the table will be
turned. I don’t know about you but when I read this passage, I begin to
squirm. How could two people have reached such radically different
interpretations from the same sermon? I
have been asking myself that for years. This week I read seven different
commentaries on this passage and each concluded with the following advice, “Be
really careful when preaching this text.”
Not
being one who intentionally looks for trouble, I thought maybe my best bet
would be to preach from the Psalms. What a wonderful decision. Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked but delight in the
law of the Lord. They are like trees planted by streams of water. They will prosper. But woe to the wicked.
They are like the chaff the wind drives away. The Lord watches over the
righteous but the wicked will perish.
There
is a reason this is the first Psalm. It employs an ancient formula that
occupies the very center of Israel’s moral theology. If you do what is right
you will live. But if you follow the way of the wicked, you will perish. Psalm 1 is a guide to approaching the rest
of the Psalms. Happiness does not come
from following the ways of the wicked, or the selfish, of even the foolish. It
comes from following God’s instruction found in the Torah. There are two
pathways and only one leads to life. Unfortunately life throws a lot our way.
The answers are not always obvious and even if they were, we are often tempted
to choose the path of instant gratification.
Does that make us wicked? I prefer to say we are self-absorbed, a trait which can
lead us away from being righteously concerned for our community.
So
how does understanding Psalm 1 help us understand Luke’s take on the
Beatitudes. The best place to start is by
addressing the CONTEXT of Luke’s gospel.
That is a critical concept often forgotten when one does Biblical studies. In
other words, who is receiving this gospel? What is their background? Why is Luke’s
hearing of Jesus’ sermon seem so different than Matthew’s?
The
church to which Luke was writing was filled with folks who were social outcast.
The membership was made up of folks who
were poor, slaves, and predominately women. Luke’s
gospel is the only one that shares parables of the Lost Sheep, the woman who
lost her only coin, and the Good Samaritan. It is the only gospel which highlights Mary’s
“Magnificat”. Luke was writing to an oppressed people longing for a word of hope
that extended beyond their sense of helplessness. Luke’s gospel was a new song daring to preach
a dangerous message to folks who had nothing to lose. They needed to hear the words, “Blessed are
the poor.” But more than that, keeping in the tradition of the Psalms, they
needed to be reminded that even though they were economically disadvantaged,
this did not mean they had an excuse not to be righteous.
How
easy it is to whimper, “Life isn’t fair. I didn’t get the breaks others got. You can’t expect me to be successful with all
the handicaps in front of me.” Luke knows the disadvantages of his
congregation. He knows they will never be leaders in their community. Luke knows
professing Christ will not enhance their opportunities for upward mobility. Yet
Luke’s gospel encourages them by saying, “Righteousness has nothing to do with
your social class or pay check. Righteousness is a choice everyone can
make. Righteous living does not insure
economic wealth, but it does place you in the company of the one who suffered
for the world. If God can resurrect Jesus from the dead, image what God can do
through the faithfulness of the righteous.”
It
is probably at this point one brave soul raised her hand and asked, “So, does
God bless those folks who have put us in chains? Does God bless their children
who never worked a day in their life and live on their parent’s wealth? Does
God bless those living off the wages that should be in our pockets? Does God
bless the rich?”
Walter
Brueggemann writes, “There are some that think social policy, and justice, and
taxes, and entitlements are not the business of the church. But they are wrong.
Being baptized means we are no longer among those who are selfish, or greedy,
or preoccupied with themselves. We have been baptized into righteousness. Our
lives are now marked by generosity, grace, and forgiveness. With both hope and
indignation, we cry out that the world can be changed.”
God
has invited all who are baptized to participate in the healing of the world.
The question is not are you rich or poor, liberal or conservative, Baptist or
Presbyterian. The question is, do you bless other people with gestures of
kindness and generosity? Are you committed to acts of peace and reconciliation?
Do you love your neighbor?
Perhaps
the way we need to hear the word from the Gospel of Luke is woe to those who
are unrighteous. Woe to those who prey on their neighbors. Woe to those who
place economic gain before the welfare of their community. I suspect that is
what Luke was saying. I know it was the intention of the Psalmist. And I
imagine those are words which can inspire us to keep building the kingdom of
God,
To
God be the glory. Amen.
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