What is Blessed?

 

Text: Luke 6:17-26

Focus: Upside down kingdom

Function: to help us honor the poor

¹⁷He 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. ¹⁸They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. ¹⁹And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.

²⁰Then 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. ²³Rejoice 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.

I have to confess that I have been excited all week to write and preach this sermon. I have been pondering it for several days and wondering about the meaning that we place on the word “Blessed” and where our hope lies.

And, several of my colleagues and friends have been posting different thoughts on the passage and what it means in our Sunday sermons all week. So, the excitement about the message has been growing for me.

One of the things that I noticed in my research, study, prayer and preparation for the sermon is that this passage of scripture is profoundly political in its nature.

Politics and religion are sensitive subjects and they become divisive issues when they are mixed. Look at what happened in Jerusalem with the coming of Jesus Christ. Those who had the political power had Jesus executed so that they could silence the mob that was following Him.

The judicial murder of Jesus by the political authorities demonstrates just how divisive it becomes when religion confronts the political status quo.

I should change that to modern times and say that the teachings of Jesus Christ should inform the way the members of the Kingdom of God should embrace their political beliefs.

These are the Beatitudes that are recorded in Luke. There are differences in the list between Matthew and Luke. Instead of calling it the beatitudes in the NRSV version, the authors chose to title the passage: “Blessings and Woes.”

The list is shorter and the blessings are contrasted by woes.

Look at the first one: Blessed are the poor for theirs is the Kingdom of God. Then down to verse 24, But wore to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.

We are conditioned by the political and advertising powers to look down on the poor as failures. How often have we heard the line that this is the land of plenty and anyone who is in poverty is either to lazy or to stupid to succeed and therefore they are responsible for their own plight and we do not have to care for them.

But Jesus said, blessed are the poor for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Woe to the rich, for there is no reward for them in heaven. I believe the teachings of Jesus and His statement that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle then for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. So, there is no reward, if they even make it at all, according to Jesus.

And yet, the religion of Christian Nationalism teaches that if we are rich, then somehow we are blessed by God.

But Jesus says, Woe to the rich!

How backwards do we have it?

My Church in PA ministered to a desperately poor retired baptist preacher. He had a heart attack with no insurance and they simply fired him, leaving him with no income and no means of support.

Our deacons fund helped the family out on several occasions. His poverty was not a result of laziness or stupidity, it was bad luck.

Most personal bankruptcies filed in the US happen because of overwhelming medical debt, not carelessness.

Remember, Jesus said, blessed are the poor for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

I love Dolly Parton. I am sure that she affords a luxurious lifestyle with all the millions that she has made. But, she has given away much more than she has kept. Because she values the importance of generosity.

And yet we stipulate the American dream is that anybody can become a Jeff Bezos, the owner of Amazon who has become the worlds richest man by far in just a few short years. And we call him blessed. And Jesus said, Woe to him.

American Civil Christianity is not the faith that Jesus taught in these blessings and woes.

The religion of Christian Nationalism has taken over American Evangelicalism.

I have a dear brother who had to be called out on his Christian behavior on Facebook during the height of the Previous administration. It was a childish meme mocking the opponents of the President.

And I pointed out to him that all of a sudden, I see Christians who I love and respect stooping to insults, mean rhetoric, and racist comments as if it is okay to talk like that.

Paul said for us to appeal to older men and women as fathers and mother and younger men and women as brothers and sisters.

But no, all of a sudden Christians relished the mean spirited, unchristlike talk as someone who vents their anger. And he gave them an excuse to lower themselves to that level.

We lost decency and respect for one another in that time. I pray that the Church can repent of its sin and rise above it.

I have another dear relative, strong Christian, who keeps posting on Facebook memes that attack the refugees who are fleeing death and misery for a chance to survive. Every time she does, I remind her and the people who support her meme that Jesus would never call them Illegal. That is a dehumanizing term. Jesus term for them is neighbor and if we call ourselves Christians, we need to think of them first as neighbor.

I have been surprised and hurt by the vile with which some of her friends attack me for posting what Jesus said.

But Jesus said that we will not be well spoken of if we point out the lack of love that political and societal forces permit. They murdered Jesus for it. They murdered Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for it, and that list goes on and on.

Blessed are those who speak out, especially the ones who suffer persecution for it.

Woe, He says to the popular false prophets who permit people to continue in their sins.

Woe to those who enable racism, uncivil discourse among colleagues. They may be praised by their followers, but they certainly are not followers of Christ.

So, it is a political passage. If your politics enables you to hate the poor and marginalized, then according to Jesus, you are following a false prophet.

Let us be pure, as Paul said to Timothy in our love.