Wednesday, February 20, 2019
Sunday, February 17, 2019
Sermon: Upside Down Blessings
Luke 6:17-26
Upside Down Blessings
James Sledge February
17, 2019
Many
years ago, prior to becoming a pastor, I was teaching an adult Sunday School
class. We were studying Luke, and lesson was on the “Sermon on the Plain,” a
portion of which we just heard. I read the four blessings or beatitudes and the
corresponding woes. I then asked the class what they thought about these words
that spoke of God’s favor on the poor but woe on the wealthy.
One
lady quickly spoke up to correct me. Jesus had said no such thing, she insisted.
He was talking about the poor in spirit, not actual poverty. When I suggested
that she might be thinking of Matthew’s gospel, that Luke spoke of rich and
poor, of well-off and those without enough to eat, she only became more
adamant. Jesus couldn’t possibly have meant that.
I
suspect that when most people think of the Beatitudes, they think of those
found in Matthew. Matthew’s list is a good bit longer than Luke’s, and it has
no corresponding woes. And it also does say, “Blessed are the poor in spirit…”
Matthew’s
beatitudes are more popular, and the long list of blessings sometimes prompts
people to read them as instructions on how to get blessed. I think that misreads
Matthew’s gospel, but you certainly can manage that with many of his beatitudes.
But Luke is an entirely different matter, and unless we’re going to tell people
to become poor, hungry, and mournful in order to gain God’s favor, we’ll have
to find some other way to understand them.
When
Luke tells of these beatitudes and woes, he uses Old Testament language of
blessing and curse. The contrast is between God’s favor and God’s active
disfavor. “Blessed” means God wants things to go well for you. “Woe” means God
wishes bad things upon “you who are rich… who are full now…who are
laughing now… when all speak well of you…”
It’s
more than a little unnerving. If you are poor, hungry, mourning or hated, then
God is for you. But if you’re well off, have a full pantry, are happy and
laughing, and everyone thinks you are wonderful, God is against you. That can’t
be right, can it? No wonder that woman in my Bible study class said what she
did.
These
blessings and woes are completely upside down and backwards from what the world
expects. The world says, “God helps those who help themselves.” We thank God
for our many blessings, often referring to possessions and good fortune that
would seem to put us squarely in the “But woe to you…” camp. And I
think that may be exactly the point Jesus is making. He says that God’s ways
are completely upside down and backwards to ours.
Throughout
history, almost every culture has used religion to buttress the status quo, its
economic system, and so on. It was not so long ago in this country that most
Christian denominations issued statements saying racially based slavery was
ordained by God. Many of these denominations later split in two when Christians
in the north began to question such statements and seek to overturn them.
Monday, February 11, 2019
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