Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany

Scripture

Luke 6:17–26 NIV

He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by impure spirits were cured, and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all. Looking at his disciples, he said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets. “But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.

Sermon: Blessings and Woes

This passage in Luke sounds an awful lot like a similar passage found in Matthew 5-7. That passage is called the Sermon on the Mount. Now some scholars, in my opinion make too big a deal out of the opening words of this passage and the surrounding debate asking whether this is the same message, Luke and Matthew, or if they are each passages on their own.

Of course, the discussion is based on the location of the two messages. In Matthew, Jesus is on a mountainside, thus the name, “Sermon on the Mount”. According to Luke, Jesus comes and stands on a level place therefore, some have called this the “sermon on the plain.” Some have further noted that Matthew’s version stands in the context of a message Jesus preached for over two chapters and Luke’s message is much shorter. Only these few verses.

Now, whether or not these are the same or different sermons really is not important for us today, but what matters for us is what Jesus has to say. And the focus of our time will be spent looking at the title this section of scripture is given which is the title of this message “Blessings and Woes”.

But there is some significance in Luke’s words that jesus “went down . . . and stood on a level place”. Whatever else we say about Jesus, He was one of us. And He was “with” us. But the next few verses tell us He was also different than we are. For there were people “who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by impure spirits were cured, 19 and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all. Now, I don’t know about you but I’ve never had power come through me unless I inadvertently touched the short of an electrical wire.

And after all this, Luke says, Jesus turns to His disciples and specifically begins to address them. Now, I don’t think He told the crowds to go home. I don’t think He suggested that they close their ears. I don’t believe for a minute He said, “Now this is for them only. None of you can hear what I have to say now.”

Instead, I think Jesus was talking to all of them who were there. And He gives to them four blessings and four woes. Now, it’s interesting that the four blessings are the same as the four woes.

Blessed are you who are poor, who hunger, who weep, who are hated. And woe to you who are rich, who are well fed, who laugh, when you are spoken well of. The blessings and woes are opposites of the same things. But I know that for some of us, this sounds strange or not right. Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor” and maybe some of you expect Him to finish it, like He did in Matthew, “the poor in spirit”. But that’s not what Luke records. He just stops after the word “poor”. And you and I shake our heads and think to ourselves, “He is joking right?” And we might think that about all the other blessings as well. I mean anyone here want to be hungry? Anyone here want to weep? Anyone here really want to be hated?

Luke? Did you get this mixed up? Did you flip flop what Jesus said here? Jesus? Why would you let Luke record these words if you knew he was going to write them backwards. Wait? He didn’t? Are you sure? Maybe you said them backwards? No?

Because the truth is, in our minds, we want to be the rich, the well fed, the laughing, the ones people speak well of. But that, according to Jesus is where the woes are. Now, how do we make sense of this? How is it that what we don’t want is good and what we do want is bad? How is it that being poor, hungry, weeping, and hated is better than being rich, well fed, laughing, and loved?

Could it be that Jesus is talking in eternal terms rather than temporal? Could it be that Jesus is calling His disciples and those within earshot to follow Him based not on what they get in the here and now, but rather based on what they will receive in eternity. Is it possible that Jesus is telling these and us that if we pursue the benefits of the world we might experience those benefits here but we will miss what God has for us for all eternity. But if we focus on Christ here, we might not experience what the world has to offer but we will experience what Christ has for us, not only in the “today” but for all of eternity. Do you think Jesus might be asking us, “Do you want to live well for a bit or do you want to live well for forever?”