Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany

Welcome Statement

Good morning,

Last week we saw Jesus helping people fish for men, we are going to see Jesus tie in ideas of the old law today, with a sermon similiar to the sermon on the mount. The sermon on the plains. It is debated if this is just the sermon on the mount from a different account, but there are enough differences, as well as no specification of there being a mountain, that it suggests it is its own sermon. Most likely Jesus Preached on many of these ideas multiple times, but his most important times were the ones recorded. Before we meet with Christ today In the plains, we are going to see where his beatitudes seem to come from. They come from a long lineage of prophets from the nation of Israel. We are going to listen to the words of Jeremiah in particular today, so we will go ahead and read what words of the Lord he has for us today:

Old Testament Reading - Jeremiah 17:5-10

Jeremiah 17:5–10 NRSV

Thus says the Lord: Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals and make mere flesh their strength, whose hearts turn away from the Lord. They shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when relief comes. They shall live in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit. The heart is devious above all else; it is perverse— who can understand it? I the Lord test the mind and search the heart, to give to all according to their ways, according to the fruit of their doings.

Exegesis

What is Jeremiah in particular speaking about? If one looks to the context of what Jeremiah is prophesying in earlier chapters, it becomes pretty clear. He’s admonishing those pretty harshly who have depended on the power of the world, meaning kings and armies, to define their lives and their strength. During this time Babylon was invading Israel, Jeremiah prophecied that this was God’s doing, a just punishment for Israel’s unwillingness to follow Him. Jeremiah even peculiarly suggests that Israel should simply submit and give up their sovereignty, as they have surrendered all rights to being a nation once they no longer placed their nation’s identity into YHWH. Some of this is pretty harsh stuff, much of it is remniscent to some of the voices we hear today criticizing Christianity and nations, as well as voices calling for a new way forward for the Good News. In Jeremiah’s time, he saw a nation who refused to turn to God, and refused to put themselves last, for the sake of Him. He was witnessing decline and turmoil, as a Prophet, he had every right to boldly proclaim that they were going down the wrong path.

The Old Problems Made Relevant Again

It becomes interesting and asks a question, if we forfeit God’s claim over our lives, what right do we have to claim to be a part of Christ’s body? What are we idoling instead of God? Thinking we still get to be a part of his body, getting to act in our old ways, while still proclaiming we are protected by grace? People such as Boenhoffer would have argued this was cheap grace, the idea that we can continue to revel in our sin proactively, instead of turning around towards the Kingdom. John Wesley was another man concerned with this idea, as he would go to develop his ideas of perfect sanctification, many people misinterpret this as “perfect” the same way Jesus is perfect, but that is not correct. Perfection in this sense is about wholeness, not correctness, it’s about mending a broken heart, body, and soul to be more of a reflection of Christ. Wesley argued that once one achieved this perfect state, the would commit no sin, at least knowingly. This does not mean one can feign ignorance, but petty sins like accidentally bumping into someone or making a wrong decision when we didn’t have all the information in good Faith, would not amount to what Wesley was describing as intentional sin. The idea is that one’s only sins are so benign or involuntary that trying to address them with an attempt to vanquish them was not fruitful, but using forgiveness was. Wesley was clear about this idea though, probably only a handful of people if ever achieve this state before passing away, and because of that, he also argued anyone saying they’ve achieved it, definitely didn’t achieve it as their ego was speaking for them, meaning they weren’t quite fully sanctified.

The Good News is, this passage is not talking about one being perfect, it’s simply about that willingness to keep following him, an honest effort in resisting the flesh, which was one way to describe our worldly passions, as St Isaac of Syria would describe it in his writings in the 7th century. In a lot of ways, the words, passion, world, and flesh are synonyms but with distinctions that are very subtle for the rhetorical purposes used in each case, which Is something you only catch on after re-reading these passages multiple times. Flesh is instinctual, world is external motivations, and passions are our personal wants that may not necessarily align with God.

Christ expounds upon these ideas, but with a new light of Hope, in his beatitudes during the Sermon of the Plain.

New Testament Reading - Luke 6:17-26

Luke 6:17–26 NRSV

He 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. They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them. Then he looked up at his disciples and said: “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; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets. “But 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.

A 21st century of this Blessing

This blessing becomes somewhat peculiar for us, those who might find themselves in the working class, where at the end of the day when we count our blessings, we definitely can say we are materially blessed. Despite the cost of eggs and milk right now, we still can say we have heat in our homes, we have our families, and our jobs. How does such a passage apply to me?

That is something I’ve been wrestling with, I’ve generally understood this as a passage for those in the worst pits of their lives, but this doesn’t mean as soon as someone reaches out of the pit, that God’s blessings stop and they become the receiver of woes. All we see on the news is the problems of homelessness, and we can’t possibly think how anyone is blessed In such a situation. Why is it when death occurs faith shows itself in unexpected ways for example?

Sometimes we can get the logic backwards. You are being blessed because of your current situation, not that you should change your current situation to be blessed. Some people have interpreted these scriptures to mean one should thrust themselves into worse situations to the extreme, purposefully choosing words to make oneself extremely disliked, being offensive to others, being deplorable. That’s really not the intentions of the beatitudes. The Beatitudes certainly should move us to want to change our lives, but its a call on those who put material things above God, it is not telling us that we can’t be blessed unless we are poor. You don’t magically become cursed by God for hitting the next tax bracket. It’s a warning for those who find themselves idolizing things above God.

Now to be clear, I won’t completely turn this upside down. God of course isn’t saying that rich people can’t get to heaven, it is just, we see many examples today of those who have accrued mass amounts of wealth, megachurch pastors, CEOs, many of which, we see in the news for bad reasons.

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New Testament Point #2

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New Testament Point #3

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Closing Statement

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Closing Prayer

Heavenly Father, adfs asdfa

Amen.

Doxology / Benediction / Closing

May you Have a Blessed Sunday, and rest of your Week! Amen!