11 February 2007

070211ser
Luke 6:17-26

There’s a problem with today’s scripture from Luke. The Beatitudes, as we call them, are familiar enough. We’ve heard them before. But that’s not the problem. The problem is that we’d rather hear them from Matthew. We don’t necessarily like Luke’s version.

Luke tells us:
The poor are blessed;
The hungry are blessed;
The weeping and sorrowful are blessed;
The persecuted are blessed.
However
The rich are cursed;
The well-fed are cursed;
The laughing are cursed;
The popular are cursed.

My goodness. It is unsettling. We do prefer Matthew’s version in which the beatitudes are spiritualized. It’s the “poor in sprit” who are blessed; those who “hunger & thirst for righteousness” who are blessed. And Matthew leaves off the curses completely.

As much as Matthew’s version of this sermon is spiritualized, Luke’s version is earthy and unsettling. Luke leaves us wondering exactly where we stand. Matthew allows some wiggle room for us to be included. And we like that better.

It’s important to note that Luke’s beatitudes occur immediately after healings. Jesus does the word as well as speaks it. It’s active as well as audible; bringing more power to the sermon.

Jesus recognizes that he’s come to a broken world; a world of tears and actual hunger and aching poverty. A world that hasn’t changed much in the past 2,000 years, I might add. Jesus knows that he cannot possible heal the whole world but brings comfort to those who are hungry, who are sorrowing, who are poor, who are persecuted.

And he gets a dig in at those who are on the opposite side of the coin: the wealthy, the well-fed, the happy, the popular. Woe to them, Jesus says. And I don’t know about you, but I identify more with the 2nd set of people than with the 1st set. And I’m not sure where that leaves me.

The entirety of Luke’s gospel is all about economic justice as we would call it today. The lowest of the low are exalted in Luke’s gospel. Mary, a simple hand-maiden as she describes herself, is chosen as the one who will bear the messiah. The angels at Jesus’ birth, appear to shepherds, the poorest of the society at the time. And that’s just the beginning of Luke’s gospel. Throughout Luke’s gospel, Jesus expresses his concern for the poor. And these beatitudes are no different; this concern for the poor comes through loud and clear.

According to biblical scholar Rev. John Shearman, “The recent work of the Jesus Scholars group, *The Complete Gospels,* (edited by Robert J. Miller, Polebridge Press, 1992), gives a different slant to both the Beatitudes and the Woes. The word "Blessed" (Greek =*makarios*) becomes ‘Congratulations, "because it "better expresses the performative language of the Beatitudes, which grant the recipient recognition of good fortune.’ Similarly, ‘Woe to you...’ becomes ‘Damn you...’, giving a more forceful if colloquial meaning to what is essentially a total condemnation of those who seek riches, pleasures and public prestige for their own sake. This change brings the sense of prophetic judgment more effectively to our modern ear.”

As a church we are happy and full and doing okay. And clearly as a society, we would ignore these verses of Luke’s as we raise up the rich and exclude the poor. We don’t like this “damn you” approach of Luke’s nor do we like being excluded from the blessings. We’re filled with those who adulate shows such as “Who Wants to be a Millionaire.” Lotteries, which Allen’s sister describes as a tax on those who are bad at math, are all the rage as many in our culture attempt to become rich fast.

Woe on us when we treasure wealth more than Jesus’ words; when we adulate popularity and happiness over doing the right thing. These beatitudes of Jesus begin the sermon on the plain in Luke’s gospel; a sermon in which Jesus lays out the ethics for living as a follower of Christ. This is just the beginning.

We, as Jesus did, are to identify with the poor and the sorrowing. That’s to whom we’re sent and are to minister to. That’s who we are to be among as Jesus’ followers.

We may not like hearing these words. But hear them we must. God’s preference, throughout the Bible, as I have said before, is with the poor. Jesus makes that clear in today’s reading.

We have choices to make; choices about what we will do with our wealth, with our food, with our popularity. These choices, these decisions are made on a daily, sometimes hourly, basis. We make them without thinking about them.

Jesus calls us to think about them; to avoid the curses and join in on the blessings. Make your choices wisely.