Blessings and Curses 2-16-25
Blessings and Curses
Jer 17:5-10; Luke 6:17-26
Jer 17:5-10
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.
Luke 6:17-26
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.
Prayer – God of grace – you continue to invite us to look at our lives; to look at how we are in reality as to how we think we look. Remind us this day, that our actions reflect our choices, that our choices may reflect upon our relationship with you. And perhaps, how our choices may be a blessing or a curse, for someone else and maybe even us – amen.
This passage begins Luke’s version of Matthew’s ‘Sermon on the Mount.’ Like Matthew, it begins with beatitudes and ends with a parable about building a house on a sound foundation. Unlike Matthew, it is considerably shorter and takes place on a plain. It is quite possible that Jesus told these teachings more than once as he travelled about the countryside. But both Matthew and Luke place their recollection of these teachings after Jesus has called together his group of disciples and before he begins his final journey to Jerusalem.
Unlike Matthew, we know that Luke is writing to someone of high social standing - possibly or probably one the non-Jewish, gentile, converts to the new Christian community - someone who is being instructed in the way of Christ. So we need to hear Luke's Sermon on the Plain through the ears of a high-standing elite person seeking to know the truth of Jesus' way. What does it mean for such a person to join the Jesus community? The lesson we have today spells that out in stark choices.
There are many interesting differences between Luke's beatitudes and Matthew’s. But I think it is more interesting to ponder this text from the position of the one to whom it is written, Theophilus. Is Theophilus poor, hungry, weeping now? No.
Is Theophilus rich, full, happy now? Yes.
And as the concluding parable of this collection makes clear, what makes all the difference is not just hearing these words, but ACTING on them. These teachings tell us how we must behave in order to fulfill Jesus' mission. They come after Jesus has formed his group of disciples and before he heads off to Jerusalem because without these lived practices there is no foundation of non-violent justice lived in community to be an alternative to the violent non-justice of society.
Malina and Rohrbaugh explain that the underlying Greek words that are translated as "blessed" and "woe" are better understood as "How honorable ..." and "How shameless ..."
‘Luke's beatitudes are statements consoling and supporting the socially disadvantaged. Needless to say, the beatitudes are also a reversal of who was considered honorable and shameless at the time of Jesus. (And possibly even in our time?)
What's at stake for high-status Theophilus is revealed in Verse 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
Because for Theophilus that is exactly the fate that awaits if he joins the Jesus community. As Malina and Rohrbaugh comment:
‘The social ostracism in Verse 22 is always the fate of the poor in agrarian societies. ... social ostracism may become the fate of the rich who join Jesus groups that include the poor. Luke knows the terrible costs involved for rich Jesus group members, but is uncompromising in his demand that these costs be paid.’
Might social ostracism still be the fate of those who befriend the poor? And thus, is being a follower of Jesus a blessing or a curse? That is the question we must face – particularly in our current day and time.
Of course, listeners to this sermon will naturally ask themselves, “Am I among the blessed or the cursed?” Luke is rather ambiguous about whether or not Jesus is preaching specifically to his disciples or a great throng from all over the region. Still, it’s apparent that the sermon is for all who “listen.” Anybody within earshot will, in listening to this sermon, know that Jesus is taking sides, standing with those who are cursed by the world, and daring to curse those whom the world blesses. How blessed for some, how “terrible” for others.
I wonder: Did Jesus mean to so severely depict his coming kingdom in such a way as to make clear that he was on the side of the poor, the hungry, and the weeping and opposed to those who were rich, well-fed, and happy? Or was his sermon an invitation to listeners to see themselves and their lot in a different way, from a different perspective?
How were his words received by all those who dared to listen to him? As good news or as bad news. I guess much depended on the circumstances you were in when you heard the sermon. But maybe, for some, it was encouraging to hear Jesus take a stand, clearly to indicate those to whom, in the coming realm of God, will be blessed and those who are headed for doom.
The sermon, particularly the verses that we focus upon today, is a depiction of God, rendered in the indicative rather than the imperative mode, of the nature of a gracious, forgiving God, a God who takes sides with the oppressed and who puts down the vaunted and the rich. In these verses, Jesus does not give any ethical instruction. If there is ethical instruction in this sermon, it is only by implication, as a response to a vision of God, that is, in response to the preacher Jesus having cast a vision of reality.
But this sermon is different in some significant ways. In Luke’s Sermon on the Plain, Jesus doesn’t tell us anything that we are to do. He invites us to look at ourselves and then choose.
That’s strange because lots of people think that is the whole point of a sermon. They say, “In a sermon I want the preacher to tell me what I need to do to lead a better life.” But this sermon is about God, who God blesses and who God curses. Rather than tell people what they need to get busy and do in order to be blessed, he just states that now that the Kingdom of God is coming among us, some are blessed, and some are doomed.
God is the one who intends to bless people who are poor, hungry, and weeping, and doom those who are not. God is not us. In our reality, those who are poor, hungry, and weeping are likely to feel down, out, and cursed. Surprise, says Jesus in his sermon. Your reality, your economic, legal, and political systems are not the same as God. They are not real.
A few Sundays from now we’ll read a more familiar story from Luke, the story of the Prodigal Son. There, Jesus introduces us to an incredibly gracious and kind father. When the older brother wants to know why in the world the father is throwing this huge homecoming party for the returning, wayward younger brother, the father replies, “We had to celebrate and rejoice because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found!”.
That’s overstating it just a little. The facts are, the younger brother was not “dead,” he was out on a binge. He wasn’t “lost.” Rather, he ran away from home, took his father’s hard-earned money, and headed to the far country for a good time. That’s why the older brother threw a fit when the father threw a big party to welcome home the younger brother. Any father should be in the business of enforcing the rules, holding kids accountable, and disciplining wrongdoers. That’s what’s real. That’s God.
Surprise. That may be the world as we expect it to be but that’s not the world that’s God’s. Question: Do we come to church to be confirmed in what we’ve always thought about God or do we come to church to be surprised that God’s ways are not our ways, that God is not who we presumed God to be if God would be worthy of our worship? I think you know the answer to that one.
Most of Jesus’s Sermon on the Plain, at least the first half of it that we are listening to today, is a series of statements, and assertions. It’s in the indicative rather than the imperative mode. Jesus is simply stating the facts of life, the way things are, reality.
Blessed are you poor—the same people, whom we overlook, disregard, despise, and consider failures in our world are to be blessed in the world that God is offering us. Blessed are you hungry—the same hungry people whom we expect must be lazy or inept or they wouldn’t be asking for handouts are to be blessed in the future that Jesus inaugurates. Blessed are you who weep—the same whiners and complainers who are always acting like they’ve had it worse than anyone else will be blessed in the new world that’s coming. Blessed are you when people hate you—because you are abrasive, or holier-than-thou, or self-righteous, the way so-called “religious” people often are because one day you’ll see that this world, our world, is not fully the world God had in mind when God began creating the world.
Then the preacher moves to an even less attractive part of the sermon as he curses the rich, the content, the happy, and the morally upright (in short, people like most of us here). Perhaps this is the point of preaching, inviting us to look at ourselves. Not first to tell us what to do, but first to help us see things as they are now that Jesus Christ has come among us. Human action follows the opening of our eyes. Perhaps that’s why Jesus begins this sermon with healing, as a sign, a hint, a foretaste of a whole new world breaking into the old world, a new reality where those on the bottom are now brought to the top, a sign of what God is up to in the world.
Christians live as we try to live, not simply because Christ has commanded us to live in a certain way, or we’re really good at knowing and following rules, but rather we live in a certain way because of the way we now know the world to be. We want to get in step with the way things are, now that God in Christ has entered the world.
Too often we think of our relationship with God as being about receiving blessings and avoiding curses. God sees our relationship as a reflection of how we love God and how we love God’s other beloved children. So at the end of the day, we are left to choose, do we live a life of blessing, being a blessing to those who are perhaps cursed, or do we live a life that looks down upon those less fortunate and perhaps end up being cursed. It is my choice, it is your choice, it is our choice – may God be reflected in our choices – thanks be to God – amen.