Title: “You Don’t Have To Hide”
Luke 6:17-26 – Epiphany 6
The Rev. Rian Adams
Last week I looked up the lectionary reading for today and realized that it was the beatitudes. My first thought was, "Here we go again. I have to preach another sermon on ethics. I usually begin with something like this: “These teachings or proverbs of Jesus are the essences of the Christian life. They show us how to emulate Jesus and follow the way of life he modeled for us. If we live them, we can be kind, friendly people.”
But I didn’t want to preach that sermon because I’m tired of preaching that one… so I’m not going to. I want to take a very different approach today that will leave things to your imagination. Today’s sermon will look at the introductory verses to the beatitudes.
I usually get lost in the beatitudes and then I miss the first verses of the reading. We hear them once per lectionary cycle. They are familiar to us… but have we really examined them to see what they can teach us?
I’m going to see if verses 17-19 inform verses 20-16. Sometimes we need to start at the beginning… instead of joining the game in the second quarter.
The sermon today will ask us to consider if the beatitudes are only for the benefit of others, or… if we can apply them to ourselves too. The sermon is titled “You Don’t Have to Hide.”
Notice what the first sentence says about Jesus… Jesus is on a level plain. That's informative… he's not on a mountain (like Matthew’s version), he is on flat ground. He's in a place where our feet are stable. Luke's version of the beatitudes occurs while the crowd is all even.
Let that sink in… When I look at my own life and my own experiences, I'm ready to hear the Gospel when my mind is clear, and I’m level headed.
I hear Jesus when I take on the role of a learner and cease to be the expert.
When I was in seminary one of my friends preached a sermon in the chapel on kindness in the book of Isaiah. It was a good sermon, and it touched my soul... But after I overheard the Old Testament professor mumble, "He preached that out of context. I wrote the New International Commentary on Isaiah.” The student heard it, and his face fell to the floor. With Jesus, there are no experts.
The beatitudes occurred on a level ground… equality… everyone heard the message, and everyone was on a level playing field. There were no experts.
But it doesn’t stop there. It says, "There were people from Judea, Jerusalem, Tyre and Sidon. This is a pretty diverse group of people.
Jerusalem was the religious center of the Jewish temple and the seat for the priesthood. People from the pinnacle of religion came to hear Jesus.
Then it says people from Judea were there too. Judea was still closely associated with the religious happenings, but it was a bit more removed. These people were just ordinary Jews trying to listen to Jesus.
We certainly have these people show up to church too. They come on Christmas or Easter. If you asked they consider themselves, “Christian.” What does Jesus do? He welcomes these people also. He taught them even though some would say they were lax in their commitment.
Then the Gospel also says there were people from Tyre and Sidon listening to Jesus. This demographic is interesting, Tyre and Sidon were not considered Jewish territories.
Tyre and Sidon were cities on the “outside” of the Jewish religion. These folks were called "gentiles." It was pejorative.
These were the people who were considered "outside" the covenant of God. Yet we have another example of Jesus welcoming the outsider.
I've been the outsider before. I've been, as Indiana Jones’ father said, "a pilgrim in a strange land."
When I was a chaplain at Ft. Jackson, SC, there wasn't an Episcopal service. I kindly asked the Irish Catholic priest if I could come to mass. He said, "Yes, but you cannot receive the sacrament because you're not part of the fold." I passed on that opportunity.
Fast forward a few months and I found a priest on much level ground. Fr. Phillip was not concerned with Rome's rules. He welcomed an outsider to the table.
Phil invited me, as an Episcopal priest, to mass. But he didn't stop there… he asked me to concelebrate the mass with him.
It was a crucible for me. We broke the religious rules together. We were happy to leave Jerusalem (Canterbury and Rome) and visit Jesus in Tyre and Sidon. Phillip and I stood together at the altar, in holy defiance, and preached the Gospel of unity within diversity.
Before we can reach the beatitudes, we need to be on a level playing field with all of our brothers and sisters.
The outsider, the lepers, the sinners, even a woman caught in adultery. He says to her… “What you did matters little, who you are… that’s what matters much.”
But this diversity doesn’t stop with how we treat others… It’s also how we treat ourselves.
Here’s the key to my understanding… we all have various parts of ourselves. Everyone wears masks… the public mask, the career mask, the “hang out with the guys” mask, the “good church going lady” mask.
But we also wear some other masks too and try to hide some of ourselves we’d like to reject. The angry person… the shamed soul… the one who’s still grieving a loss…
We can welcome all those parts too; We are Jerusalem… and we are Tyre and Sidon. Some parts are close to God, and some parts are far removed. Some parts pray, and other parts wonder why God allows suffering.
Some parts might even be angry at God, or secretly feel judged by God.
A question is… Can we be kind to all of those complexities and not judge them? After all, everyone came to hear the Good News.
Another thing I find interesting about this passage is how healing occurs when people listen.
Luke says, “They came to hear the word and were healed of diseases and unclean spirits.”
The people were healed… Jerusalem, and the gentile areas of Tyre and Sidon. Healing from ailments and irritants… and even things that torment the soul.
Who knows what Jesus healed… maybe it was religious shame, maybe it was family issues. Perhaps poverty, or a quest for meaning… it doesn't say. And I'm glad it doesn't answer that question…
It’s left open... so I can have hope that all of my “stuff” is welcome to the beatitudes.
The healings occur after all are welcomed as friends…and not denied or repressed as enemies.
So here’s the miracle of the beatitudes… We can say, "Blessed are you when you know you need spiritual food." Or, "Blessed are you when you know your soul seems poor and it feels in poverty.” Or even, “Blessed are you when you admit you’re angry or that you still grieve.”
Or sometimes I can go as far to say to myself… "Blessed are we when people shame and criticize you…. Because that’s when you can heal.”
We learn kindness – the beatitudes – toward ourselves when we welcome all of everything to the Good News. Remember, You don’t have to hide.
Amen.
