In Jesus Holy Name February 13, 2022
Luke 6:17
“The Puzzle of the Be Attitudes”
Philip Yancy in his book “The Jesus I Never Knew” wrote the following when he read the 1st Beatitude in Luke 6.
“I became so convicted about my addiction to material things that I gave away to a friend my prized collection of 1,100 baseball cards, including an original 1947 Jackie Robison and a Mickey Mantle rookie card.” Now that I am an adult the challenges of the Sermon on the Mount for my life still have not gone away.”
Dallas Willard in his book “The Divine Conspiracy” writes: “The Beatitudes are not teachings on ‘how’ to be blessed. They are not instructions to do anything. Jesus is not telling anyone they would be better off being ‘financially’ poor, nor are they to always mourn, nor it would be better to receive a blessing by being persecuted.” (p.106) If these Beatitudes were to be a set of “how tos” for achieving blessedness they would only amount to a new set of commandments resulting in legalism. They would impose a new brand of Phariseesim.
That is why Luke later tells us the story in chapter 18 about the Tax Collector and Pharisee who both went to the “temple” to pray. We dare not forget that both were “financially rich”, but the prayers of one was accepted the other not. Therefore the 1st Beatitude in Luke has nothing to do with “financial poverty”. So what is it about?
So the sermon today might look a little more like a bible study. On the back of your bulletin, I have placed both the beatitudes from Luke and Matthew as well as the mission statement of Jesus.
The first thing one notices is that Luke has only 4 beatitudes followed by 4 woes as a means of contrast. Matthew has 7 Beatitudes and gives a little more depth regarding the meaning of “Blessed are the poor (He adds) in spirit. Both Luke and Matthew conclude, “for yours is the kingdom of heaven of kingdom of God.”
The Sermon on the Mount in Matthew and the Sermon on the Plain in Luke are not a series of do’s and don’ts. The word “blessed” does not mean “happy”. Being “poor” or “spiritually poor” both describe a person who is utterly helpless and completely dependent on the grace of God in Jesus. This is our true condition, we can not earn forgiveness nor heaven on by our own efforts. We are poor before a Holy and righteous God.
Jesus tells the story of the Tax Collector and Pharisee offering a vivid illustration of what it means to be poor in spirit. Jesus said that one day two men came to the temple to pray. One man, a self-righteous Pharisee, feeling good about himself, prayed like this: “Lord, I’m so glad I’m not like the other people who pray to you. I don’t commit adultery, I don’t murder people, and I don’t break the law. I fast twice a week and I give a tithe of all I have. Lord, you’re really lucky to have me on your side.” But the other man felt so bad about himself that he wouldn’t even come near or look up to heaven. Feeling the heavy weight of his sin, he cried out, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
Two men in the temple, both men prayed. Whose prayer did God hear? The religious Pharisee? Oh no, because he wasn’t praying, he was giving God his resume. Jesus said that God heard the other man’s prayer because his words came from a broken heart. Then Jesus gave the moral of the story: “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled (See Luke 18:9-14).
“One man was rich with pride, the other poor in spirit. One man thought highly of himself, the other felt his shortcomings. One man impressed with his own accomplishments, the other depressed by his sin. One man boasted, the other man begged. One man recommended himself to God, the other man pleaded for God’s mercy.” (from “The Jesus I Never Knew” Philip Yancy)
One man was saved, the other lost. Augustus Toplady expressed the truth the first beatitude when he wrote this verse in the hymn called Rock of Ages:
Nothing in my hand I bring
Simply to Thy cross I cling; Naked, come to Thee for dress,
Helpless, fly to Thee for grace. Foul, I to the fountain fly.
Wash me, Savior, or I die.
When looking at the 1st Beatitude in Luke 6. “Blessed are you who are poor” is juxtaposed to the 1st “Woe” in v 24. “Woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort.”
In Chapter 12 Luke verifies this 1st Woe with the parable of the “Rich Fool”.
Jesus told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’
18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’
20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
21 “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”
The rich rest their security not on Jesus but on things. The rich are comfortable and do not have an urgent need for salvation and redemption. The rich in our culture often admired, found on the cover of magazines. But more often than not…their marriages have failed, and there is grief. Some are bound by alcohol or drug addiction. Their huge salaries from their “football, baseball, tennis, basketball, often have been mis directed and they find themselves broke.
The careers of professional athletes are often synonymous with fame and fortune, yet there are many former NFL players who have learned the hard way that sometimes the money isn't enough relative to the bad decisions or luxurious habits. Roughly 16% of retired football players end up bankrupt within 12 years of stepping off the field for the last time, according to a study by the National Bureau of Economic Research. “..an estimated 60% of former NBA players go broke within 5 years of departing the league….78% of former NFL players have gone bankrupt or under financial stress just two years after retirement” “Woe to you who are rich… in whom did you trust.”
So we can ask ourselves…. “Do I readily depend on God or myself?” Or am I more like the dishonest tax collector so riddled with anxiety and guilt that he climbed a tree to get a better view of Jesus passing by. Or the woman with a string of five failed and unhappy marriages in need of God’s love.
In the 2nd Beatitude …”Blessed are you who weep now for you will laugh”.
How can this be?
“A woman in Wisconsin lost her only son in a Marine Corp helicopter crash. For years she could not escape the dark cloud of grief. She kept her son’s room in tact just as he had left it. Eventually she began to notice how frequently helicopter crashes were reported on the news. She kept thinking of other families facing tragedies like hers, and was wondering if she could be of help. Now when ever a military helicopter crashes, she sends a packet of letters and helpful materials to an office in the Defense Department who forwards the packet on to the affected family.
About half of them strike up a regular correspondence as they share their suffering. Jesus brings comfort to those who need comforted, and sometimes he uses “us”.
This week was Valentine's Day. Do you feel loved? If not, let me tell you about Jesus. Soon after creation, humankind fell into sin. Since that dark day, every one of us, living blindly outside of God's grace, has been destined to spend our days in a self-created darkness, searching, unsuccessfully, for love. Seeing our helplessness, the Lord decided, and that decision has never made human sense, to send us a special message of love.
God's Son, God's Divine message of love? His hometown tried to kill Him; His friends deserted and denied Him; one betrayed Him. His church leaders had Him arrested, falsely accused, beaten, and a cowardly judge allowed Him to be crucified. Then 3 days later Jesus rose from the dead. A glorified resurrected body is awaiting all who place their faith and trust in Jesus.
Let’s return to our notes. Here is the question. Are the Beatitudes in Luke 6 a fulfilment of “mission” statement of Jesus that He gave in the synagogue in Nazareth.
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
Because He has anointed me to peace good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
And recover of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed
To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Is it possible that Luke uses the words of Jesus, the “Be Attitudes spoken on the plain” as a reference to Jesus Himself, a fulfillment of His Mission.
“Blessed are you who are poor.” Jesus became poor. Paul writes in
II Corinthians 8:9 “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that by His poverty you might become rich.” Jesus was in heaven from eternity past, and gave up His eternal residence to be born in a manger. He once said, “Foxes had dens, birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.” He gave up heaven for a time… to die on a cross, where He placed our broken commandments so we might experience the “Joy” of forgiveness in God’s kingdom on earth and eternally.
Jesus knew hunger in the wilderness. He knew the spiritual hunger of the tax collector who climbed a tree. The rejected woman He met at the well of Samaria. Jesus offers His love, reconnecting our hearts to a God of love so that we will be satisfied.
In Luke 6:22 we find Jesus speaking: “men will hate you and exclude you insult you and reject your name as evil” Jesus experienced the hatred of men who refused His offer to live under God’s rules. Jesus experienced the scorn and rejection of Herod who laughed at Him when adorned with a purple robe. Peter, and Judas denied Him. Pharisees who hated Him. Some even accused Him of casting out demons by the power of the devil. Others physically beat Him, slapped His face and then nailed Him to a cross.
“Rejoice”. Jesus rose from death and the grave. Rejoice because your eternal destiny is secure. His resurrection from death and the grave sets free people who are held in the “prison of the fear of death” from that very fear, for heaven is our home.
