The Sixth Sunday After Epiphany
February 13, 2022
M. Anthony Seel, Jr.
Holy Trinity Lutheran Church
Luke 6: 17-26
Finding Blessing in a Persecuting World
In our gospel lesson, Jesus says to us today,
Vv. 22-23 “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.”
It was a week ago Friday, when the Winter Olympics began in Beijing, China. They’ve been called “the genocide games” because of China’s “brutal genocide against ethnic Muslims known as Uyghurs” [CNN, “China says claims…”]
In a submission to the U.N., the World Uyghur Congress, based in Germany, estimated that there are “at least one million Uyghurs… being held in political indoctrination camps as of July 2018” [ibid.] Today, that number is estimated to be over one million [patriot.post.us/thegenocidegames]
Can you conceive of over one million people imprisoned in concentration camps? That’s more than the population of Jacksonville, Florida, or Austin, Texas, Indianapolis, or Washington, D.C.
“Hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs have been forced [into] slave labor” [ibid.]. Last year, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute listed 83 “popular, household-name brands that “potentially directly or indirectly” benefit from this slave labor.
The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act passed our House of Representatives last September by a vote of 403-6. Last November, the New York Times reported that Coca-Cola, Nike, Apple, and other corporations tried to weaken the bill, because, they argued, it “would harm the supply chains they rely on in China.”
China’s bad behavior isn’t limited to Muslims. According to Christianity Daily, there are 100 million church members in China, and they are “systematically being discriminated against, controlled, and subjected to religious persecution by the CCP” (that’s the Chinese Communist Party).
As bad as China is, they rank only 17th worst according to Open Doors, an organization that advocates for persecuted Christians worldwide.
Yet, Jesus says,
Vv. 22-23 “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.”
These verses are stuck in the middle of the four beatitudes and four woes of the Sermon on the Plain in the Gospel of Luke.
Beatitudes are blessings or reasons for happiness. Our English word beatitude comes from the Latin for happy and blessed. The Greek word in the original language of the New Testament means blessed, happy, or prosperous.
The beatitudes in Matthew and Luke are similar, but Matthew has nine beatitudes while Luke has only four. Plus, Luke follows the four beatitudes with four woes, which Matthew doesn’t do. The wording and order are different, and the settings are different. Matthew has the famous Sermon on the Mount. Luke has the less famous Sermon on the Plain.
On Thursday, I was visiting with a bishop of the Mormon Church and his wife. I told them that I would be preaching on the Sermon on the Plain on Sunday. The wife asked, “Do you mean the Sermon on the Mount.” I replied, “no, the Sermon on the Plain from Luke, chapter 6. I encouraged them to look it up.
Not only does Matthew have nine beatitudes to Luke’s four, overall, the Sermon on the Mount is significantly longer than the Sermon on the Plain. So, is the Sermon on the Plain a summary of the Sermon on the Mount? Or is the Sermon on the Mount an expansion or elaboration of the Sermon on the Plain? Were two sermons given on different occasions, with Jesus reusing, but subtly changing the thrust from one to the other?
Comparing the two, Matthew is more spiritual, while Luke is more down to earth.
Let’s start with the context of the Sermon on the Plain. I invite you to open your Bible, or a church Bible found in the rack below or in front of your seat.
Beginning at verse 12, we see Jesus went up a mountain where he prayed all night. The next day, He chose twelve disciples to be His closest followers. Those twelve and Jesus came down from the mountain and stood “on a level place.”
In verse 17, Luke distinguishes between a great crowd of Jesus’ disciples, and a great multitude of other people from Jerusalem, all Judea, which surrounds Jerusalem, and the seaside towns of Tyre and Sidon. The great multitude same to hear Jesus speak and to be healed by Him.
Jesus healed many of diseases - the gospels attest to this. Jesus also healed those “who were troubled by demonic spirits.” The gospels give ample proof of this also. Verse 19 tell us,
“And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all.”
This brings to mind a story that Luke tells in chapter 8. Jesus returns to an area where He had previously ministered, and He is met by a crowd. In that crowd is woman who had a medical condition that no doctor had been able to correct, a blood issue that troubled her for twelve years.
Vv. 44-48 She came up behind [Jesus] and touched the fringe of his garment, and immediately her discharge of blood ceased. And Jesus said, “Who was it that touched me?” When all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the crowds surround you and are pressing in on you!” But Jesus said, “Someone touched me, for I perceive that power has gone out from me.” And when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before him declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him, and how she had been immediately healed. And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.”
This illustrates what Luke says about Jesus and the crowd around Him in verse 19:
“And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all.”
After the healing ministry, Jesus focuses on His newly called disciples. He says to them,
v. 20b “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.”
Poverty is not something pleasant to think about, let alone consider as a way into the kingdom of God, but Jesus does say,
“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.”
What does He mean?
First, let’s contrast what Jesus says about the poor in the first beatitude to what He says about the rich in the first woe.
“But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.”
You know who the rich are, don’t you. They’re the folks who have a little more than we have. The rich are normally thought of as those with significant wealth, obvious material prosperity, those who live the so-called good life.
The poor lack these things. They may lack the basic necessities of life as Jesus intimates in the second beatitude.
v. 21 “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied.”
Jesus continues,
“Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.”
Hunger and weeping are conditions of poverty. You’ve heard of food insecurity? There are households in America who survive on less than $10,000 a year. According to the 2014 Hunger in America study,
69% of these households had to choose between food and utilities
67% had to choose between food and transportation, like a car or truck
66% had to choose between food and medical care.
There are estimated to be twelve million children in America who face hunger issues according to data gathered in 2020. Hunger affects child development. These children are more likely to struggle in school. They are seriously disadvantaged in a number of other ways.
What do hunger pangs mean to us? We can get up, go to the cupboard, and feed ourselves. But, what about those whose hunger causes them grief because there is not food in their cupboard?
In contrast, Jesus says,
v. 25“Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry. “Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.”
Later in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus teaches, “For where your treasure is, there your heart is also.”
Wealth enables us to go our own way, to do what we want to do, to be our own god. Self-sufficient people receive their rewards in this life. That’s what Jesus is saying.
So, are all poor people going to heaven? Are all rich people going to hell?
The Bible makes it clear that it doesn’t work that way.
Jesus says,
v. 25 “Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry. “Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.”
Is Jesus condemning full bellies and belly laughs? Are we to believe that the perfect Christian life is lived in poverty, grief, and solemnity?
There’s more. Jesus has one more woe for us.
v. 26 “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.
So, should we all have poor reputations?
Here’s what I believe is the key to properly interpreting the beatitudes and woes of the Sermon on the Plain. Look at verses 22 and 23.
Vv. 22-23 “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.”
In the days of the early church, Jews who became Christians were excluded from their synagogues. They were reviled and spurned. On a broader scale, Jesus prays in His High Priestly Prayer about His followers, “the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.”
All true followers of Christ belong to God and God’s kingdom, which is not of this world. Unfortunately, in this world, Christians are persecuted for their faith in many countries.
In India, “A woman watches as her sister is dragged off by Hindu nationalists.”
“A man in a North Korean prison camp is shaken awake after being beaten unconscious; the beatings begin again.”
“A woman in Nigeria runs for her life. She has escaped from Boko Haram, who kidnapped her. She is pregnant, and when she returns home, her community will reject her and her baby.”
Open Doors USA comments, “These people don’t live in the same region, or even on the same continent. But they share an important characteristic. They are all Christians.” [opendoorsusa.org, “Christian Persecution”]
How can Christians rejoice in such dire circumstances?
Over the years, I’ve spent considerable time in the Book of Acts. It’s part of our Sunday readings each Easter season. Persecution is woven into the fabric of the Book of Acts.
In chapter 4, Peter and John are arrested for preaching the gospel
In chapter 5, all the apostles are arrested and put in prison
In chapter 7, Stephen, a deacon of the church, is stoned to death
In chapter 9, not long after his conversion, Paul is preaching in Jerusalem and Jews were “seeking to kill him.”
In chapter 12, James, the brother of John, is killed and Peter is imprisoned
In chapter 14, Paul is stoned and left for dead. But, he didn’t die.
In chapter 16, Paul and Silas are imprisoned and beaten with rods
In chapter 21, Paul is arrested for preaching the gospel in the Temple in Jerusalem
The Book of Acts ends with Paul under house arrest in Rome for two years. I skipped over two other episodes of persecution.
In chapter 8, a great persecution breaks out in Jerusalem and it results with Christians fleeing the city and scattering “throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria.” Philip, a deacon of the church, went to the city of Samaria where he did healing ministry. As a result of that ministry, “there was much joy in that city” [8:8]
In chapter 13, Paul and Barnabus preach the gospel in Antioch of Pisidia, and persecution was stirred up against them. Despite this, “the disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.” [13:52]
For Christians, joy can be a byproduct of persecution, as odd as that sounds.
In 2 Timothy 3:12, Paul writes, “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”
Have you ever been persecuted for your faith? It’s much less likely to happen in America than in many other places in this world.
James, believed to be the half brother of Jesus writes, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.” [James 1:2]
Are you able to do that?
Honestly, that’s something I’m not very good at that. Maybe we can help each other on this.
There is something that puts our trials in perspective. That’s the cross on which Jesus died. It’s also our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world who suffer tremendously for their faith in Jesus Christ.
The apostle Peter exhorts us to “rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.” [1 Peter 4: 13]
This is our calling - to rejoice no matter what our circumstances are.
Floyd Brobell, CEO of Voice of the Martyrs, Canada, wrote in an article titled, “Nothing Strange,”
“The power of the church does not lies in its own ability to live out the faith in difficult circumstances, but rather it is found in its diligence to rely on a strength that comes only from Christ Himself as He builds His church in this world to radiate His glory regardless of the opposition.”
Think about how Jesus lived the beatitudes of the Sermon on the Plain.
Jesus took on poverty when He left His family to pursue His calling to proclaim the gospel in word and deed
Jesus knew hunger. He went on a forty day fast before He started His public ministry
Jesus wept at the death of Lazarus, whom He loved
Jesus was hated and reviled - so much so that He was sentenced to death on a cross
With His death on a cross, He who knew no sin, paid the penalty for our sins. But, this story doesn’t end with the cross. Jesus endured the pain and suffering of the cross, and died a gruesome death. But, three days later, He rose from the dead. He appeared to His apostles, and “to more than 500 others at one time,” according to our epistle reading this morning. [1 Corinthians 15:6]
The grief of His followers was turned to joy. [Luke 24:41]
When Jesus ascended to heaven, He told those gathered with Him that they would receive power from on high. The Spirit of God descended on the church on Pentecost Day, and has been filling Christians ever since.
The power of the church, the power within individual Christians like you and me, is found in the strength of Christ who comes to us by His Spirit. Jesus “builds His church in this world to radiate His glory regardless of the opposition.”
Repeat after me: “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” Let’s say Philippians 4:13 together.
Do you believe that?
Who is the him in Philippians 4:13? It is Jesus, the Savior of the world. It is Jesus, our Lord. You can do all things in the strength that Christ gives you.
Pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ who are suffering because of their faith in Christ. Rejoice and leap for joy for the reward that you share with them because of your faith in Jesus Christ. Live in the joy that God gives to the followers of His Son.
Blessed are you as you live faithfully for Christ, trusting in Him to be your Savior in all things.
Let us pray.
Almighty God, look mercifully on your church, that by your great goodness we may be governed and preserved forever. Grant that your strength and protection may support us in all dangers, and carry us through every temptation, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
