In Jesus Holy Name February 16, 2025
Luke 6:20,24
“Life in the New Community”
If we are to understand these beatitudes in the Gospel of Luke there are some “first things first” we should know.
1) Luke is probably writing between 58 AD & 64 AD when the Apostle Paul is in prison in Caesarea. It is obvious that in writing his Gospel he was able to interview Mary and many individuals who had experienced a healing from the hand of Jesus. We also know that the brother of Jesus, James, is leading the church in Jerusalem.
2) The Gospel of Luke is the 1st of a two-volume history of Christianity. The book of Acts is the 2nd volume.
3) Luke is aware that Matthew and Mark have been written and so he tends to follow the time line of the life of Jesus.
4) He is writing to the new Christian community made up of both Jews and Gentiles, ordinary working, tradesmen, business people and Pharisees who have come to believe in Jesus as the Messiah.
5) In the context, “Blessed” does not mean “happy”. “Blessed” is one word that means: “people who follow Jesus are privileged recipients of God’s special gifts of grace.” (Fred Danker, “Jesus in the New Age”)
Note: These beatitudes are addressed to the “disciples”, which by the 60’s meant every follower or Jesus because by this time the word “apostles” is used only for the original 12 all others are called “disciples’”. I have to admit when first reading this beatitude I was shocked by the words “Blessed are you who are poor. For yours is the kingdom of God.” He means economically poor. This is different than the beatitude in Matthew: “Blessed are you who are “spiritually poor.”
So, my question… what is going on? These “beatitudes” are about how new Christians are to live together in the “church”. You now have both the economic poor and the wealthy Pharisees in the same church. You have Jews who have become followers of Jesus and Gentiles like Cornealius, (Acts 10) a Roman soldier and his family all in the same church.
Everyone no matter their economic status is a recipient of God’s grace, and in
the church they are to “care” for one another.
Ultimately the answer is found in Acts 2 after 3000 people are baptized Luke writes: (read) The new believers devoted themselves to the teaching of the Apostles, and to fellowship, Communion, and prayer. Many sold some of their possessions to provide for others who were poor, which of course gave rise to the 1st controversy of how the money was being used, when Jews of Greek ethnicity complained that their widows were receiving less bread than the Jews of Hebrew ethnicity. But that is a story for another time.
Returning to the beatitudes in Luke 6. “Blessed are the economically poor” is off set by a warning to those who are well off. But “woe to you who are rich for you have already received your comfort.” (The point, now what are you going to do with your financial blessings in your new community, the “church”?)
“Blessed are you if people hate you and exclude you, even insult you because of your connection to Jesus.” Yes there is persecution, James the brother of John was killed in Jerusalem, Peter and John had been thrown into prison….(which also happened during COVID when churches were closed and when Christians were arrested for praying at abortion clinics…So a reminder …Luke writes: ”rejoice because your reward is great in heaven. Persecution is to be expected if you follow Jesus. This is how prophets were treated. “
The beatitudes in Luke are a reminder that 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 then adorned with a purple robe and sent Him back to Pilot. Peter, and Judas denied Him. Pharisees hated Him because He caught them “defrauding people in the temple, and making God’s house a den of robbers”. 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.
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.”
In Luke 18 Jesus confronts Zacchaeus, a Jewish tax collector for the Romans. He was hated because he made his wealth by “defrauding” his own people by charging more than necessary. After a visit with Jesus his heart was changed and he returned what he wrongly gained. When a young lawyer ask Jesus what he must do to earn eternal life, Jesus told the story of the Good Samarian. Jesus had a simple question at the end. “Which of the three do you think was a neighbor to the injured man? The expert in the law said, “the one who showed mercy.” Jesus said: “God and do likewise.”
In the kingdom of God, in the new community, in the 1st century church, members are to “show mercy.”
The problem with many of the rich Pharisees was that it was the cultural belief that if you were wealthy, successful, you were blessed by God. If you were poor or had an illness, such as being blind, or leprosy it was because you were experiencing God’s punishment for a sin. (many of you have already read John 9 so you understand this point)
The rich in our culture are often admired. They are found on the cover of magazines. But more often than not…their marriages have failed, and there is grief. Some are controlled by alcohol or drug addiction. Their huge salaries from their “football, baseball, tennis, basketball years often have been mis directed, and they find themselves broke.
I remember Charles Barkley giving advice to a new wealthy Basketball player. “Do you really need six fancy cars?” “Do you really need two mutit million dollar homes? Who will pay the taxes when your career comes to an end? 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 are under financial stress just two years after retirement” “Woe to you who are rich… in whom did you trust.”
In the 2nd Beatitude …”Blessed are you who weep now for you will laugh”.
I ask the question “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 whenever 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. (from “The Jesus I Never Knew” P. Yancy)
About half of them strike up a regular correspondence as they share their suffering. Jesus brings comfort to those who need to be comforted, and sometimes He uses “us”.
During His time of ministry, Scripture never records a funeral Jesus didn't ruin. When He met the funeral procession of a young man from Nain, He stopped the group, raised the lad, and returned him to his mother. As He traveled to the house of Jairus (Jy ruhs) to help the man's ill daughter, He was told not to waste His time because she had already expired. Jesus, disregarding their words of dismissal, came and raised that little girl from the dead. Jesus did the same for dead Lazarus and his family. It was immediately after this event that many Pharisees decided they had, had enough, Jesus had to be stopped and arrested.
After these jealous souls had decided that someone who heals the sick, raises the dead, feeds the hungry, and preaches repentance and free forgiveness from sins, was threat to their power so they had Him crucified. Yes, they whipped Jesus, beat Him, thrust thorns into His head, and nailed Him to a cruel cross on Calvary's crown. (from a sermon by Rev. Ken Klaus)
They waited until He was dead and then to make sure He was completely, totally, most assuredly dead, they put the point of a Roman spear into His heart. Forget any theory which says Jesus was in a coma and revived. Jesus was dead and He was buried. The tomb of Jesus exploded with the light of His resurrection. The cross was the payment for our broken commandments the empty tomb is the receipt. After His resurrection, again and again He showed Himself. He showed His wounds; He showed His reality. Jesus lives, and because He lives, all who believe on Him will also live - and those who believe will be comforted.
That's what Jesus meant in the Beatitudes. Believe on Me and you will be comforted. He doesn't say you won't mourn. He does say believers will never mourn as those who have no hope. Really. I know. I've been with a mother and father whose only son was accidently shot by a friend. I've listened as a wife of 54 years told her husband that if it was his time to go home to Jesus, she would be all right. I watched as, not more than ten seconds later, he took a last breath and went home. Every one of these people experienced loss, emptiness, pain, hurt, a loneliness which will always be part of them. (portions ibid Klaus)
They knew there is a reunion coming. They knew death was not going to have the final word in the lives of their loved ones. The Apostle Paul writes: “Our citizenship is in heaven and we eagerly wait for our Savior, who will change our bodies to be fashioned like His glorious resurrected body. Those who mourn will be comforted by the Holy Spirit and by those in the community of faith.
The Beatitudes in Luke 6 are fulfilment of “mission” statement of Jesus that He gave in the synagogue in Nazareth.
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, (Yes He possessed The Holy Spirit)
Because God has anointed Jesus to peace good news to the poor. (all are
welcome in His kingdom no matter their status)
God the Father sent Jesus to proclaim freedom for the prisoners (those captive by their
fear of death… Satan has been defeated)
And recover of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed
To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Jesus 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 offers His love, reconnecting our hearts to a God of love so that we will be satisfied.
