IT’S ALL ABOUT GOD’S KINGDOM
Luke 6:20-31
To appreciate today’s gospel, the beginning of the Sermon on the Plain, we need to understand how Luke leads up to it. Luke, chapter 6, begins in a grainfield. Jesus and his disciples are harvesting and eating grain. Some of the Pharisees confront them, “Why are you doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”
The next scene is in a synagogue. Jesus healed a man’s withered right hand on the Sabbath. The text says that the scribes and Pharisees, “were filled with fury, and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.”
Jesus came into having a time of tough opposition.
At that time, Jesus took his disciples and went out to a mountain to pray – I guess he had to get away. He prayed all night. In the morning he called all of his disciples together and appointed Twelve to be, “Apostles” - Simon he called Peter, his brother Andrew, James and John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, Judas son of James and Judas who became a traitor.
In today’s gospel they have all come down from the mountain. It says in verse 17, “He 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.” This was one big gathering of people. One thing, however, is different – this is a friendly gathering – no antagonists here – no protestors here. He is with his Following Friends.
That’s when the reading begins, “He looked up at his disciples and said:”
Listen again, to what he said:
“Blessed are you who are poor. Blessed are you who are hungry now. Blessed are you who weep now. Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man.” We ask, “Is that really true? Are we really blessed when such things happen to us?”
Following those four beatitudes are four woes: “Woe to you who are rich. Woe to you who are full now. Woe to you who are laughing now. Woe to you when all speak well of you.” And we ask again, “Is that really true too? Are we really ‘in for it,’ when good things like that happen to us?”
I’m not sure I like the direction of his speech.. Do you get some of that feeling? This seems like a complete reversal of all the values we all hold so dear in our world. We try desperately, to avoid what Jesus says is blessed. Who in the world wants to be poor? Who in the world wants to be hungry? Who in the world wants to be sad and rejected and excluded? We go to great lengths not to experience those things.
And the woes he lists – aren’t those the very things we want? Maybe we don’t need to be overly wealthy, but we sure want a comfortable amount of stuff. Maybe we don’t need to have our stomachs full all the time, but we certainly don’t want to go hungry. We want to be happy, we want to have good reputations and we want to be included. What in the world is wrong with that?
What Jesus is saying to his Following Friends does sound a bit strange!
How do we make sense of these sayings?
Well, the first thing we need to do with this sermon, is not hear it as a set of commands. Jesus is not telling us to go out and “get poor” or learn “how to weep” or put ourselves into situations where we “get persecuted.” The more we hear these beatitudes as command (things we are supposed to do) the more they make no sense.
And they are, in fact, not spoken as commands. Read the sermon carefully - Jesus isn’t giving orders here. We make a mistake when we read it that way. Read carefully – he is not telling them, he is not telling us, and he is not telling anyone, to do anything!
So, if we read them as commands, yes, they are going to sound very strange.
Secondly, they are not value recommendations for our world – not that our world couldn’t use a few new values.
I went into that one near the end of the baseball season. Remember when I referred to one baseball player’s salary of $26M? What kind of value is that, when a baseball player is paid 1,300 times more, just for playing a game, than a public school teacher is paid for teaching our elementary children?
Our world does have some strange values. Apparently we are willing to search for, and kill terrorists on the other side of the world, and apparently we are willing to go more billions and billions of dollars into debt to do that – but we aren’t willing to give gay and lesbian people the same civil rights that we heterosexual people take for granted. Yes, we do live in a world that has a lot of strange values.
But, like I said, Jesus is not talking to the world. Yes, the world could use a lot of what Jesus is talking about: “love of enemies – doing good to those who hate – blessing those who curse – prayers for those who abuse, turning the other cheek – and doing unto others what we want done to us.” But Jesus is talking to his Following Friends. So these are not value recommendations for the world.
So, if the beatitudes of Jesus are not marching orders for his Following Friends, and if they are not value recommendations for our world, what are they?
The beatitudes are about God and His Kingdom in the world. They are about how God blesses His people - those gathered on the plain at the foot of the mountain – how God blesses those who are caught up in the New Kingdom that Jesus is bringing – how God blesses those who are baptized in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit – how God blesses people, in this life, with what the world can never give, and how God blesses those who move into the world that God has prepared for all of his Following Friends.
Do you remember Jesus saying, “My kingdom is not of this world?” So, when Jesus talks about the blessings of the Father and the Father’s Kingdom, we should expect to see a lot of things that we hardly ever experience from what the world has to offer. I mean: where, in this world do you and I experience the forgiveness of sins, and where in this world do we experience prayer and care, and where in this world, do we ever experience grace, except in the fellowship of the people of His Kingdom?
Jesus is painting “Kingdom Pictures” in this sermon - hoping that those pictures will have a “faith effect” on us who live in a world that God loves.
You know, God really does want to turn things up-side-down in his world!
You and I know a world where leadership, for instance, usually means “lording” authority over others. Jesus doesn’t want it that way among his disciples – leadership is to a serving endeavor. That’s up-side-down for the world. You and I know a world where power rules with a mighty, oppressive, and sometimes even, abusive hand. Jesus doesn’t want it that way among his disciples. Power is to be employed with compassion and kindness and gentleness – and always for the benefit of others. That’s up-side-down in our world. You and I know a world where most people think “might makes right” and “get them before they get us.” Can we ever get beyond such thinking?
In these beatitudes Jesus is giving us a special peak at God, a special peak at God’s Kingdom and a special peak at God’s people – hoping to move us to a higher vision of life – one that does not root itself in this world, but roots itself in the very nature of a loving God.
In the Kingdom of God, the poor are blessed! In the Kingdom of God, the hungry are blessed and so are the mistreated and the rejected. They are blessed because they belong to a loving God and they belong to one another.
God does turn things up-side-down!
Luke draws that to our attention to that, very early in his gospel. Mary sings the Magnificat: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for He has shown strength with his arm, he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.”
And God wants such transformation to begin now – right now, in our world!
Blessed are all of you Kingdom People, even if you are poor, now! Poor people know one thing for sure – they know that they need help. Blessed are they if they believe that God helps. That’s the blessing – they believe that they have help. IT’S ALL ABOUT GOD’S KINGDOM – something that the world cannot give.
In a “Do not worry” talk, Jesus said, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom (Lk 12:32f). Isn’t that just about the most delightful picture possible? - it is your Father’s good pleasure, to give you the Kingdom. IT’S ALL ABOUT GOD’S KINGDOM – something the world cannot give.
Blessed are all of you Kingdom People, even if you are hungry, – now! Hungry people look for food – they know there is food and they know that God gives it. That’s the blessing – they believe that God supplies their needs. IT’S ALL ABOUT GOD’S KINGDOM – something that the world cannot give.
Blessed are all of you Kingdom People, even when you cry, now! Crying people look for comfort – they know that God comforts and they know that the fellowship of God’s people comforts. And that’s the blessing - they experience the fellowship of the baptized and trust the certainty of God’s promises. So you see, IT’S ALL ABOUT GOD’S KINGDOM – something that the world cannot give.
Blessed are all of you Kingdom People, when you are rejected, now! Rejected people look for acceptance – and they find acceptance in the arms of God and in the fellowship of other Believers. I hope that they find it in this congregation - that’s the blessing. IT’S ALL ABOUT GOD’S KINGDOM – something the world cannot give.
One time Peter asked Jesus (it’s in Mark 10:28): “We have left everything to follow you. What do we get?” Jesus said, “There is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake, and for the sake of the good news, who will not receive a hundredfold in this age, houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and field with persecution – and, in the age to come, eternal life! IT’S ALL ABOUT GOD’S KINGDOM – something that the world cannot give.
A Native American grandfather was talking to his grandson about how his feelings. He said, “I feel as if I have two wolves fighting in my heart. One wolf is a vengeful, angry and violent wolf – the other wolf is a loving, kind, and compassionate wolf.” The grandson asked him, “Which wolf will win the fight in your heart?” The grandfather answered, “The one that I feed!”
It’s your choice – feed the one who has the values of the KINGDOM OF GOD!
