A Blessing or a Curse?

The scriptures referred to are Luke 6:17-26.

When you deliver the same speech over and over, you nevertheless vary it depending on the audience. When I was working for the Rural Health Network, I created a little standard presentation of what we did and how people could support us. I started with a joke and while I followed the same basic structure, I would change the presentation somewhat for whichever audience I was facing. When speaking to a woman's group I would emphasize different services than those I would mention before a men's group. Politicians have stump speeches which they tailor to the city and state and organization they are addressing. Comedians hone their material on the road, experimenting with the set ups, delivery and punchlines as they tour, so that what they performed at their first venue will have changed either somewhat or drastically by the time they do their final venue. And as an itinerant preacher, I am sure that Jesus did the same. And today we have words that sound like the beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount but not quite.

We know this is not the same sermon because Luke says Jesus was standing on a level place and so this is often called the Sermon on the Plain. But the structure of the sermon is very like that in chapters 5 through 7 of Matthew. It starts with some beatitudes, touches on loving others, not judging people, bearing good fruit and concludes with a metaphor about being a wise builder.

The biggest difference is not so much the things omitted as the opening beatitudes and their corresponding woes. So let's look at them.

First a word about a word. The Greek word for “blessed” means fortunate or happy. This is a good state to be in. Yet the things Jesus says are a blessing seem to contradict it. We shall see why.

“Then he looked up at his disciples and said: 'Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.'” Remember what we said about altering your speech so it is pertinent to your audience. Here we are told that Jesus is addressing his disciples. So Jesus is not saying that poverty in general is a good thing or that poor people should be content with their lot. He is saying that his disciples will be rewarded for doing without while serving God. He says the same after his famous observation that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. When Peter points out, “We have left all we had to follow you!” Jesus says, “No one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life.” (Luke 18:24-30)

In Matthew's version Jesus adds, “But many who are first will be last and many who are last will be first.” (Matthew 19:30) And that seems to be the key to today's gospel reading. The world's values are the inverse of God's values. In the kingdom of God things seem topsy turvy but in fact they are finally in the right order.

“Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled.” We are told that Jesus and the disciples didn't even get a chance to eat at times because so many people were coming and going, probably to be healed. (Mark 6:31) We've all been so busy we had no time to eat. Often it is our job that has us so occupied that we can't take a lunch. But we are being paid and the reason we don't take a break is that we feel such dedication is expected of us. Plus we don't want to endanger our employment. But the disciples weren't being paid. They were following Jesus. And they were healing and helping other people. They were being selfless. Jesus said their sacrifice will be rewarded.

“Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.” In other places Jesus talks about the groomsmen fasting when the bridegroom is taken from them. (Luke 5:35) But I don't think that Jesus is talking about mourning him here because of the word “now.” So why would the disciples weep now, after he had just chosen them? (Luke 6:12-16) One thing that could weigh on them is all of the people in pain they are encountering. Seeing people who are suffering has an effect on you. It's what leads to burnout in doctors, nurses, social workers, cops, clergy and others whose job is helping people. It is hard to face tragedy and trauma over and over, even if it is not yours. Compassionate people are especially affected. But we have a God who one day “will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Revelation 21:4) It is a mistaken idea that God is anti-laughter. God just understands when it is inappropriate. As Ecclesiastes says, there is “a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.” (Ecclesiastes 3:4) God is planning to take away all the causes of weeping and mourning and that will be the time to laugh and to dance with joy.

“Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.” This may sound like it was inserted later when the church was being persecuted but in Jesus' day there were many Jewish factions. And Jesus knew of the rivalries and the different kinds of power they had: popular support (the Pharisees), support of the religious establishment (the Sadducees), and violent extremism (the Zealots). Jesus also knew of the opposition his small movement was going to encounter. He had encountered it himself in his own hometown. (Luke 4:28-30)

He also uses the title “Son of Man,” a messianic reference from the book of Daniel, where it says, “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given glory, authority and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will never pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.” (Daniel 7:13-14) In the religious and political tinderbox that was 1^st century Galilee and Judea, it wasn't hard to foresee that anyone held up as the Messiah would be a target, as would those who followed him.

But Jesus reminds his disciples that the prophets were also persecuted for proclaiming God's word. Moses, Jeremiah, Elijah, Micaiah, Elisha, Amos and others stood up to pharaohs and kings and were often opposed by their own people. Nobody wants to hear unpleasant truths. Jesus said the pushback to his message would be a sign that once again people don't really want to hear what God has to say.

Which brings us to the woes. “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.” In other words, you have gotten all the comfort you will get. What is interesting is that the Greek word translated “consolation” or “comfort” can also mean “encouragement.” Perhaps Jesus means that their prosperity only motivates the rich to live the life they have now. Unlike the poor, they have no motivation to look forward to the life to come. Whereas those who have made sacrifices for the sake of God's kingdom will find out it was a blessing after all, those who have not given till it hurts will know what that is like in the next world. And, as we shall see, Jesus is still talking about disciples.

“Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry.” In Jesus' day, you could tell a rich person even without their fancy clothes. They weighed more. If you look back even just a couple of generations, you will see in old photos that the average person then was thinner than the average American today. They didn't eat meat every day; they didn't have high fructose corn syrup in everything; they didn't eat snacks whenever bored. And those are our great-grandparents. Imagine what it was like in Jesus' day. The basic staples were bread, wine and olive oil (Deuteronomy 7:13; 2 Kings 18:32), supplemented by figs and dates, grapes and pomegranates, and legumes. If you were poor you only got to eat meat at major festivals, or maybe a wedding, so only a few times a year. Jesus' disciples were fortunate to be fishermen and able to eat fish, which was otherwise an expensive food, due to the cost of preserving and transporting it. It reminds me of a family story about my wife's Polish grandmother who was the village butcher's daughter and therefore got to eat meat once a week! 15 million US households—nearly 12%—don't always know if they will have enough to eat. In Jesus' day, the proportion who were food insecure was much higher.

“Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep.” People do not laugh when persecuted. How could any true disciple of Jesus in those days avoid that?

“Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.” Kings of ancient Israel and Judah had their own schools of prophets, often telling the king what he wanted to hear: that there would be great military victories and wealth and prosperity during their reign. (1 Kings 22:6) They knew they had to keep their leader happy to keep their jobs and their lives. But even the general populace didn't always want to hear what the prophets said. Isaiah writes, “For these are rebellious people—they are lying children, children unwilling to obey the Lord's law. They say to the visionaries, 'See no more visions!' and to the seers, 'Don't relate messages to us about what is right! Tell us nice things, relate deceptive messages.” (Isaiah 30:9-10, NET) And sure enough some of the biggest churches in the US are those telling people that God wants them all to be rich and have always joyful, always triumphant lives. They think Jesus said “If any want to follow me, let them indulge themselves, take up their gold cross necklaces and follow their desires.”

Now Jesus is not condemning all rich people. He had wealthy benefactors, like the women who supported his ministry. (Luke 8:1-3) But the problem is that the affluent tend to make a number of assumptions that go against biblical wisdom.

First, they tend to think they got wealthy on their own efforts alone. That's not as common as we've been led to believe. Bill Gates' parents were wealthy. That's how he could drop out of an ivy league colleague to work on software. Jeff Bezos' grandfather owned a ranch and was a regional director of the US Atomic Energy Commission. Bezos went to Princeton and was senior vice president at a hedge fund when he quit to start Amazon. Warren Buffett was the son of a Congressman. 52% of the wealthiest people in the world were either born to wealth or to a comfortable family background with connections which helped them get started. Studies show that where you grow up, what your parents earn and whether they were married is a major determinant of where you end up economically. In other words, rich kids tend to stay rich and poor kids tend to stay poor throughout their life. But we have so inculcated the Horatio Alger/“rags to riches” myth into society that we think that most rich folks got there by sheer hard work alone. It isn't true now and it wasn't true in Jesus' day.

Secondly, the assumption that socio-economic status is a meritocracy can make certain non-perceptive rich folks think they are better and more deserving than others. Wealth is often dependent on factors over which we have no control. Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, right? But inventor Elisha Gray submitted his patent application for the telephone on the very same day that Bell's lawyers did and there has always been a dispute as to who filed it first. Had the US patent office ruled differently we might have been talking about Ma Gray for the last century. Again the patent office initially ruled that Thomas Edison's patent for the electric light bulb was actually based on the work of William E. Sawyer. Only after 6 years in court did a judge rule in Edison's favor.

Thirdly, often the honest hard work was not done by the person who became rich. In 1903 Elizabeth Magie created The Landlord's Game to show how our economy unfairly favors monopolies. She patented it and self-published it. In 1932 a man named Charles Darrow played the game for the first time with friends at a dinner party. That night he pirated the game, called it Monopoly and began selling it himself. Parker Brothers bought it and then realized Darrow didn't own the patent. So they bought Magie's rights saying they would distribute her version but printed and sold thousands more of Darrow's version, making it much more popular and making Darrow rich. And the stories of how Steve Jobs took credit and money for programs and chips he didn't actually create are well known. Wealth can be created legitimately or not, and so cannot be used to infer someone's virtue.

In the same way, being poor doesn't mean you are lazy or immoral. The ALICE or Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed report for Monroe County says that 42% of people living in the Keys can't afford basic living expenses such as food, housing, healthcare, transportation, and childcare. Across the state of Florida that jumps to 46%. And these people are employed. But 67% of jobs in Florida pay less than $20 an hour, whereas you need to make at least $27 an hour to cover the basic costs of living. A person's virtues or lack of them do not determine if he is rich or poor.

Everything we have—wealth, talent, intelligence, energy—comes from God. He expects us not to hoard or to use these gifts to enrich ourselves but to help others. J.K. Rowling, a Christian, was once the wealthiest author in the world and yet in 2012 she was dropped from Forbes list of billionaires because of the fact that she gave $160 million to charity and the fact that unlike some, she pays her taxes. She does the later because when she wrote the first Harry Potter book, she was a single mother on welfare and now she is paying that financial help from the government back with interest.

While there is nothing inherently wrong with being rich, there are, as Jesus, James and Paul point out, a wealth of temptations that go along with it. We can think our largess is due to our personal excellence or that what we have is ours to do with as we wish. We can even see it as a sign of God's approval. As Paul writes to Timothy, “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.” (1 Timothy 6:17-19)

Nothing we have is truly ours. Accident, age, disease or ultimately death will take everything, except that which they cannot take: the eternal life of those who live in Christ. And one way the world shall know them is by their fruit. Those who share in the life of the God who is love will share God's gifts with others. His grace will flow through them like a river, bestowing blessings on all whom they touch. And by blessing others they will find themselves blessed by the the one who is the source of all blessings and of every good gift.