Morning Message Text: Luke 6: 17-26
17 He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon,
18 who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by impure spirits were cured,
19 and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.
20 Looking at his disciples, he said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
21 Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.
22 Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.
23 “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.
24 “But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort.
25 Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.
26 Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.
Morning Message:
The wisdom of God is not conventional wisdom. It does not conform to acceptable standards; it is not ordinary. God’s wisdom is not easy to understand from a human point of view. God’s wisdom is impossible to understand apart from a faithful perspective. For me, it would be much easier to preach from our first reading today, Psalm 1. Black and white, good and bad, right and wrong, saint and sinner. You are blessed if you are not wicked and sinful. Reading God’s word, drawing close to him, that is the way to a fruitful and fulfilling life. If you love God and do everything right, you will prosper. This is the easiest kind of preaching. It’s a message that is always well received, and if you focus on this message as a preacher, you can fill the church on Sunday morning. I am a person who believes that the truth of the gospel must be heard, and it should never be replaced with niceties and pleasantries to make it more acceptable. These instructions in Psalm 1 are right and good. The writer is telling us how we can draw closer to God, and these are things that we need to work on in our Christian lives, but we can’t use this as a systematic way to practice our faith. When we truly serve Christ, we understand that sometimes the things that we do in this world do not prosper and sometimes it seems like the wicked in this world are doing alright. As God’s people we are not promised that this life will be easy, but we will stand in the judgment and the wicked will perish. That has nothing to do with who we are, but everything to do with who Jesus is. I could preach everything that you want to hear; I choose to preach everything that you need to hear.
Now I just went miles out of my way to try and make God’s wisdom and the point of Jesus’ message clearer for you. I hope that it worked. Before we get to today’s text, I want to read a passage that God put on my heart for this message. In Matthew 11 Jesus responds to a question from John the Baptist’s disciples. They are asking him if he is the Messiah. He responds in verse 4, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see; the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.” With all of that said, I want to focus on the poor. Being poor is never easy. If you have ever been truly poor, you understand just how difficult life can be when everything is a struggle. As a child, I suppose that I was poor. I never really gave it to much thought because, even though we didn’t have much, I was never hungry or homeless. It seemed to me back then that no one that I knew really had a lot, but I guess I knew that I had less. I never looked at being poor as a negative thing in my life; it was just how it was. In Jesus’ day the poor were very poor, and they were not only poor, but most times, because of their social status, they were always aware that they were not equal to everyone else. They were frowned upon and treated as outcasts, especially by the religious leaders. I want you to imagine, if you can, being hungry and homeless and desperate for life, and then have the reality that no one cares.
Now you are ready to hear the words of Jesus as they were intended. “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” Can you even imagine the good news that this was to the poor? Me, Jesus?, you want me?, you are inviting me who has nothing to offer? I can go to heaven; they don’t even allow me in the church. “Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied.” I’m guessing that none of us have ever experienced forced hunger. Have you ever been really hungry to the point that your stomach hurt, and you couldn’t wait to eat? Now imagine not being able to satisfy that hunger. Jesus is telling them that in glory they will be filled; hope that this is not forever. “Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.” There is poor and then there is destitute. This is not a situation where you can just smile, grin, and bare it; it’s a place of desperation and no laughing matter. Jesus says that he will turn their tears of sadness into tears of joy. Can you imagine the weight that is lifted from them? Jesus is promising joy for all of us who will be hated because we serve him and proclaim his gospel; we will rejoice in heaven. Notice though, who else he is talking to. “For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.” The religious leaders of Israel mistreated, abused, tortured, and killed the prophets sent by God to warn them of their failure to live according to his will.
We must hear this because people often get the wrong idea. Jesus is not saying woe to the rich because they are rich. He is not saying woe to the well-fed because they have never experienced hunger. He has nothing against those who laugh and enjoy life. He has nothing against being well liked. What Jesus is speaking to is a group of religious leaders that have completely ignored God’s command to feed the hungry and take care of the poor. They have been heartless and have taken advantage of the poor in order to create a life for themselves of comfort, satisfaction, laughter, and good standing in the community. These woes are not yet judgments but warnings. They can still turn their lives around and be blessed with the good things of heaven. You see, suffering is not a guarantee of heaven and being comfortable does not mean that you are going to hell. The blessings of heaven are for all who accept Jesus, but if you truly know Jesus you will have a heart for the hurting. The woes of hell are not because of what you have in this life, but because of your refusal to accept Jesus and allow him to change you into someone who cares.
In Christ’s Love and Peace
Pastor Bob
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