Contrast - Luke 6:17-26 - Sixth Week after the Epiphany

 

Luke 6:17-26 NIV

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.

Contrast

First, a little background prior to the words of the Gospel reading above…

Jesus has just prayed the entire night, prior to this passage.

Luke 6:12 NIV

¹² One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.

After praying all night, Jesus chose the disciples and went into action.

This entire action of Jesus, both gives us a Gospel of Love and an example of how we too should handle the decisions of life.  Stop and pray before taking action. Stop and pray especially before those big, life changing decisions.

This Gospel lesson is often titled the “Sermon on the Plain.”

As Jesus comes down the mountain to the plain, He sits down, once again, to teach. I find it an interesting example. First of the Grace of God and also as an example. As Jesus sits down to teach, He humbles Himself. He comes to the same level of the people. He makes His teaching comfortable, and possibly more acceptable than if He hovered over top of His disciples. Just a thought…

Some other perspective to offer at this point, is that this total sermon or teaching of Jesus is in five parts. This reading deals with the first part. This part deals with “Blessings and Woes.”

There is a contrast going on here:

Poor/Rich

Hungry/Full

Weeping/Laughing

Rejected/Accepted

All of these contrasts also point to a higher contrast…

Life Now/Life Future (think eternity with God)

You see this is spiritual stuff here. Here, God hears and fulfills your longings in the coming Kingdom. But that fulfillment won’t be easy. That fulfillment will bring the death of Jesus.

I mentioned in last weeks “Pointing to Jesus,” how when God calls, and we see His glory, like Simon saw at the catch of fish… His response was first fear in the face of God in Jesus and then when accepted by Jesus, Simon’s response changed to one of great joy at the prospect of following Jesus… God… into eternity.

Well, that joy is one thing. But that joy doesn’t mean easy. Our call will not be easy. Once again, we see the example Jesus gives to us. Yes, we see the Gospel of God’s saving action in Jesus, but the call is not easy. Jesus’ call and our call too will bring pain, sacrifice and death. It won’t be easy.

Jesus knew how it was to be poor. He grew up poor. Jesus grew up in a little town with just enough to live on. Jesus grew up as a working man.

What about us? What about how we grow up?

You see, poverty can make us want and need God.

Wealth can make us hardened to our need for God. Wealth can cause us to think we have all that we need and that we can take care of it all on our own.

But the poor, the simple hearted, know how to love neighbor, rather than love wealth. When we are poor and simple hearted, we know how much we need God and each other. We pray and pitch in together out of love for one another.

What about the wealthy, in riches or even good life?

The rich and/or wealthy in circumstance, find no need for God, and by this, will have nothing in the coming Kingdom of God. They can’t see the need. They can’t understand what it’s like to be poor. Nor do they really care about the poor, the unemployed, the persecuted, the addicted, the immigrant, the … whatever. The rich and wealthy think that what has happened to them is a result of what they have done, not, what God has given them. So, they look inward, they focus inward and fail to see or even know the need of neighbor.

The danger for the rich?

They may think they have all they need and they may think they don’t need the gift of God, because, they think they already have everything.

It’s not bad or sinful to be rich and wealthy, but it’s sinful when you think that your wealth is only the result of what you have done.

Luther once said, “Rich folks’ children seldom turn out well. They are complacent, arrogant, and conceited, and think they need to learn nothing because they have enough to live on anyway.”

So how do we deal with wealth? We are all both rich and poor in some way. We all are hungry and full, we all weep and laugh, we all are rejected and accepted.

It points me to Contrast…

In our wealth, rejoice in what God has done for you. Rejoice and love your neighbor, who may be living in contrast to your position in life. Reach out to them in love. Reach out to them in compassion. Reach out to them in action and caring. Don’t look away or persecute your neighbor out of pride in what you have done or achieved. It’s not about you. You are not to pile on pain on pain out of your advantage in life.

When we are poor or hungry or weeping or rejected, look to Jesus’ message…

²³ “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven.

You are blessed by God. Jesus knows what it’s like and loves you more than anything.

It may not be easy. It won’t be easy to be a disciple of Jesus. But it wasn’t easy for Jesus either. Follow Jesus, “Point to Jesus”, walk with Him and reach out to Him. Jesus IS God. And, in love, reach out to all those God gives to you in love as well.

There is another contrast here as well. Jesus suffered and died and he rose again. And you as well will die and Jesus will raise you up on the last day.

This is a contrast that is spiritual, yet as real as the resurrection is real. There are too many witnesses to deny the resurrection of Jesus. Believe! Trust in God and delight in God’s Law, that you may turn to Jesus for forgiveness… today… tomorrow… and forever.

That’s the blessing, that’s the contrast, that’s the Gospel God gives to all who turn to Him. How could we NOT do anything else?

I leave you with this YouTube Music Video that reminds me of this Gospel Passage…

Blessed Are You

Blessed Are You

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XSViv4a9eQ