2/24/19
Rooke Chapel Congregation
We’ve been wrestling with Matthew’s sermon on the mount,
For a couple of weeks now.
Thinking about perfection, and turning the other cheek.
And Salt and light.
We skipped, you may have noticed,
Matthew’s long and beautiful list of blessings –
Blessed are the poor in spirit, mourners, the meek, hungry, merciful, peacemakers.
It is a lovely text,
If perhaps,
A little dulled by overuse
on mugs and inspirational Christian Instagram.
But instead, this morning,
We’ve jumped to Luke’s version.
Now, I’m a Luke guy through and through.
If all of a sudden,
the bible ship started to sink,
and I only had time to save one book.
It would definitely be Luke’s Gospel.
Luke’s version of Jesus is especially pointed,
especially concerned with justice,
and poverty,
and he connects especially,
God’s coming reign,
with the lived, earthly experience.
But I must admit,
that when it comes to the sermon on the mount,
I prefer Matthew’s version (Matthew 5)
It’s poetic,
and expansive,
it’s spiritual and material,
in equal measures.
Matthew’s sermon is an invitation,
to this amazing vision of life,
that Jesus is, I think,
consistently bringing forth.
Whereas Luke’s version,
is more like a sledgehammer.
Uplifting the poor,
and downtrodden to be sure.
While discomforting we who are well fed.
But wouldn’t you know it,
The lectionary text for today is from Luke,
And I just thought to myself,
“Self, why not join the conversation,
with all these Christians around the world.”
Even if it’s a little hard to hear.
Gone are the blessed peacemakers,
and the merciful.
And instead we have only the poor
(not, we should note, the poor in spirit)
the hungry,
mourners,
and the reviled.
And in the place of the other blessings,
we have a list of woes.
Warnings.
And they are altogether,
Painfully simple and hard.
There are a range of scholarly opinions,
about how we ended up with two versions of this text.
One atop a mountain,
and the other on an open plain.
I tend to think,
that this was probably Jesus’ go-to sermon.
His major policy statement.
And I suspect he spoke something like it many times.
Altering it slightly, every so often,
for the audience involved.
I don’t think one of them is necessarily truer to Jesus’ historical life,
than the other.
But it would surely be easier,
if only Matthew’s version remained.
It’s tempting, you know,
to try to take the edge off.
To spiritualize the method.
I’ve yet to see an Instagram post which reads:
Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry,
In that lovely, flowing script.
Maybe, we wonder, it’s not about lack of money,
So much,
As it is the love of money (question mark?)
But I think Jesus probably meant these words,
and meant them to be at once so deeply caring for those in need.
And such a proverbial gut punch to those who don’t,
that we should be wary of anyone who tries to blunt them.
Instead,
I think we have to come to terms with a few simple (and perhaps hard)
ideas, in order to understand this Jesus:
First, God really cares for those,
who are really struggling.
God gives acute attention to the poor,
and hungry,
and those who mourn.
When you ask parents of multiple kids,
who their favorite is.
They’ll usually laugh, give you the side-eye,
and say they love them all equally.
(Like I do, of course.)
But for God,
it would seem,
there are actual favorites,
and they are those who hunger,
who are poor, and mourning.
Luke,
As much as any of our Gospels,
tells us what it’s about,
From the word jump.
in Chapter 4 (verse 16 if you’re following along),
We hear Jesus’ mission statement,
When as an adult, he speaks publicly for the first time,
unrolling the great Isaiah scroll,
And saying, “The spirit of the Lord is upon me,
Because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor,
Release to the captives, let the oppressed go free, and proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
Today, he says, this scripture has been fulfilled.
This hard-hitting sermon on the plain,
Is not a plot twist,
But a logical next step.
Second, there are deep troubles,
associated with material wealth.
And we’re not simply talking about the so-called 1% here.
But all of us,
who feel self-reliant.
Who don’t have to worry where our next meal comes from.
Who have steady shelter,
and stability in material things.
And God says woe unto
We who put our faith in our earning potential,
or the right home.
Or the right school.
Or the right neighborhood.
We who have illusions of control,
and lives of comfort,
because we risk making an idol,
of our wealth,
our stability,
our lifestyle.
Someday it’s going to let us down.
I am utterly guilty of this.
Bart Simpson once famously prayed before a meal,
“God, we paid for all this ourselves,
so thanks for nothing.”
Which evoked the ire of Christians all over the country.
Who seem to have missed the point of the joke,
and seem to not have read this passage very often.
Because frankly we all feel that way,
when life is steady enough,
don’t we?
We could make a long and ugly list,
of all the things we feel functionally entitled to
(that is to say,
we feel we deserve them,
or earn them,
rather than that they are gifts to be treasured)
But, let’s not.
Third,
we all have moments
(even we who are always well fed)
of spiritual poverty.
There is reason Matthew’s version goes the way it does.
Because we all know what it means to mourn
(or we will).
And we all know what it means to feel a hunger,
that food cannot fill.
We all have our dark nights of the soul from time to time.
But Luke’s still not going to let us off the hook.
In chapter 1, Luke is very clear about what he’s about.
The book is addressed to the “most excellent Theophilus”
Who is certainly a person of means and influence,
And is almost certainly a non-Jewish follower of Christ,
Being initiated and instructed on the life of Christ as an outsider.
And we could wonder,
“is Theophilus poor, hungry and weeping now?”
the most excellent Theophilus.
No. He is not.
Is he rich? And full?
He is.
[collar pull]
This is intended to make Theophilus squirm.
And probably many of us too.
Me, certainly.
There are really two sermons afoot here.
For those who hunger: fear not.
And for those who don’t: watch out.
The Israelites,
freed from captivity in Egypt.
Felt hunger pangs in the wilderness.
And wished again for full stomachs and captivity.
Instead of the freedom and uncertainty of the promised land (Exodus 16).
So, says Jesus,
is the situation with us.
Led forth by a promise,
Of grace and life and abundance
But lured back,
for fear and lack of comfort.
There’s more out there,
Jesus seems to be saying,
If you can let go of your illusion of comfort.
Nah. We say. We’re good. It’s nice here,
In the shallow end of the pool.
You can keep grace,
We’ll hold onto privilege instead.
Well, woe unto you, he says.
Ouch, we say.
We spend so much of our life trying to avoid the margin,
That we miss the simple fact,
That that’s where God meets us much of the time.
What might it look like,
To behave,
Like those hard moments,
Those tough moments,
Are the moments of profound faith?
I do not have it figured out.
It’s not my favorite message.
It’s not intuitive,
And it’s not comforting.
Until, of course,
I wake up in a cold sweat,
in the middle of the night,
feeling inadequate.
Until I find myself lost and directionless.
Until I find myself wondering if I’ve surrounded myself with the right people.
Until I find myself broken
by someone’s story of despair.
Or by the violence and apathy of the world.
In those moments, it’s good news.
It’s the best news, actually.
Because I suspect that while we’re warned,
we’re also still blessed.
Like all those who hunger,
and are victims of war,
or epidemic.
And it’s not by accident,
I don’t think,
that this is the preamble,
to then some of our most challenging ethical requirements
as followers of Jesus.
Because if we are really to turn the other cheek.
if we are really going to love those who hate us,
and bless those that curse us…
we have to believe,
at least a little I think,
that the page has turned,
so to speak.
That the reign of God has somehow already broken in,
and changed things.
If the poor really are blessed.
And the rich really are warned.
Then maybe we really might be ready,
to start loving our enemies,
and turning our cheeks,
and giving away our coats.
And loving.
Putting our stock in relationships with friends and neighbors,
and enemies and God.
Instead of in stuff,
and all the distractions,
of our relatively comfortable lives.
Maybe discomfort is the point,
But discomfort
But called up,
into a reign of God,
which is,
according especially to Luke,
already in our midst.
And that is, I suspect,
the most comforting news of all.
And let’s end today,
At the beginning.
Notice those opening words:
Jesus came down
With them
The sick and tired
The poor and lowly
The disciples
And the would-be Theophiluses
With them,
And stood with them,
On a level place.
Not a mountain.
Emmanuel, God with us,
On a level place.
Telling us some hard stuff,
Asking us to do some hard work,
But walking with us, ever,
Even as we stumble.