Today’s Gospel reading is perhaps better known to you as the Beatitudes. This list of blessings for the hurting and downtrodden show up in similar forms in both Matthew and Luke’s Gospels.
Both versions speak to the unexpected, upside-down nature of God’s kingdom. While we may think we know what the world is like, things are different within God’s reign. The world lifts up wealth, and popularity, and success as signs of greatness and favor, but we learn that it is not so among God’s people. In a stunning reversal, Jesus declares that God’s kingdom is one where the last are first, and the first are last; where the hungry are filled with good things, while the rich are sent away empty; where enemies are shown love rather than hatred.
Though there are similarities, we also find some clear distinctions between the Beatitudes in the two Gospels. Matthew’s version takes place on a hillside, part of the larger “Sermon on the Mount”, and it offers a more spiritualized take on the characteristics - “poor in spirit” rather than economically poor, and “hunger and thirst for righteousness” rather than physical hunger and thirst. In Luke’s version, Jesus comes down from the mountain to be among his disciples and the crowds on level ground - not the “Sermon on the Mount”, but rather the “Sermon on the Plain,” and it also includes a list of “woes” alongside the blessings.
Because of this, Luke’s version might have us squirming a bit. I mean, it sounds great for the poor, and the hungry, and the grieving, and the reviled, and it should - we know that God cares for those who are suffering, and offers comfort and hope to the downtrodden. But, if we’re honest, most of us are probably more accustomed to fullness than hunger, and to wealth rather than poverty. How is this good news for us?
I don’t think that Jesus’s words here are naming wealth or full bellies or laughter or a good reputation as inherently bad. They are, however, things that could serve to separate us from God. The “woe” then is not so much a condemnation as it is a warning. Are you paying attention, or have you become complacent? If you’re full of these other things, is there any room left for the ways God is at work in the world and for the unexpected blessings God pours out?
 |
| Photo by Thabang on Unsplash |
It makes me think of sitting down to dinner at a restaurant with a delicious basket of fresh bread or crunchy chips and salsa on the table. You can eat as much as you want - the waitstaff will keep bringing more. But at one point growing up your mom probably gave you “the look” and said, “Now don’t go filling up on bread, or you’ll have no room for your dinner.” Or, said another way, “Woe to you who fill up on bread, for you will be too full to enjoy your steak.” The bread or chips and salsa are good, sure, but they’re not the main course, and they won’t fill you up for long.
Jesus’s “woes” here are a flashing warning sign to those who are listening, an invitation to take stock of things. Are there ways that our fullness can serve to separate us from God? Are we somehow missing out on the “main course” of God’s presence among us?
Perhaps we need to check in to see if we’ve made an idol of our wealth or success or reputation. In his explanation of the first commandment, “You shall have no other gods,” Martin Luther writes, “What does this mean? We are to fear, love, and trust God above all things.”
We may also need the reminder that none of these things we have are guaranteed. You may be full now, and rich now, and spoken well of now, and laughing now, but we know that our circumstances can change in an instant. A revelation, a diagnosis, an accident - so much can change so quickly.
Or, maybe our successes have lured us into the false impression that everything we have was brought about through our work, and our work alone. If we convince ourselves that we don’t need God, and don’t need anyone else, there will indeed come a day when we feel empty.
It is easy to place our trust in the things the world lifts up as signs of success and blessing. But, ultimately, they are fleeting, and unpredictable, and not worthy of our trust. Beauty fades, the stock market falls, bodies weaken, and there is always someone who is smarter, or more innovative, or more successful.
With God, however, our worth and value don’t come from how we look or what we can produce. Instead, God loves us because that’s who God is, and values us because we are beloved children. God sticks with us even when we’re not at our best, rather than abandoning us for the next flashy thing.
The “woes” that Jesus shares can hold up a mirror, so to speak, to the things we value and the ways we define ourselves. What needs to change about how we are oriented to God and to one another? Where might we ask for God to soften our hearts or strengthen our awareness?
What good news it is that God continues to hold us, in prosperity and adversity; joy and grief; hunger and satisfaction. However we find ourselves, God comes to us, offers healing and grace, changes our hearts and minds, and joins us to one another for a life of abundance and wholeness - a life that is indeed a blessing for all creation.
For a God who gives us what we need, we give thanks.
Comments
Post a Comment