11.02.07 Colin The Hard Road Luke 6: 17-26
I received a Christmas present this year called ‘Speeches That Changed the World’ – speeches from some people that we might prefer not to remember such as Hitler declaring war in 1939, and speeches from some of the most famous people of modern times e.g.
o Jawaharial Nehru in 1947 who marked the independence of India saying ‘At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom’
o Martin Luther King in 1968 in his ‘I have a dream speech’ saying ‘We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal’
o Nelson Mandela in 1994 on the election of the ANC to rule South Africa saying ’Free at last … this is democracy’
o Marie Curie, Winston Churchill, John F Kennedy, Mother Theresa, Mikhail Gorbachev – the list is long and some of us will remember hearing at least some of those speeches being made.
But interestingly, the first speech in this book is by Jesus, the Sermon on the Mount, as it is recorded in Mathew’s Gospel - a speech that undoubtedly changed the world, and continues to do so today. In the Gospel today from Luke 5, right at the start of his ministry, Jesus mirrors the Sermon on the Mount. He has just called his twelve disciples and he begins teaching saying:
o Blessed are you poor, for yours in the Kingdom of God
o Blessed are you that hunger now, for you shall be satisfied
o Blessed are you that weep now, for you shall laugh
o Blessed are you when people hate you on account of the Son of Man … for your reward is great in heaven
And:
o Woe to you that are rich for you have received your consolation
o Woe to you that are full now , for you shall hunger
o Woe to you that laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep
o Woe to you when all speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets
Right at the beginning of his public ministry with the disciples, Jesus drops this verbal bombshell and lays out a fundamental challenge to established thinking – the poor are blessed in heaven and the rich have already had their reward. No one had ever said this before. There’s not a trace of it in the Old Testament where God clearly rewards the righteous with material blessings - the rich and full are those blessed. But Jesus turns everything upside down with this radical teaching about God’s exaltation of poor and hungry people, and Luke’s Gospel focuses on Jesus work with the disadvantaged, minorities, outcasts, sinners and lepers.
Jesus uses these sharp contrasts - ‘Blessed are you poor’ and ‘Woe to you that are rich’ – to focus his hearers on those who in this life seek after the kingdom of God, and those who find satisfaction only in the riches and experiences of life on this earth.
Jesus uses strong contrasts and metaphors throughout his teaching, for example when he says "I am the Bread of Life". We don't take that literally and ask about flour and baking, but we do understand the underlying meaning of feeding on him and being nourished. In today’s passage, the sharp contrasts are not literally telling us that only those who are poor or hungry or weeping will see the Kingdom of God. Jesus uses them to illustrate those who seek the Kingdom of God, and those who find their satisfaction in life on earth.
This Gospel passage contrasts those who are poor, hungry or weeping and who know their need, with the rich who don’t know their need, because they protected from poverty and hunger by their wealth. A hungry person knows the need for food; but a well fed person isn't looking for anything to eat. Jesus uses the contrasts to talk about spiritual hunger and insight: the hunger of a heart that senses the need for spiritual food and the kingdom of God; the lack of hunger for God by those who are satisfied by their own strength and the riches the world offers and who choose to live outside the Kingdom of God. Jesus teaches that those who hunger after God and who put their TRUST in Him will, regardless of life’s circumstances, be blessed and rewarded as members of the Kingdom of Heaven.
The associated passage in Jeremiah 17 today puts it well in verse 5 – “Thus says the LORD: Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals and make mere flesh their strength, whose hearts turn away from the LORD”. In other words, those in this life who place their TRUST in their own strength, their riches, their personal happiness, their work or their desire to please others, have separated themselves from God and cannot inhabit the Kingdom of Heaven.
o How then we do handle this teaching of Jesus that “Blessed are the poor and hungry” and Woe to the rich and well fed.” And
o How do we live as Christians in a rich country when the vast majority of Christians and people around the world are poor?
God gives blessings to people across His world, and we should not feel guilty about the blessings that He has given us. But, the readings today challenge us to consider what makes for real life satisfaction and true happiness.
Richard Layard, Director of the Well-Being Programme in the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics, declares “There is a shocking fact. Despite our huge increase in affluence, opinion research data for most developed countries show that people in the West have grown no happier in the last 50 years”. Hardly shocking, for as we know deep within ourselves, wealth cannot and does not buy life satisfaction and happiness, accepting that some money certainly helps to bring a level of comfort to our lives.
The wisest of wealthy people understand that their happiness does not come from material possessions, for deep happiness has to do with invisible qualities like loving God, loving family and loving friends and true joy comes only from hearts filled with love. The primary goal in a Christian life is not the accumulation of material possessions but the development of loving relationships with God and our neighbours. Jesus put it this way: that abundant life is to “love God with all your heart, mind and strength and your neighbour as yourself” (Luke 10 verse 27). That is where our time and energy needs to be.
o Jesus challenges us in the sharp contrasts of this passage about whether our eyes are fixed on our relationships with the Kingdom of God and our neighbours, or whether we are focussed on the riches of this life managed by our own strength.
o But, he also challenges us by his radical teaching about God’s exaltation of the poor and the hungry; the disadvantaged and the minorities; the outcasts and the sinners.
This teaching of Jesus generates for me some questions to consider as we turn our eyes towards the period of reflection in Lent, for if our eyes are really focused on the Kingdom of God and our neighbours, we need to consider and understand just how we demonstrate that we obey the command of Jesus to “love God with all your heart, mind and strength and your neighbour as yourself”? How do we keep our eyes focussed on the Kingdom of God and hungry for spiritual food?
Personal Action Questions
1. What do we do as individual Christians to keep ourselves focused on our relations with the Kingdom of God and our Neighbours?
2. How do we as individuals enjoy the blessing we have, but also determine how much of our wealth that we share with our poorer brothers and sisters around the world?
Vestry Agenda Questions!
3. Can St James church identify one strategy we will commit to that will embrace the radical teaching of Jesus? e.g. active membership of the Christian Aid and not just financial giving
4. How does the Vestry plan in the radical approach of Jesus to the poor when considering our giving policy? Does the majority of our giving go to the poor, the hungry or those who weep?
5. We have a great policy of giving 20% of our income outside our congregation. How can we turn our financial giving into active commitment to those we support e.g. could we give real support to Jubilee Scotland in radically changing world financial systems
6. Last, how does St James walk with, and share with, Christian communities around the world? Could we develop a real partnership with a church in another country that we could learn from? e.g. through the work of David and Helen in ICS.
As committed Christians in one of the wealthiest nations in the world, the words of Jesus in today’s Gospel, challenge us as individuals, and as a church, to reconsider how we “love God with all your heart, mind and strength and our neighbours as ourselves”. May God give us his strength to live joyfully and thankfully day-by-day with real, active love for God and for our neighbours.